Is a stainless steel reg worth the cost?

[jd950]

I recently had my Atomic Z2 reg serviced and was told there was a fair bit of corrosion in the first stage. I pretty much always dive in salt water.

I have always done my best to rinse and/or soak my reg after diving but am often in situations where there is little ability to soak or even thoroughly rinse it for an hour or so after a dive. The best I can do is pour water over the first and second stages from a water bottle. As soon as I can, I do as good a rinse/soak as I can. Frequently my shore exits are in water with a lot of suspended sand. That stuff seems to get everywhere and is hard to get rid of. I don't know if that contributes to the problem.

When diving in similar situations with other brands of regs, I have not had any issues with corrosion, so I wonder if the culprit is the seat saving orifice and salt water is finding its way up the hose, perhaps while the reg is sitting on the truck on the way back after the dive.
I was wondering if there would be much benefit to going to an Atomic ST1 reg due to its all stainless construction (I assume it was the brass bits of the Z2 that corroded).

I can't imagine the sealed status of the first stage in the ST1 would make any difference would it? If not I would probably not have it sealed again when it was serviced. I don't dive in cold water.

Obviously I am going to work harder at being sure I soak/rinse the reg well, but I don't know that I will be able to improve much. So, would going to the all stainless ST1 likely provide enough additional corrosion resistance that it would be a meaningful upgrade?

 

[The Kraken]

In my OPINION from having dealt with metals and hostile environments in the past, I would say "YES". If my old Atomic B2 ever craps out, I'm gonna get the stainless steel one.

the K

 

[Captain12Pk]

I would agree with the above. I have 2 Atomic ST1's and love them. Corrosion resistant and very durable.

 

[herman]

If you have corrosion INSIDE your reg, soaking or a SS reg is not going to resolve the problem. Saltwater is getting in somehow and all the soaking you can possibly do is not going to help, soaking is to stop exterior corrosion and has no effect on internal corrosion. Something you are doing is allowing salt water into your reg. You have to figure out how the water is getting and and stop it from happening. Off hand, my first 2 guesses are wet dust caps and/or water inside the neck of a tank. When diving off a boat, esp with rental tanks with no caps, a drop or 2 of water can get inside the outlet of a tank valve during the boat ride. If it's not cleared out before attaching a tank, this drop of water is blown into the reg, causing all sorts of problems. It only takes a drop or 2 of salt water to cause a good bit of problems inside a reg. A SS reg or more soaking is not the answer to your problem. Find out how water is getting inside your reg and put a stop to it, you internal corrosion problems will end.

 

[fnfalman]

Do you want it? Can you afford it?

If yes to both then it's worth the cost.

 

[halocline]

There are so many 30 year old+ regs still doing just fine, it's hard to imagine what problem this reg is trying to solve. Take care of your brass reg and it will last a lifetime.

 

[Wookie]

There are so many 30 year old+ regs still doing just fine, it's hard to imagine what problem this reg is trying to solve. Take care of your brass reg and it will last a lifetime.

I agree with mattboy. I have at least one of every atomic first and second stage known to man, and I don't have corrosion problems inside any of them. My regulators do not live easy lives on the deck of a dive boat, the only thing that ever gets rinsed is the Monel O2 clean regs. The titanium, brass, and stainless ones all get rinsed when it rains, or just before servicing every 3 years. Mine are environmentally sealed, maybe that's the difference.

 

[vladimir]

the only thing that ever gets rinsed is the Monel O2 clean regs.

M1s. Are they more susceptible to corrosion?

 

[DeusVerto]

When I was YMCA certified 35 years ago, they taught all of us to crack open the tank valve for an instant just to blow any water or debris out of the 1st stage seating area before attaching the reg. When I decided to get a PADI cert 10 years ago, there was a mention of this in the book, but I never saw the instructor do it or talk about it.

It's still a habit of mine, and I goose the tank valve pretty good, sometimes raising the eyebrows of fellow divers. If you visually inspect the tank valve after a quick pass from a towel, make sure the O-ring is there, then do the air blast, it would be virtually impossible for foreign material, even sea water, to get into your first stage.

If you do all this and STILL get corrosion in the first stage, I'm with the previous poster(s); there is something mightily amiss somewhere.

 

[Wookie]

M1s. Are they more susceptible to corrosion?

Nope, but I use them with 100% O2. I tend to treat O2 gear differently than other gear. Also, they don't get used every day, so there is a cleaning ritual that they get that the other gear doesn't.