I've been having a freeflow problem with my second stage when I remove it from mouth at the surface. Any suggestions or comments welcome.
Hi
I have a Mares Abyss 42 (and a Abyss octopus), which also freeflows when I take it out - but only when the mouthpiece points upwards.
To my knowledge (
and anyone from Mares, please correct me) this is normal and by design for all high-end Mares regulators.
Your Mares regulator is very high quality and thus very sensitive. This is a huge advantage when diving, because it easily adjust to the divers demand on all depths.
When you take the 2nd stage out of your mouth, while submerged, the difference of just a few centimeters of waterpressure is enough to activate the lever inside your 2nd stage regulator, which might cause a freeflow.
Just try it in the surface and slowly submerge the regulator with the mouthpiece pointing up. When the front of the 2nd stage comes just a few centimeters down, you will hear a "hiss" of air flowing from the regulator. This indicates that the waterpressure has activated the lever inside the regulator and allows air to flow from the LP hose into the 2nd stage chamber. This also indicates that the cracking resistance is set correctly.
The solution; take it cool and just rotate the 2nd stage so that the mouthpiece points downwards.
This will make make the waterpressure slightly lower in the regulators front than in the mouthpiece, which will make the lever close the vent to the LP hose again.
Sometimes it also helps to hold your thumb over the mouthpiece hole, which makes the pressure inside a bit higher which again makes the lever release the vent to the LP hose (and shut off the air flow).
Note; this also applies to your Mares octopus, but here the cracking restance is set a bit higher than on a normal 2nd stage - to lower the possibility of freeflows when shifting positions during dives.
If your 2nd stage regulator releases air
while out of the water, you should take the unit to a Mares Service Center to get it checked and possible have the cracking resistance adjusted.
Best regards,
Jakob