Newbie: Reg Nitrox question

[Lateralus]

I'm a recreational diver and dive Nitrox a lot and I'm currently in the market to purchase a regulator. I was wondering, do all regulators work with Nitrox gas or does the reg have to be Nitrox compatible.

Are there regs that are designed specifically for nitrox?

Pardon the ignorance. Clueless here and would rather be safe than sorry after a $500+ purchase.

 

[tbone1004]

if you are in recreational limits *<40%*, which you are if you're asking the question, any regulator will work fine. No need to worry about it. If/when you get to technical diving and are using higher fO2 gases, then you will need something oxygen cleaned

 

[Lateralus]

if you are in recreational limits *<40%*, which you are if you're asking the question, any regulator will work fine. No need to worry about it. If/when you get to technical diving and are using higher fO2 gases, then you will need something oxygen cleaned

Thanks, so anything will work if it's under recreational limits.

 

[tbone1004]

Thanks, so anything will work if it's under recreational limits.

oui oui

 

[Caveeagle]

FWIW, in the early days of nitrox, several companies marketed regs as "nitrox compatible" with different color combos. I will reserve comment as to why they did this, but tbone1004 is correct that recreational mixes <40% are just fine.

Having said that, nearly all regs sold today are O2 clean. I don't think I would buy any new reg that was not. Or any titanium reg that should never be used with >40% o2.

 

[Brian G]

A few places mention that diaphragm regulators should not be used as deco regs, but I don't remember if they have specific limits on O2 percentage. Do people not use diaphragms for high O2?

 

[tbone1004]

A few places mention that diaphragm regulators should not be used as deco regs, but I don't remember if they have specific limits on O2 percentage. Do people not use diaphragms for high O2?

many/most still do. Technically pistons behave a bit better, but it's not really that critical if you behave with rebuilds

 

[boulderjohn]

FWIW, in the early days of nitrox, several companies marketed regs as "nitrox compatible" with different color combos. I will reserve comment as to why they did this, but tbone1004 is correct that recreational mixes <40% are just fine.

A tech told me that in those early days, you could spend about $40 more for a nitrox regulator instead of the regular version of that same regulator. (I don't recall the brand.) The only difference was that the exhaust area was green. You could also pay about $40 to have your regular regulator upgraded to nitrox, in which case they would snap off the black part and snap on a green one.

 

[BoltSnap]

A tech told me that in those early days, you could spend about $40 more for a nitrox regulator instead of the regular version of that same regulator. (I don't recall the brand.) The only difference was that the exhaust area was green. You could also pay about $40 to have your regular regulator upgraded to nitrox, in which case they would snap off the black part and snap on a green one.

In the early days of nitrox use, we used to use silicone grease and rubber o'rings in regulators. When Nitrox became mainstream, late 90's/early 2000's, mfg's started to move to using cristolube and viton o'rings in their regulators.

 

[BoltSnap]

I'm a recreational diver and dive Nitrox a lot and I'm currently in the market to purchase a regulator. I was wondering, do all regulators work with Nitrox gas or does the reg have to be Nitrox compatible.

Are there regs that are designed specifically for nitrox?

Pardon the ignorance. Clueless here and would rather be safe than sorry after a $500+ purchase.

If you are going to be using ≤40% O2, as in strictly recreational diving activities without going over 40% O2, all modern regulator are OK out of the box. If you are going to be using >40% O2 in your tank, as in deco gas for technical diving, then you need O2 clean regulator. There specially designated regulators that are "O2 clean" made by some mfg's but NOT all regulators can be used with >40% O2 if they aren't specially designated or specifically prepared for use with >40% O2.