Onyx question - preventing free flows

[DukeAMO]

I'm hoping there's a useful trick here...

DH and I have brand-new Zeagle Onyx regulators. We had our LDS set them up with the hoses, octos, gauges, etc. They breathe very nicely, even when doing fun things like handstands or laying belly-up. But I did run into a problem that I never had with the regulators our LDS rents/loans out. I took the 1st stage out of my mouth at only 10-12 feet deep just for practice, and it started free-flowing right away. I expected that I would be able to stop it by just turning it face-down like I can at the surface, but that didn't do the trick. I tried tapping it a little, but that didn't help. So I ended up breathing off of a free-flowing regulator up to the surface, and I stopped it there.

I got one of the staff to take a look, and he showed me the trick where you actually close your other hand over the mouthpiece, and that reliably stopped the free-flow. I practiced that a bit, and it's not difficult. However, by that point I had already gone through an awful lot of air. He said it's common for high-performance regulators to free flow; it's just the price you pay for something that breathes easily at any depth. So, you do have to practice stopping them quickly.

My question is this - can I prevent the free-flow from starting when I take out the regulator, so I don't have to struggle with it and waste air to begin with?

Thanks!

 

[keyshunter]

When you remove the reg from your mouth immediately turn the MOUTHPIECE down. If it still freeflows flip the lever to predive which will cancel the venturi effect and that should stop the freeflow. You can also turn the adjustment knob in (clockwise) to to make the tuning a bit less aggressive and thus less likely to freeflow.

 

[elan]

As the previous poster mentioned do not remove the reg with mouthpiece facing up and the ventury on +

This is quite normal for high performance regs just close the hole in the mouthpiece if it happens and it will stop

 

[Capt.Gene]

Or perhaps use the built in device to prevent free flow when removing the mouthpiece.
Just push the lever forward before spitting out the mouthpiece.
Pull it back towards you when you notice breathing requires more effort.

 

[herman]

Another thing is how you remove your reg. If you remove it slowly, mouthpiece down is it much less likely to freeflow. Pull it out fast with the mouthpiece horizonal and odds are it will freeflow.

 

[DukeAMO]

OK, thanks for the tips. I'll play around with it this weekend to see if I can prevent it from free flowing. Worst case, at least now I know how to stop it.

P.S. Did I mention how pretty the Onyx is? ;-)

 

[Capt.Gene]

Feel free to try and make the regulator free flow uw with the venturi lever in the forward position.

 

[DukeAMO]

Yes, after still dealing with FF and wasting air on last weekend's dives, I've finally started using the little venturi lever. ;-)

 

[keyshunter]

Glad you got it sorted out. I am really surprised that your LDS did not explain about the lever when you bought the reg. I am even more surprised (well, not really) that the"staff" did not explain it to you when you had your initial problem.