Primary Port Connections

[mccabejc]

Planning on renting a regulator setup while mine is in the shop, and I want to replace the computer and hose which comes with it with my Cobra and attached hose.

I've never made or broken connections to the ports of a primary regulator before. Anything I should know?

 

[redacted]

80 inch pounds of torque. That's finger tight and just enough more that you can't undue it by hand.

 

[ShakaZulu]

Imagine you had that Wrist Computor.........hmmm. Nothing to be concerned about. Unscrew the hose, and attach yours. Do a bubble check and you are set to go. Don't over torque it, you don't want the o-ring to act as a flat washer.

 

[Northeastwrecks]

Planning on renting a regulator setup while mine is in the shop, and I want to replace the computer and hose which comes with it with my Cobra and attached hose.

I've never made or broken connections to the ports of a primary regulator before. Anything I should know?

Make sure that you attach the hose to a HP outlet.

Make sure that the o-ring on the hose is in good shape before you tighten.

Don't crossthread. I find it easiest to let the hose hang vertically, position the reg over the thread, start it, and hand tighten until it is snug.

Don't overtighten. Once you can't hand tighten it anymore, use small open end wrench to finish the job. Apply some pressure, but don't go nuts.

Don't undertighten.

Once you're done, put the reg on a tank, pressurize and toss it in a rinse or fill station. Look for leaks.

 

[H2Andy]

there's no real trick to it.. good advice so far

i tighten by hand, then use a cressent wrench to tighten maybe half a turn more

don't force it

 

[keyshunter]

there's no real trick to it.. good advice so far

i tighten by hand, then use a cressent wrench to tighten maybe half a turn more

don't force it

Half a turn past hand tight is waaaay too much.

 

[H2Andy]

you think so? i don't force it or anything... just tighten a bit

but enough that i can't get it undone by hand

 

[redacted]

there's no real trick to it.. good advice so far

i tighten by hand, then use a cressent wrench to tighten maybe half a turn more

don't force it

OK, that made me get the torque wrench out and check. And a half turn is too much. With a Scubapro Mk20, a 6th to a 5th of a turn (60 to 70 degrees) took me from hand tight to 80 inch pound with both the LP hose and the LP port plugs. With the HP port plugs, it only took an 8th of a turn (45 degrees). So go easy on those things. If you don't go tight enough, it may loosen and leak noticably and you can simply tighten them. (I've done it a few times.) If you go to tight, you are going to spend a fair amount of time and money fixing it.

I'm just going to use 45 degrees for all of them in the field for now on.

Thanks Andy

 

[H2Andy]

pretty sweet...

i've been doing the half turn thing for a while now, and no problems (knock wood)
but no point tempting fate