regulator service, specifically for 2nd stage, what is involved?

[redacted]

I feel the first step in a good service is a thorough inspection before any disassembly. If it is your own reg which you have been diving (and doing bubble check) that may mean little more than a check of IP. The tech who goes right to disassembly is probably planning on swapping parts and collecting $$. Before you can solve a problem, it is a good idea to fully understand the problem.

 

[halocline]

The two biggest tasks are getting everything really clean and adjusting everything accurately. I also take time to inspect the orifice edge with a jeweler's loupe, and have on occasion touched up the edge with a bit of micromesh. 2nd stages vary widely in their complexity, often the more complicated ones have anti set mechanisms and/or lots of fiddly parts in the breathing adjustments.

 

[eelnoraa]

• 1 yard of 1/4" plastic pipe: $1
• 1 ruler: $1
• 2 cable ties: 5 cts.
• 5 cc of demineralized water: 5cts
• Grand total: $2.10

Actually I cheated, I liberated the ruler from one of my kids, so my cost is half of that.

The device is self calibrating (slide the pipe up & down to match the water level), self compensating for altitude, and requires only about 1 cc of water every quater to top off.

If you really want to get fancy, do it herman's way and add some colour to the water.

I have one of those massive 2$ investments.....

What I do is hook it up with plastic tubing to an old mouthpiece. Attach the old mouthpiece to the just serviced 2nd stage. Breathe in... Watch the IP gauge reading drop (now that is certainly more than 2$, but that is another story....). Voila - you can now read your cracking pressure!!! Adjust to manufacturer's specs or to your preference.

Making this "investment" is very self explainatory. My question is more like how to use it adjust breathing efford.

And "hooking it up with plastic ... breahe in... " Do I breath in from the plastic tube? And record the difference in water level when 2nd stage start to delivery air? And why IP matter here?

 

[elan]

Even balanced stages have a bias. The higher the IP the easier they cranck

 

[Zung]

Making this "investment" is very self explainatory. My question is more like how to use it adjust breathing efford.

And "hooking it up with plastic ... breahe in... " Do I breath in from the plastic tube? And record the difference in water level when 2nd stage start to delivery air? And why IP matter here?

YMMV, the way I do it, I stick the long end of the pipe in the corner of my mouth, also used as a seal, and inhale on the second. One of the water column goes down while the other one goes up, and the difference between the 2 gives you the inhalation effort expressed in inches or cm of water. Generally speaking, 1 inch is good, 1.4-1.5 is good for an octo.

 

[Pao]

You use the IP gauge to determine when the 2nd stage "cracks" open. It is at this point that the IP momentarily drops as the 1st stage delivers air to the 2nd stage. It is at this point that you determine cracking pressure.

 

[eelnoraa]

Thanks guys and gals. I will use this method to check breathing performance of all my 2nd stages this weekends, and let you guys know what happen