regulators that work in warm AND cold water?

[doctorwhodiver]

I'm not sure if this is a silly question or not but I'm looking into purchasing my first regulator set after completing my OW class and about 15 dives...so I'm pretty new to the sport. I wanted to know if there are regulators that work in both cold and warm water?

The reason I want to buy a regulator is that I don't want to rent one from shops when I go on vacation because I just don't trust my life ("my regulator") in the hands of someone I may have just met 20 minutes ago. Plus my first dive is off of a large snorkeling boat that sends hundreds of people in and out every day and just does diving on the side...so God knows when the last time they had those regulators checked and maintained.

Anyhow, without all the rambling, I usually dive in the cold waters of the north east (usa) but will probably be traveling at least once a year to a warm place to dive at. Is there a regulator out there that I can safely use in both conditions?

thanks!

 

[redacted]

If I believed that my life was dependent on my regulator, I would stop diving.

 

[Byte Me]

I dive in the Great Lake in the summer and take a few warmer water dive trips each year. I've had very good luck with both the Hollis DC1 / 212 and Oceanic FDX10 / Delta 4. Both have some nice adjustment features as well as being environmentally sealed. Never had a free flow from either whether diving under the ice or in Bonaire.

 

[agilis]

Just about any decent quality regulator will work in cold water. Even marginal economy grade stuff works just fine in warm water. Where you may be confused is the need to avoid the icing that can come from diving in water that is at, or even below, the fresh water freezing point, because of the possible problem of condensation freezing inside the regulator. This is not an issue in ordinary North East oceanic cold water diving. I've used 20+ year old piston type regulators in very cold water (40F) without even the hint of a problem. Don't worry about it, unless you plan to do ice diving, in which case you might consider something like a Scubapro Mk17, or one of its many equivalents, with a nice simple high quality second stage. I use the SP 109, 156, and 250, but there are lots and lots of others. Do some reading.

 

[Lorenzoid]

By all means buy your own regulator, but there's no need to have quite such a fear of rental equipment. I used rental equipment for years in the Caribbean before buying my own. Seemed to me that most dive ops service their equipment at least enough to prevent major incidents. And I would bet that in cold-water regions of the lawsuit-crazed US, dive ops are likely even more conscientious in their servicing of rental gear. Regulators are pretty tough, as the mechanism is surprisingly simple. I used quite a few rental regs that did not breathe well or made disconcerting noises, but they did the job, and I didn't hear of any major incidents from others who were using rental regs while I was there. The real benefit of owning your own regulator is that you can get a higher-performance one than you will typically find as a rental.

 

[Imla]

What is your definition of cold water?

Any good cold-water reg (Norwegian cold water, ie. -1) will also function well in warmer waters...

Not all regs are tolerant of cold waters... so... what do you mean by cold? ;D

 

[Tortuga68]

Is there a regulator out there that I can safely use in both conditions?

Any coldwater-rated reg can also be used in warmwater; the reverse situation depends on the temperature & the reg

 

[AfterDark]

I'm not sure if this is a silly question or not but I'm looking into purchasing my first regulator set after completing my OW class and about 15 dives...so I'm pretty new to the sport. I wanted to know if there are regulators that work in both cold and warm water?

The reason I want to buy a regulator is that I don't want to rent one from shops when I go on vacation because I just don't trust my life ("my regulator") in the hands of someone I may have just met 20 minutes ago. Plus my first dive is off of a large snorkeling boat that sends hundreds of people in and out every day and just does diving on the side...so God knows when the last time they had those regulators checked and maintained.

Anyhow, without all the rambling, I usually dive in the cold waters of the north east (usa) but will probably be traveling at least once a year to a warm place to dive at. Is there a regulator out there that I can safely use in both conditions?

thanks!

I used the same Scubapro Mkv regulator for 40 years until the support for the exhaust check valve started to come apart. I went on Ebay bought 3 more, had them serviced and will be using them for the rest of my diving life. There's already 2.3 years and 150 dives on them. My 1st and only BCD jacket lasted 15 years of hard diving; before that I didn't own one. I bought a BP/W as part of my upgrade a few years ago. I just used my old wetsuit from the 80's to dive NC complete with the beavertail on the jacket. That's right 30 years later and I still fit in it. Both my spg's are old Scubapro analog gauges one being the 1st one I bought back in the late 70's when I could at last afford one! The other being the same and probably just as old. I could go on. Your diving gear if cared for and serviced regularly will last almost as long as you do.

 

[doctorwhodiver]

What is your definition of cold water?

Any good cold-water reg (Norwegian cold water, ie. -1) will also function well in warmer waters...

Not all regs are tolerant of cold waters... so... what do you mean by cold? ;D

Probably about 40 degrees is the coldest the regulator would be in!

 

[DivemasterDennis]

My aqualung legend is very versatile, and I have used it without issue from 50F to 85F. The adjustable second stage is avery important feature in using it in a broad range of conditions. Below 50F, I cannot say.
DivemasterDennis