Some days are made for diving

[JoelW]

Today was a beautiful day for diving. The sun was out and the sky was blue. I had a nice drive to the site. The was no wind and there wasn't a ripple to be seen on the water. Part of the reason for that was the skim of ice over part of the lake. The air temp was in the 30s and there is 6" of snow on the ground. All in all, a fantastic Minnesota December day.

I was out with a friend I had not dived with for a bit. We both were dressed dry and for the cold with a water temp 40F (4C to the rest of the world). Everything went well until my buddy's reg started free-flowing at 30'. A little long hose sharing to get to the top and his first words are "This Scubapro (a 500 something or other) is worthless for cold water, what are you using?". Another Apeks convert joins the world. We got everything settled and headed back to the shore. We spent 25 minutes in the water and if his reg hadn't gone South another 25 would have been easily done.

Assuming the hard water holds off we plan on trying his soon to be aquired Apeks in two weeks.

JoelW

 

[Blargh]

Hmm.. actually, people *do* use SP regs in cold water no problems (Apeks fan here btw)..

Your friend might want to a) get his reg serviced, and b) tuned down a bit.

 

[JoelW]

Blargh,

That is the intersting part. He just had it serviced, just bought it actually, and had the IP reduced with plans for using it ice diving.

JoelW

 

[Scottri]

I dive cold water often and have been down to 36 degrees on my Atomic and never had a problem. I don't have the environmental kit on yet and still no problems.


Scott

 

[Lost Yooper]

Not unusual, Joel. We see it up here with SP's quite often. Some people do, however, use them and never have a problem. Technique is critical with SP's that aren't sealed, but they really should be sealed for cold water.

Did it have the cold water silicon kit? I'm not a SP guy, but there used to be cold water pistons and/or seats designed specifically for cold water to be used in the first stage. As I recall, there were three different sets that could be used in their firsts.

Boy, 40F water is still pretty warm, really (rereading your post). It really shouldn't have froze up, regardless of having a kit or not and regardless of the IP. My best guess is that something may be wrong, especially if it was just serviced. What's the IP set at?

I'm not a fan of SP's, but it shouldn't have froze up UNLESS, perhaps, he had the second tuned to the point of free flow for easy breathing. This could certainly do it. I did this once to my T50D, and it too free flowed. You really don't want that second stage breathing extremely easy (ie. on the verge of free flow) in cold water.

Mike

Good choice on the Apeks, though.