SR-1 failure, again

[CMAN]

I believe the problem with the reg is proper lube of the 1st stage when it's put together. It is very touchy to this. I don't believe this to be a safety issue because the blow ups are happening when the tank is turned on and the 1st stage still functions there is just no seals on it to keep stuff out of it. That being said both times it happened to me I didn't dive with the reg and I wouldn't after it blew out. Sherwood worked with me on resolving the problem with my set but I wouldn't recommend an SR1 to someone at this point.

Most of the problems I have encountered with the SR1 is a free flowing 2nd stage that can not be stopped without turning the tank valve off. At first these were happening in deep cold water so we thought it might be freeze-flowing, but when I saw it happen in an indoor pool in 4 ft with a properly tuned reg I figured cold and deep didn't matter. I could be wrong but I suspect that the free-floating orifice in the second stage could be the problem. Anyway, I think D.A. summed it up pretty well, the SR1 is unreliable and I would not own one or recomend one either.

 

[endurodog]

I never had a free flow issue but have seen that on here. My issue was the rubber seal in the top of the first stage blew out 2 different times as I was turning the valve on. That was the one I believe is a lube issue in the first stage, however it is possible that could have an effect on free flow also.

 

[CMAN]

I have only seen one rubber seal blow-out of the first stage. The oring backer on the piston had been installed backwards (cup-side away from the oring). This was a brand new reg right out of the box. We have also encountered regs that had their yoke retainers come loose and cause that oring to blow and we have found some that were not tuned correctly also. These were right out of the box.

 

[ml3456]

When I was diving my now SR1 paperweight the yoke was coming loose so much I finally took it off and used some locktite on it applied to threads very carefully. When I found it the first time I was surprised at how loose it had become!!