Switching regulators

[Kodad]

just curious,
Aside from regulator recovery practice drills and air share drills, I never use my secondary second stage. (My secondary is on a necklace and I use my primary as the share air regulator.)

Does anyone regularly switch their regulators in order to give them equal use? That is, move their primary to their secondary and back again after so many dives?

 

[CptTightPants21]

100% equal use, no. I do switch and breathe off my octo for an extended period from time to time, but not every dive. Pre-dive checks involve breathing all 2nd stages under water for three breaths so that mitigates the question of whether or not the 2nd stage is working adequately.

 

[Kodad]

Yes, I should have included pre-dive checks on deck while setting up and in the water before descending...

 

[BoltSnap]

My two second stages are identical, ST1 second stages. I do rotate them primary/backup every 3-4 months. I also test breath the backup SS and practice OOA scenarios with my dive buddy frequently. I don't leave anything to chance as much as I can.

 

[gbf]

I breathe my bungeed second at every safety stop - that is, several minutes on most every dive. If my "safety stop" is putzing around under the boat or on the way in I'll breathe it then.

Mine are identical also.

 

[GreggS]

I use an Air II inflator, so to conserve air, I will use it and blow air manually into my BC until I have my bouyancy set, then switch over to my main reg. I rarely use my inflator button to inflate my bc except at the end of a dive after surfacing.

So, yeah, I use both every dive.

 

[tbone1004]

I dive sidemount most of the time, and independent doubles quite a bit of the time, so my regulators get pretty equal use.

that said, if I'm diving single tank or manifolded doubles, I will typically use the secondary when I first get to the bottom for a minute or two, and then will typically use it on ascent. You can swap them back and forth if they are identical and tuned identical though. No reason not to, but I think most people just don't think about it.

 

[TMHeimer]

Admit I only check my octo if diving with a buddy, which is very rare. Though I should use it a bit, I guess. It doesn't have the molded mouthpiece, so I guess that deters me.

 

[grf88]

I believe what the OP is asking is what BurhanMuntasser is describing which is swapping out your regulators and exhanging the one on your primary hose to the one on your secondary hose and vice versa. I do this occasionally but not on a set interval.

 

[The Chairman]

I certainly don't unless I'm diving sidemount. However, I really dislike divers who use crappy regs to share. Both second stages should be equal in quality. I just don't the how you can justify giving a POS reg to a guy who's by definition phreakin da phreak out. Hey, I detune the reg bungeed around my neck just a tad to avoid any freeflows. But that's not the reg I'm giving to a distressed diver.