I just bought a new Atomic B2 to replace my old Scubapro reg and the Atomic B2 manual says I have to decide what I am going to use the reg for, nitrox or air, and once I decide I cannot switch to the other without a service being performed on the reg. It is my understanding that there is a risk of explosion due to contamination if air is introduced to a reg that has been used with nitrox. Any information on this would be appreciated.
Use same reg for Nitrox and Air?
- Thread starter exemptr
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Yes... and during your next dinner, if you use your salad fork for your entre' it might just blow up in your face! 
Chad
(Sorry, I lost control of myself.)
Chad
(Sorry, I lost control of myself.)
Tamas
Contributor
Most regs are rated up to 40% O2 straight out of the box so you should be ok in that case.
Fill stations that use partial pressure blending of Nitrox will use hyper-clean air, so you are good there as well for contaminants.
The only time you really have to worry about it is when you are using the reg for 100% O2, then there is a need for the 1st stage to be O2 prepped/cleaned since high pressure O2 will be going through it.
Other then that fear not, and use your reg for whatever you want and just make sure that you get your fills from a reputable fill station.
Fill stations that use partial pressure blending of Nitrox will use hyper-clean air, so you are good there as well for contaminants.
The only time you really have to worry about it is when you are using the reg for 100% O2, then there is a need for the 1st stage to be O2 prepped/cleaned since high pressure O2 will be going through it.
Other then that fear not, and use your reg for whatever you want and just make sure that you get your fills from a reputable fill station.
Spectre
Contributor
Note that Tamas is referring directly to the reg, and not anything else. If you clean a bottle and valve for nitrox, and you have it filled with non hyper-filtered air you run a risk of contaminating the valve and tank. It's not a big risk, but it's a risk. You don't want pure oxygen hitting contaminated parts.
That's why a reg isn't a big deal, since it never sees pure oxygen unless it's being used on a deco bottle. But a tank and valve filled with crappy air, and then used for partial pressure nitrox gets hit by pure o2.
That's why a reg isn't a big deal, since it never sees pure oxygen unless it's being used on a deco bottle. But a tank and valve filled with crappy air, and then used for partial pressure nitrox gets hit by pure o2.
Charlie99
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The vast majority of divers ignore this warning. As Spectre points out, the reg won't see 100% O2, like partial pressure filled tanks will. I've ignored the same Atomics warning on my B1, randomly swapping back and forth between nitrox and plain old (not hyper-filtered) air with no trouble over the last 6 years and 400 dives.exemptr:
Charlie99:
Thank you Tamas, Spectre and Charlie99 for this helpful information. I called my LDL where I bought the reg and they confirmed that if I am using less than 40% nitrox mix I dont need to worry about a thing.
Perhaps you 3 can convince Chad not to skip his medication.
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