Question What defines a "cold water regulator"?

[MuskokaDive]

Newbie here. I live in Muskoka Ontario, so diving will be in cold water. I have a Mares 15x 1st stage and a Rover secondary. Current water temps are 2-5*C. My question is: What defines a cold water regulator? What features should I be looking for? Is my current rig adequate/safe? Do manufacturers provide temp ratings? (I've not seen any). Thanks for your help

 

[Ontwreckdiver]

Your reg's aren't really for cold water diving, at the very least the second stage should have a metal body not plastic. I have a Mares MR22 Abyss for my main and a Mares Proton Metal for my octo. Mares – Abyss 22 Regulator – Aquarius Scuba You can get a dedicated cold water reg but it will be more expensive. Abyss 22 Navy II | Mares scuba diver regulator
I have been diving my Abyss for about 23 years and it has never free flowed once. I like that there are no adjustment knobs or levers to fiddle around with.

 

[jadairiii]

RAM

 

[rhwestfall]

Kraken

 

[Gone for diving]

I wouldn't be terribly concerned about it,
Give it a try in a controlled dive.
Any reg can fail, you better have a plan when it does,
Back in the day my first reg was a mares mr12 with axis, some people made fun of it, its been ice diving, and my primary and backup reg for 20 years,
I am very impress with it, and it breathe extremely well, for a simple regulator.
One of my buddy's has a rover, no problems with it,

You may want to lower the intermediate pressure slightly, if you know what you're doing...

I have seen in the past, a small dive buddy
Freeze up a reg, because they sip on the reg, and the valve never opens properly, and ice builds up on the sealing surface,
It starts to free flow very slightly and builds up until it a full free flow, shut down the valve, few minutes later its good to go,

Yes a steel body reg is better in my opinion, but there are not alot of options new,

 

[rhwestfall]

But seriously, for folks wanting a single hose regulator, the ideal choice is an environmentally sealed first stage. This equates to various choices like a piston that requires packing, or a diaphragm that is sealed with an additional seal on the ambient chamber. There is also a hybrid (Sherwood SR-2) that is a piston, but has a sealed ambient chamber (without the mess of packing).

 

[rhwestfall]

My cold water regulators (family of divers):

ScubaPro MK-17/G250v
HOG D1-cold with Classic or Zenith seconds
Deep6 Signature
Poseidon XStream
Sherwood SR2

Argonaut Kraken (double hose)
US Divers PRAM (double hose)

 

[rhwestfall]

I prefer metal air barrel seconds, but there seems to be more and more using non-metallic air barrels.

 

[Belzelbub]

Newbie here. I live in Muskoka Ontario, so diving will be in cold water. I have a Mares 15x 1st stage and a Rover secondary. Current water temps are 2-5*C. My question is: What defines a cold water regulator? What features should I be looking for?

Generally, regulators suitable for cold water have a couple features that other regulators do not.

Environmentally sealed first stage. Keeps water away from the moving parts of the 1st stage.

2nd stage has some sort of heat sink. This can be a metal body, or built into the inlet of the 2nd.