Which is the most durable regulator?

[fisherdvm]

I've often heard the sherwood brut is nearly indestructible and easy to service. If your life depended on reliability, and for warm weather diving - which regulator would you recommend? I've seen a brut serviced with nothing more than a crescent wrench, a screw driver, and an intermediate pressure gauge. Are there any simple, easy to service, easy to find parts regulators out there?

 

[Luis H]

1) Aqua Master...I have seen some 40 year old, that has never been serviced working as good as new...and they were not clean either.

2) Royal Aqua Master

For single hose:

1) Conshelf

2) Scubapro Mk-5 with 109

Sherwood's seem fairly rugged (considering they have plastic second stages), but we will really know 30 to 40 years from now. I know the regulators mentioned above will be around in another 30+ years, some will be re-chromed...you can't do that with plastic.

 

[Gilldiver]

1) Aqua Master...I have seen some 40 year old, that has never been serviced working as good as new...and they were not clean either.

2) Royal Aqua Master

For single hose:

1) Conshelf

2) Scubapro Mk-5 with 109

Sherwood's seem fairly rugged (considering they have plastic second stages), but we will really know 30 to 40 years from now. I know the regulators mentioned above will be around in another 30+ years, some will be re-chromed...you can't do that with plastic.

I would take the original Mistral over the Aqua Master as there is just about nothing to fail (4 moving parts and one O-ring and it is not even presurized), but it is a 50 year old two hose design, so it may not be for everyone. The most durable single hose regs seem to the US Divers/Aqua Lung Conshelf series and Conshelf XIV can be got on ebay for only a few dollars and the internal parts are still used in most of the new or modern Aqua Lung designs. Look for one with a metal second stage, get it tuned correctly and it holds it own with all the new regs and you will still be able to dive it in 20 years.

 

[herman]

Any of the metal second stages with down stream valves are almost industructable as long as you treat them with a little care. Most of the parts are interchangable and the LP seats can be home made. The diaphrams are the part that may give you problems in the distant future.
The Sherwood regs have a couple of flaws that can be somewhat of a pain. The air bleed in the first stages can clog up requiring the piston to be replaced. It will not prevent the reg from working, it just stops the airbleed dry system from working which means you will have to clean the reg more often. The plastic seconds had a cracking problem around the inlet hose connection.
For first stages I think would add the Scubapro MK-2 to the list. Simple, very few parts and easy to repair.
The only parts "difficult" to find in either the MK-2 and the Sherwoods are the HP seats and these can be turned over and reused (once ) the rest of the parts are common Orings. Often times the LP seats can be turned over as well.
So if it were me, a MK-2 or SW first stage and a couple of metal seconds with a spare parts kit of Orings, HP seats (the most important part), some second LP seats and a diaphram or 2. Both of these first stages can be serviced with a large adjustable wrench and a Oring pick....oh and a 2 inch finishing nail.

 

[Nemrod]

1. USD Royal Aqua Master, parts available from various places including Vintage Double Hose
2. AL/USD Conshelf of any era with metal second stage
3. AL Titan would be a really good choice but since it is plastic I cannot give it a number one ranking. There is simply no way a plastic regulator can hold up in the long run, Titan, super duper Apeks, Oceanic, they will all succomb to plastisocis and fall apart in a few years.

N

 

[keyshunter]

Any of the metal second stages with down stream valves are almost industructable as long as you treat them with a little care. Most of the parts are interchangable and the LP seats can be home made. The diaphrams are the part that may give you problems in the distant future.
The Sherwood regs have a couple of flaws that can be somewhat of a pain. The air bleed in the first stages can clog up requiring the piston to be replaced. It will not prevent the reg from working, it just stops the airbleed dry system from working which means you will have to clean the reg more often. The plastic seconds had a cracking problem around the inlet hose connection.
For first stages I think would add the Scubapro MK-2 to the list. Simple, very few parts and easy to repair.
The only parts "difficult" to find in either the MK-2 and the Sherwoods are the HP seats and these can be turned over and reused (once ) the rest of the parts are common Orings. Often times the LP seats can be turned over as well.
So if it were me, a MK-2 or SW first stage and a couple of metal seconds with a spare parts kit of Orings, HP seats (the most important part), some second LP seats and a diaphram or 2. Both of these first stages can be serviced with a large adjustable wrench and a Oring pick....oh and a 2 inch finishing nail.

Herman,
The Sherwood air bleed orifice was moved from the piston to the main body about 10 years ago. The small orifice is quickly removable with an allen wrench for cleaning or replacement. At least 5 years ago, Sherwood changed the filter on this removable unit from scintered to some type of foam. Last summer, after about 5 years and 300 dives, my g/f's Sherwood stopped bubbling. I popped it open. changed the foam filter and had her back in business in about 5 minutes. I probably should have flipped the seat, but it looked good, the IP was steady as a rock, and the reg was clean as a pin inside. But, I guess I'll have to do a complete rebuild one of these days. Also, when Sherwood went to the oval second, the inlet connection was reinforced, and cracking is not as much of a problem

 

[halocline]

If you're counting the "easy to find parts for" part of the OP that kind of knocks out the old double hosers.

Another vote for the MK5/R109. MK2 might last longer between rebuilds, and I guess the sherwoods are a very similar design; not quite as simple.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I agree with the DW Mistral being very bullet proof. They will go for decades without service. THE DA Aquamster and Royal Aquamsters woudl be a close second and have better upgrade/modernization potential.

A Conshlef XIV is also hard to beat and the metal conshelf second stage is another design that seems to do well even with a lack of service for years.

5 years ago I would agree that double hose parts were hard to find as everyone was fighting over a very limited supply of NOS and used but serviceable or reconditioned parts. But now, at least with the commonly encountered and good performing US Divers designed double hose regs, third party suppliers have begun making reproduction parts and they are very easy to restore and put back into service with new rebuild kits, new hoses, new diaphragms, new mouthpieces and other parts being readily available. They are in fact easier to get serviced than many single hose designs a fraction of their age - such as anything made by dacor.

 

[squidster]

Aqualung Conshelf,Scuba pro Mk11/R395,Sherwood Oasis,Aqualung titan.
All of these regs are top notch easy on the wallet Regs

 

[Gilldiver]

I just checked ebay and a Conshelf XIV with metal 2nd stage have run from $10 to $100. A rebuild kit will run about $25 to $30 or so. Not bad for a reg that you can beat the crap out of and use to drive nails or hammer a porthole out of a wreck. I have one for my 10 year old to beat on in the pool and I think I will need to get another for my 5 year old soon.

The double hose regs are a niche that I am happy to be part of, but it is not for everyone. But with the introduction of silicon rubber and redesigned hoses, mouth piece valves (AKA Wagon Wheels), diaphragms, duckbill valves, and rebuild kits they really are well performing and the Navy still uses them for training divers for rebreather diving.

A reconditioned Aqua Master or Royal Aqua Master will run you between $250 to $450 depending on condition. The ones at the high end will have been re-chromed and look like they are brand new. You can also add what is called a Phoenix Nozzle which is a replacement 1st stage for the US Diver (Aqua Lung) Aqua Master and Royal Aqua Master regs. With the nozzle you now will have 3 High Pressure and 3 Low Pressure ports so you can have an Octopus, BC and/or Dry Suit inflator, and pressure gage/consol just like on any modern reg. The nozzle also uses the new design Aqua Lung High pressure seat - not that the old design seat was bad, a 1959 Aqua Master used the same seat as a 1999 Conshelf.