"Whistling" reg

[rockrug]

Got in the pool yesterday to try out a new reg (Oceanic Delta 3)...and its whistles when I inhale....it sounds like it's coming from the hose, but it's difficult to tell. My dive buddy can even hear it. It's very, very annoying, as you can imagine.

Anyone heard of this? How can I make it go away!?

Brian

 

[Diver0001]

Got in the pool yesterday to try out a new reg (Oceanic Delta 3)...and its whistles when I inhale....it sounds like it's coming from the hose, but it's difficult to tell. My dive buddy can even hear it. It's very, very annoying, as you can imagine.

Anyone heard of this? How can I make it go away!?

Brian

The typical cause of this is resonance of air moving across the open valve. When you inhale the valve on the 2nd stage opens a bit and depending how the air moves through it you can get a whistling sound. Kind of the same idea as blowing across the top of a bottle.

The solution would be to change something to affect the dynamics. Often it will mean turning the LP seat or changing it for another one. Sometimes retuning to a lower/higher IP or fiddling with the cracking adjustment will help.

The sound can also be originating from inside the first stage. In this case it can be a resonance or a vibration (of the spring). I don't have much experience with first stage vibration so I'll let someone with more experience pick up that point. From the little I do understand, first stage vibration should sound more like a moan than a whistle but I really don't have enough first hand experience to be completely sure. If you breathe through your octopus and still hear the sound then chances are good that it's in the first stage.

In either case you'll need the help of a tech to adjust it.

R..

 

[dimitrik]

I had a whistling sound coming from my first stage after my reg was serviced. It was a result of the piston not having enough lube. It was a quick fix and no problems since then. Not sure if your reg is a piston design or not.

 

[crpntr133]

Oceanic also had a service issue on some of their first stages. My LDS uses Oceanic regs for their rental gear and they all use to do this.

 

[Lead_carrier]

If you bought it at your LDS, take it back and have them clean and lube it. That should take care of it. At worse, they will have to rebuild it. If that doesn't clear it up. Make them trade you for a different one. If they start balking, then nicely contact Oceanic and start talking. That usually gets people hoping.

 

[Gillty]

Could your reg be a Delta 4 with a FDX 10 first stage? There have been some issues with the FDX 10 whistling/squeeking/creeking due to the Dry Reg Technology causing some sort of resonating issues. This is not as much of a problem as it is an annoyance.

Gillty