Why every diver should take a regulator course!

[BuceoVerde]

Last month I had the opportunity to take a regular course with Pete Murray at his shop in Florida.
I had been wanting to take a course for 2 reasons. I now have a better understanding of why every diver (and particularly technical divers) should take a regulator course and it's not the same 2 reasons I originally had.

My original 2 reasons for the course we're,

1. Regulator maintenance at the dive shop is super expensive. I've got about 10 regs and the cost adds up. I'm a bit of a DIY guy and I thought if I did the maintenance I would reduce my cost.
2. Being a technical diver, I want to know how my gear is maintained and how it's calibrated and be able to make adjustments confidently on my own.

After the course I learned a couple things that change my motivations for why a regulator course is important

1. Regulator maintenance is time intensive. That $60+ that the shop charges to do the maintenance may seem like a lot of money, but it's not once you realize how much work and parts you're paying for. It will probably take me 2+ hours to complete a single reg. Maybe the techs at the dive shop can do a reg per hour (I don't know), but they are getting paid for their time. If you consider the typical reg kit alone costs $25-$30, the tech is really not getting that much for an hours work on a reg and the shop has to take their cut too.
2. The most valuable thing I learned in the course is that I now know how to tune my reg at home with a minimal set of tools. So even if I have the shop do the maintenance, if I find that they didn't tune it just the way I need for scootering or whatever I'm doing, I now have the capability to confidently adjust the reg myself. That's huge because when I'm scootering and have to keep stopping because of freeflow, I should be able to fix that on my own without having to go back to the shop...and now I can!

I have about 10 regs. I mostly dive fresh water caves, so I can theoretically go longer between maintenance than with salt water diving. The cost of maintenance is significant. But I now have a much better appreciation of the time and skill that goes into the maintenance.

I learned a few other things as well,

1. Regulators have a lot of O-rings.
2. O-rings are dynamic or static. Dynamic O-rings are in motion and involve friction and therefore require liberal grease. Static O-rings are not in motion and do not involve friction and require minimal grease. A tube of Christo-lube or Tribal lube (both O2 safe) is relatively inexpensive.
3. First stage intermediate pressure (IP) should be set to 140-145psi (130-150 absolute limits). Different manufacturers may have slightly different guidelines.
4. Everyone should have an IP gauge. Whether you service your own reg or not, an IP gauge can be quickly connected to your inflator hose and help you quickly determine if you have a 1st or 2nd stage issue or a leak somewhere else in the system. Anything other than a first stage issue is possibly something you can service in the field.
5. The bucket method of second stage adjustment is generally sufficient for the DIY individual. No need to spend the $$ on expensive flow meters or magnehelic. Without going into full detail, the bucket method is used to adjust the 2nd stage. By immersing the second stage in water and observing at what point the regulator starts to flow the cracking pressure of the 2nd stage can be determined and adjusted.
6. Basic tools needed for regulator maintenance. Check www.scubatools.com
   1. IP Gauge with inflator adapter
   2. 1st stage handle / barrel vice - with high pressure and low pressure threads (3/8-24 and 7/16-20)
   3. Pin spanner wrenches
   4. Rubber mallet
   5. O-ring piks
   6. Soft SS wire brush
   7. Bucket for water
   8. Two books for reference
   9. Vance Harlow's SCUBA Regulator Maintenance and Repair
   10. Pete Wolfinger SCUBA Regulator Savvy

We took apart a diaphragm regulator in the course. I haven't looked inside a piston regulator yet. I expect when I take apart another reg, I'll probably need to look closely at the books or want to go back for another refresher course to pick up on any details I missed the first time around. But this was a really valuable experience!

Thank you Pete!!!
-David

 

[divad]

1. Everyone should have an IP gauge. Whether you service your own reg or not, an IP gauge can be quickly connected to your inflator hose and help you quickly determine if you have a 1st or 2nd stage issue or a leak somewhere else in the system.

That.

 

[Norwegian Cave Diver]

Did you take the PADI equipment course?
As a fellow cave diver - do you feel you learnt enough to service your own regs or learnt enough to adjust your own regs? or both. thanks

 

[tbone1004]

Did you take the PADI equipment course?
As a fellow cave diver - do you feel you learnt enough to service your own regs or learnt enough to adjust your own regs? or both. thanks

it was likely the HOG reg repair course though TDI that @The Chairman likes teaching. That course certifies you as a technician for those regulators, VERY different than the PADI equipment course

@BuceoVerde I do find inline adjustment tools more useful than the water bucket method for regulators that can use them *most "normal" regulators*, but if not, I use a digital magnehelic which has the advantage of being cheaper than the analog ones *weirdly*, as well as not requiring a true vertical mounting orientation.
Mine is like this one
https://www.amazon.com/Rupse-Hand-h...=1533222717&sr=8-3&keywords=digital+manometer
Super convenient tool to have

 

[The Chairman]

@BuceoVerde I do find inline adjustment tools more useful

I show my students how to set them accurately before they ever attach them to the hose. It's super easy and I hardly ever have to adjust the second stage afterwards. If I had to quantify it, I would say one in twenty need a tiny tweak. The use of a bucket is to help the student visualize what's happening and to provide them a method to check their gear out when they are on vacation somewhere.

Did you take the PADI equipment course?

As @tbone1004 suggested it was the HOG/Deep6 class I teach. That, tank inspection as well as my trim, buoyancy and propulsion classes make up my three most popular classes. The point of the class is to teach you not just how to assemble/disassemble your reg, but to learn how the feed back systems work so you can easily diagnose reg problems.

 

[tbone1004]

@The Chairman I can get within spec without using the adjusting tool, but can't get them right to the edge without adjusting and the $20 for the inline tool was worth the cost of entry to expedite that process

 

[The Chairman]

@tbone1004 Practice my padiwan. Really. With the micro adjustment all the way out, the baffle cover off and the lever pointing up, screw in the adjustment a turn or two. You should see the lever drop a bit. Gently, gently back it out until the lever just reaches it's apex. I'm holding the reg at eye level and looking across the reg opening. On the HOG, it usually just breaks the plane when you get there. There should be no play or almost no play up and down on the lever. Turn the screw in 1/16th of a turn if there's no play. I do this a few times to get it just right. You want the seat to barely contact the orifice. Now, test your work: try to blow into the inlet. No hiss is great. Gently push down on the lever and you should then hear a hiss. This will give you right at an inch of cracking pressure (low). Assemble the reg and adjust the IP to 145psi (10 bar). With the diaphragm down, slowly immerse the the second stage into a bucket of water. Measure from the line between the cover and the reg body. You should hear gas start to flow about an inch down. Tighten the micro adjustment all the way down and repeat. You might have water start to dump into the reg before you hear a hiss, but it should be kinda close. It doesn't matter if you have the "surface/depth" switch on or off for this. You're not testing the venturi effect, only the cracking pressure.

 

[BuceoVerde]

Did you take the PADI equipment course?
As a fellow cave diver - do you feel you learnt enough to service your own regs or learnt enough to adjust your own regs? or both. thanks

The Hog course covered the scope of essentials for both adjusting and servicing including the entire disassembly, cleaning, part replacement, re-assembly and adjustment of a diaghram reg.
Definitely retained enough to confidently adjust regs using the IP gauge and water bucket method. I'll need some further practice and study in the books I mentioned, before I confidently service a reg I take into a cave. But that's just part of the learning journey. I believe there is merit to learning the in-line method as well as understanding the piston reg design and I'll be doing that soon.

@BuceoVerde I do find inline adjustment tools more useful than the water bucket method for regulators that can use them *most "normal" regulators*, but if not, I use a digital magnehelic

Great advice, I just added that to my wishlist on Amazon.

Thanks for the comments!

 

[The Chairman]

Don't get me wrong. I love tools. I have tons of tools. I love measuring devices and have plenty of those as well. This just works so well and I can do it anywhere.

 

[tbone1004]

@The Chairman that's how @herman taught me years ago, but I do find the inline adjustment to be infinitely faster. I set it by eye first, but only bother getting it "close enough", I'm always within 1/4 turn in either direction of where I want to be. It lives in my toolbox along with the digital manometer and IP gauge since neither of them take up much space