Y-Valves

[ktomlinson]

I am just starting to look at diving with a Y or H valve and am curious why Y valves are hard to find? I have found plenty of H valves, but all references to Y valves are at least 3-5 years old. Do we know something about Y valves now that we didnt know 3-5 years ago (failures?) ?

 

[Scared Silly]

Only one mfg Y valves is Beauchat and I think they stopped making them. Especially for the english standards. You might find them for metric.

 

[Crush]

There is a good, short thread on Y and H valves here: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/dir/239164-h-valve-vs-y-valve.html

I was interested in getting a Y-valve as I thought (mistakenly) that it was an adapter that I could put onto an existing tank w/valve - a sort of adapter. I was wrong - the Y-valve replaces the normal valve - you have to remove the old valve and put the new one in. That pretty much sunk the deal for me since I rent tanks and I was not going to buy three Y-valves to put onto three rental tanks for three dives. I opted instead for a pony bottle (19 cu ft). I believe that nowadays most people opt for doubles or a pony or very good buddy discipline and combinations thereof.

 

[scubafanatic]

I've got a bunch of the Beuchat ones (6) that fit US tanks. They were rather expensive, in the neighborhood of $ 250 each, and that was several years ago. They're very nice valves and I think they're a much better design than an H-valve (which look dorky to me). I don't know if Beuchat still makes them, Beuchat was never a big player here in the US, and given the tiny slice of the US market, combined with the worldwide recession, I can easily imagine why they may no longer manufacture an 'imperial' (US) version.

 

[ktomlinson]

The beauchat y-valves are the only modern y-valve I could find (but even then the threads were 4 years old). I found an old scubapro y-valve on eBay, but it had the old style metal knobs, and it was just yoke. I can find plenty of h-valves, but I am just curious why y-valves fell out of favor or if the h-valve is a superior valve in some way that I am missing.

 

[Crush]

The kool kids all went to doubles. The newest batch of koolest kids are doing side-mount.

 

[Belmont]

It's only a matter of sales volume. The Beuchat valve is far superior to any H valve on the market. The demand for it was too small for the manufacturer to keep them in stock. I use one on a 130 because it saves me from changing my double reg config when I dive single tank, plus I like the nice redundancy.

 

[rjack321]

The kool kids all went to doubles. The newest batch of koolest kids are doing side-mount.

Pretty much.

Y valves don't offer much over a single tank. If you "really" need redundancy you need doubles or sidemount. Sidemount being the new "independents". If you "sorta" need redundancy most people opt for a pony.

The Beuchat Y valves are quite a bit nicer than H valves which have funky outlets and knob orientations. The Beuchat Ys were always really expensive though and I suspect their market collapsed on price-point. For instance you can easily buy a manifold (all 3 valves) for the price of one Beuchat Y valve.

 

[rx7diver]

OP, I personally prefer a Y-valve to an H-valve. We were required to use one during my Cavern and Basic Cave course in the late 80's, which was my introduction to them. I used an H-valve a couple of times a few years after that when rec diving in the Great Lakes, but preferred the Y-valve almost always because of its simplicity, the way it positions my 1st stages, and the position of the valve knobs. (I've attached a recent photo on one of my recent SB posts. Take a look.)

When drysuit diving with a single tank in cold water, the Y-valve provides a bit of buoyancy redundancy: BC is inflated from one post, while drysuit is inflated from the other--a good thing, if one post needs to be shut down during a dive.

I purchased a couple of Sherwood Y-valves from Northeast Scuba Supply a couple of years ago at a closeout price. You might check with them.

Couple of things, though: My Sherwood Y-valves are yoke valves. They won't fit my PST HP cylinders. And if they are used on narrow cylinders (e.g., Steel 72) and you need to use a yoke adaptor on your first stages, the first stages might be uncomfortably close to the back of your head. (I can't comfortably use my Poseidon regs with my Y-valve on my steel 72, for example.)

A friend of mine did Isle Royale rec dives using a Y-valve mounted on one of his older PST 104's, which seemed a really neat package. I did Whitefish Point (MI) rec dives using a Y-valve mounted on an OMS 108/112, and really loved this package.

Hope this helps.

 

[ktomlinson]

rx7diver, I think I would prefer a Y over a H-valve, although I have never used either one. The y valves just look like they would hold up better, and I think that I would prefer the symmetry the y valve offers. I just took cavern and plan on doing more cavern diving in the future, and though not required, redundant regulators would be preferable. I was able to find some y-valves (on eBay, and had an offer from a regular SB poster to sell me some) but all were yoke, and I am holding out for DIN. If I get any I am going to need 4 or them, so I am pretty sure that unless Beuchat starts making them again, or someone getting rid of theirs messages me here, that the chances of me getting them are slim.