Yoke to Din, Din to yoke?

[Rdal]

I recently purchased new (to me) tanks, which all have DIN fittings on them. Currently I use a plug for my yolk regulators while I wait for the fitting to convert them to DIN. I will be doing 95% of my diving with my own tanks, but will be travelling occasionally over the winters to dive. Is it worth the money to get the DIN to yolk adapters for my regs, or will I be fine just swapping the fitting back to DIN whenever I decide to travel to a destination that only offers yolk tanks? Are there any issues that I should be aware of doing this hardware swap? I would likely only be doing this once a year if that often.

 

[arew+4]

Yoke, not Yolk.
What is most common in your area and where you vacation? Set your gear for that and then you won't have issues caused by failure to alter set up prior to departure. Maybe change tank valve if yoke is most common every where you go.

 

[txgoose]

If the goal is to tinker and learn and experiment, you can do the hardware swap. If the goal is to dive DIN most of the time, by a simple DIN to yoke adapter for the once a year you're using yoke valves on vacay. If the goal is to live life easy, keep the plugs in place and you're already done.

All goals are valid. All or none of my thoughts may be valid.

 

[kelemvor]

If you get the "conversion kit" for your regulator it's very easy to install. I'm not any kind of technician and it takes me less than 5 minutes to do on my scubapro mk25. This way you can dive either Yoke or DIN valved tanks without using any adapters. Alternatively, a DIN regulator with a din to yoke adapter works well too. It's just a little heavier and bulkier than actually converting the reg (which is really unscrewing one screw with an allen wrench, and replacing a piece or two, then screwing it back in).

Although my tanks all have "pro" or "convertible" DIN valves that take the yoke insert, I prefer to dive DIN at home. My dive travel has all been in the Caribbean or in Florida where yoke is the standard. Some shops will provide tanks with DIN valves if you special order them.

 

[bamafan]

You will probably need the flat / shallow socket to get the yoke fitting on and off your reg. It is easy to swap back and forth but the adapters are even easier and at $20 / ea I wouldn't waste my time swapping my reg back to yoke. You may also be able to get the convertible valves on tanks when you are traveling. It will probably help to carry your own allen wrenchs. The inserts are a couple of different sizes from my experience.

 

[Rdal]

I have the tools and have taken the valve off before and will be converting the regs to din, as my tanks are HPs.

I was specifically wondering if there was any kind of damage I would have to worry about when converting them back in forth. I don't mind the five minutes of labor involved, and I do have all of the tools to do this.

 

[gcarter]

My regs were bought as yoke and I converted them to DIN. All of my tanks have pro valves, > 50% of my dives are local with my tanks, so I use DIN. When I travel, a bit of research tells me what I need and it is a very simple couple of minutes to swap if necessary. When I travel with them as DIN, I carry the adapter. I never convert to yoke unless I am certain that is all I will use.

Example: upcoming trip, standard 12l tanks used are DIN. I have been told 15l tanks are reserved for me, but those are yoke. Sine the standard is DIN, I am leaving my regs as DIN just in case, and I will use the adapter on the 15l rather than convert.

Why bother? Different strokes for different folks, but I converted to DIN when on 2 tanks in the space of 2 months I had a yoke o-ring that appeared good blow on me, in each case while on land. This kind of issue is significantly more likely on yoke than it is on DIN.

 

[rhwestfall]

my solution: I have DIN stages for my diving at home, and yoke stages for travel....

great deals to be had on the used goods markets...

YMMV

 

[Zef]

I recently purchased new (to me) tanks, which all have DIN fittings on them. Currently I use a plug for my yolk regulators while I wait for the fitting to convert them to DIN. I will be doing 95% of my diving with my own tanks, but will be travelling occasionally over the winters to dive. Is it worth the money to get the DIN to yolk adapters for my regs, or will I be fine just swapping the fitting back to DIN whenever I decide to travel to a destination that only offers yolk tanks? Are there any issues that I should be aware of doing this hardware swap? I would likely only be doing this once a year if that often.

Unless your tanks and valves are rated for high pressure (< 234 bar) then using a yoke regulator on a DIN valve with an insert is a perfectly acceptable way to have your gear set up. Converting your regs to DIN is just an exercise in spending money, especially if you will dive places that do not use DIN valves where you will need to spend more money on a DIN to yoke adapter as you are asking about.

Since you are waiting for the DIN fittings for your regs, I would recommend that you cancel the order if you can...I did exactly what you have done and while I like my regs configured for DIN I do not like using them with an adapter. Also, the adapters and the DIN fittings for my regs are about half the price here in Europe (where I am stationed) compared to what they would cost me in the US or from a US based website. One of the 2 clubs that I belong to has plenty of tanks with DIN valves with the inserts, I have a couple of tanks sorta semi-permanently signed out and just pulled the inserts before I took them home. I have an insert in my save-a-dive kit along with one of the DIN to Yoke converters, but I have not had to use the converter as few trips I have been on since going DIN were with operators that had DIN valves available.

The reality is that there are few reasons to convert your regulator to DIN, and the Yoke regulator is almost always going to be more versatile for recreational diving as you can always put a threaded insert into a DIN valve to use a yoke reg with it...much more transportable than the other way around and the yoke adapter causes your 1st stage to sit further away from the valve which can cause increased head/neck contact.

Just my 2 cents.

-Z

 

[gcarter]

The reality is that there are few reasons to convert your regulator to DIN, and the Yoke regulator is almost always going to be more versatile for recreational diving as you can always put a threaded insert into a DIN valve to use a yoke reg with it...much more transportable than the other way around and the yoke adapter causes your 1st stage to sit further away from the valve which can cause increased head/neck contact.

This is unfortunately not true. Not every DIN valve can be used with yoke with an insert. Many, for example, do not have the required dimple on the back of the valve required to secure the yoke.