Regulator problems

[torbaydiver]

Went for a dive today and as I was entering the water (10 C) I purged my apex reg ATX40 but it continued to purge after removing my finger from the botton, I tried pushing the Botton on off again and finally managed to stop it by moving the airflow lever but not before losing 30 bar of air!
My equipment is only about four months old and I always hose down my equipment with freshwater and leave to soak for 24 hours.
I was wondering if anybody had any ideas why this happened and how to prevent it?
Thanks/Steve

 

[jonnythan]

It's designed to do that. Never, ever, ever depress the purge button when the regulator is 1) not in your mouth and 2) the venturi knob is set to "+"

The second stage is designed to give a slightly *positive* flow of air with the knob at the + position.. hence you need to exhale into it or otherwise raise the pressure inside the body of the second stage to get it to close.

If you do it again by accident, just cover the mouthpiece with your hand or shove it in your mouth and it will stop.

 

[DeepScuba]

I believe what Jonnythan says is exactly what's in the APEKS service manuals!

 

[jonnythan]

You know you have it tuned well when it freeflows on the surface after pressing the purge with the venturi on + and it doesn't with the venturi on -

 

[DeepScuba]

yup

 

[Diver0001]

Went for a dive today and as I was entering the water (10 C) I purged my apex reg ATX40 but it continued to purge after removing my finger from the botton, I tried pushing the Botton on off again and finally managed to stop it by moving the airflow lever but not before losing 30 bar of air!
My equipment is only about four months old and I always hose down my equipment with freshwater and leave to soak for 24 hours.
I was wondering if anybody had any ideas why this happened and how to prevent it?
Thanks/Steve

This kind of freeflow is completely normal for any decent regulator. You can stop it by putting your hand over the mouthpiece. Leave the venturi switch to the "minus" setting before you go under water.

It always amazes me that people's instructors don't show them this.

R..

 

[torbaydiver]

Thanks guys !

 

[mmcdds]

to quote the Apeks service manual:

"Move the venturi lever to the "MAX" position and depress the purge button sharply. This should initiate a strong, continuous freeflow that can be eliminated by turning the venturi lever back to the "MIN" position."

 

[Spectre]

Yep. If you flip that venturi to '-' and it stops, then it's a perfectly tuned reg. If it continues after switching it to '-', turn the second stage mouthpiece down and put your finger in front of the mouthpiece. That should stop it and you'll want to turn the adjusting screw [with an allen wrench to the end with the venturi lever]. You don't want to turn it very far at all, maybe a quarter turn at a time, until it gets to where it will freeflow only when in "+".

Of course, you might want to take it to your local shop to walk you through the adjustment.