Sherwood SR-1 Free Flows at Cold Water Depth

[CharestDiver]

Well I am not going to worry about the SR-1 anymore cheers to all who have the SR-1 and are enjoying the full advantage of it's usage where every you are but I have no closed the book for me now on using this reg and have bought a Mares Abyss 22 which will do me some good diving but when I did buy my reg from Leisurepro it should have been setted and tuned for our cold water diving but I am not going to worry about this matter again Thanks to you all for your comments
Bye and Safe Diving

 

[sanjac]

For the Sherwood Rep:

When someone buys at LeisurePro, I know they get a good price, but I heard it was at the cost of not not having free service or repair at the LDS during the warranty period. You mentioned going to an LDS to have it tuned. Would that be covered even if bought at LeisurePro?

I always buy at an LDS specifically so I can go to the LDS and fix anything that needs to be fixed. I had heard many times that one gets a great deal on the front end at places like LeisurePro, but then pays on the back end for service and repair - if the LDS is willing to touch it.

Bottom line, what is the Sherwood policy and what is the policy of most LDS's on this matter?

Jim

 

[Sherwood SCUBA rep.]

Leisure Pro is an authorized Sherwood dealer so any authorized dealer should honor the warranty and take care of the customer. The customer needs to be the original owner and have a proof of purchase within 2 years from an authorized dealer. If a warranty issue arises and the authorized dealer is not honoring the warranty Sherwood would like to know about it. In many of these cases where the LDS does not service the equipment, the customer did not purchase it from an authorized dealer or it is out of warranty.

 

[sanjac]

Thanks for the response.

 

[CMAN]

The free flow situations mentioned above do not occur at a specific temperature or depth. It is not the equipment, it is the adjustment and tuning. All high performance regulators can free flow in these conditions if not adjusted correctly.The SR1 should not be free flowing at these depths or in these temperatures. The free flow is due to tuning or adjustment. Please take your SR1 in to any authorized dealer for inspection and evaluation. If the local dealer cannot solve the issue, they will get it to Sherwood and we will solve it. We are confident all of the regulators above could be adjusted/tuned to where they could perform in these same conditions with zero free flows.

I don't believe that it's a "not adjusted correctly" problem. We were diving the Straits of Mackinaw this week-end and two SR1 regulators had freeflows at depth (80 + ft.) with temperatures between 43-46 degrees. Now if these were an "not adjusted correctly" problem that would mean that you are sending regs out from the factory that are "not adjusted correctly" because both of these regs were brand new! After we got back from the dives, I put the regs on an IP gauge and they both checked out OK (one did have 8-10 psi creep). I tried to get them to freeflow but neither one would, so today I took one of the regs and put it on a pony bottle and took it down to 95 ft. with 46 degrees and I took some breaths on it and it imediately started freeflowing. Maybe you can explain to me how a tech is supposed to "adjust" the reg correctly while at the shop so it won't freeflow at depth with cold temps?

 

[h2Ogal]

Gotta jump in here with CMan. If the reg needs to be "tuned"..why is the product coming out of the box with issues? Two free flows..two different divers is too much of a coincidence to me. Not a pleasant dive weekend do you think??????
And before anyone asks-these were purchased from an authorized dealer.

 

[jac_3232]

Without naming shops, there are Sherwood retailers in Canada refusing to sell the SR1 due to the increased likelihood of free flows in cold water at 85’+. I had my SR1 free flow in 54 degree water at 108 feet. The LDS serviced it, which did not correct the problem, and the regs were sent back to Sherwood for “adjusting”. The LDS owner tried blaming me for “playing with” the Venturi knob. I borrowed his SR1 and I had 2 free flows on separate 100’ dives in low 40 degree water with the Venturi completely closed.

So I called Sherwood (Cramer Decker Inc. 1-800-347-9766) which did nothing for the situation. Their answer was to get the reg adjusted. They claimed all the free-flows were caused by incorrectly adjusted regulators. They said the SR1 was good for the temps and depth I was at. I asked what the SR1 was rated to and he could not answer. I asked for a document stating the depth and temperatures the SR1 was tested to and he said to check the manual. I told him the manual did not state that info, and he said the retailer would have that information in the service manual. Any refunds or exchanges would have to go through the retailer, not them. Sherwood post-sales support for me was NON-EXISTANT. I believe Cramer Decker is simply pushing as many sales as possible, as they seem to have no actual knowledge of the product. Needless to say, the LDS did not have the SR1 rating information either.

I’m done with Sherwood. Our club has been made aware of the multiple free flow problems we’ve had on 3 different Sherwood SR1 regs, and the complete lack of support we’ve received.

 

[CMAN]

I believe the problem is in the second stage. When the SR1 wounldn't stop freeflowing on the pony bottle, I shut the tank valve off and swished the second stage around for 5-10 seconds (to thaw it) then I opened the tank valve and it didn't freeflow so I took a couple of hard breaths from it and removed the reg from my mouth and it did have a couple of bubbles coming out but not a full freeflow. I then had to end the test because the I didn't want to completely drain the pony.

 

[WhaleSharker1]

are group tested the SR1 in the Macinac straits this past week-end 3 out of 4 Sr1 free flowed in water temp of 42' at 100 feet. My personal sr1 now has 12 dives at this temp. and still functioned fine. My main concern is that the other 3 where right out of the box I feel that sherwood has a problem that they need to takecare of. as a word of caution don't dive in 45' or colder with that reg

 

[WhaleSharker1]

The store in Fair Haven is making corrections to the problem, and the owner sent the customers regulator back to sherwood they found it to be out of adjustment and sent it back as far as the store owner calling the customer a liar is really hard for me to believe, I know he lent him his own personal reg to that person and he and his tech are conducting their own investigation so before you knock an outstanding dive store maybe get your facts correct