Ice dive with Delta 4

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Sask

Contributor
Messages
143
Reaction score
29
Location
Moose Jaw, SK, Canada
# of dives
200 - 499
I have been thinking of trying ice diving this winter. How does the Delta 4 regulator perform in the cold?
 
Sask:
I have been thinking of trying ice diving this winter. How does the Delta 4 regulator perform in the cold?

Regulators sure have come a long way since I began diving. The monumental challenge to the dive industry was to have a regulator that work well in a variety of conditions. The piston style regulators, for the most, part rely on the weight of the water to adjust the air flow being delivered to the diver. If you look at Oceanic's SP5 first stage, you will notice that the are holes in it which allow the water to flow through them along with sand, sediment and small children.

Divers have been taught to treat the first stage of their regulators with care and not to allow water to enter the first stage. The area where the holes are are often overlooked as something that needed to be attended to as well. When water and air temperatures are near freezing the is a chance for ice crystals to form in this area which could hinder the regulator's function. Various companies have had numerous ways to keep this from happening. Some were to fill the chamber with silicone gel which aside from being messy, had the tendancy to make the regulator a bit sluggish the colder the temperature. The warmer the temperature the silicone became more liquid which would just pour out of the holes.

Others used a rubber diapragm to cover the area where the water needed to go and filled the chamber with a liguid silicone. This was good for everyone except the technician working on those. Very messy stuff. The newest and by far the nicest was to switch to a diaphragm first stage and incorporate the rubber cap with a plunger like mechanism where the weight of the water would push on the plunger and allow the normally wet area to remain dry. The reduces the possibility of ice forming in that area. Oceanic's CDX5 and FDX10 first stages utilize this method and I feel either of these first stages sre suitable for the widest margins of conditions. I don't think you can go wrong by choosing the Delta 4 as a great all around regulator.

There are special considerations for treatment of the second stages of the regulators that you will learn when you take your ice diving class.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

Back
Top Bottom