Looking to Change my First Stage Out

[muddiver]

I have been diving Sherwood Blizzards and Brutts for a long time because they are easy to come by and cheap to service. Oh, and they seem to be bulletproof for general recreational diving.

Question is: They are not high performers and I can over breath them using my new second stage.

Any suggestions for a new high performance first stage? I am looking for a regulator that you can get parts without going to a service technician, has oxygen compatable parts available and the KM manual states the second stage can flow up to 4.5 acfm.

[bwerb]

Apeks DS4

[ivobj]

I see two brands I can recommend you, Scubapro and Apeks. You can get parts easily, oxygen ready from the factory and very robust

[rjack321]

I have been diving Sherwood Blizzards and Brutts for a long time because they are easy to come by and cheap to service. Oh, and they seem to be bulletproof for general recreational diving.

Question is: They are not high performers and I can over breath them using my new second stage.

Any suggestions for a new high performance first stage? I am looking for a regulator that you can get parts without going to a service technician, has oxygen compatable parts available and the KM manual states the second stage can flow up to 4.5 acfm.

Those sherwoods will be good for deco regs.

Parts are easiest to find for Salvo and DR firsts, you can buy those kits openly.

[herman]

I have been diving Sherwood Blizzards and Brutts for a long time because they are easy to come by and cheap to service. Oh, and they seem to be bulletproof for general recreational diving.

Question is: They are not high performers and I can over breath them using my new second stage.

Any suggestions for a new high performance first stage? I am looking for a regulator that you can get parts without going to a service technician, has oxygen compatable parts available and the KM manual states the second stage can flow up to 4.5 acfm.

I'm curious, why do you think you can overbreath the Sherwood first stages? Do you have flow rating on them?

[muddiver]

I'm curious, why do you think you can overbreath the Sherwood first stages? Do you have flow rating on them?

Ok, maybe it was the second stage that was the problem. I just want to make sure that my first stage can handle the high flow the a Kirby will put out under deep diving use and under the conditions necessary for Nitrox/Mix Gas diving.

I got the impression that the Sherwood Brut and the Blizzard were really designed for modrate recreational use down to about the 100 foot depth range.

No I don't have flow rating on the regulators, yet. On the Kirby all I have right now is it should have 4.6 acfm to teh second stage at 117 to 135 psi from 0-100 feet depth, and 135-225 psi from 100 to 200 feet depth. The Kirby has been tested to 1600 fsw.

I would use the Kirby Morgan first stage except it has not been tested for Nitrox use and I doubt that there are oxygen compatable parts available. :depressed:

[rjack321]

Just how deep are you planning on breathing air anyway?

Personally I would just buy a whole new reg: scubapro, atomic, diverite, salvo, or Apeks would all be fine. Go with SP or Atomic pistons if you like their hose routing and don't mind parts buying hassles. Go with DR, Salvo or apeks for easier parts sourcing but a bit more convulted hose routing on doubles.

I can't really comment on the K-M 2nd but its seems a bit odd to build your entire kit selection around a 2nd stage. From what I can tell the K-M 2nd is a fairly ordinary looking balanced 2nd, nothing that can't be readily duplicated (performance wise) by any of the recreational brands above.

If you are heart set on the K-M 2nd, why not just get the K-M balanced piston first stage and have a matching unit? From what I can tell from the schematics, its got a LP port on the "bottom" which should make its hose routing on doubles similar to the SP and Atomics.

[herman]

The reason I ask is that the limiting factor on regs is the flow rate of the second stages ,not the first stage. Pretty much any first stage will provide more gas than 2 seconds can deliver. This is esp true if you consider what the max flow rate a diver can handle....and do so without hyperventalating. Who cares if the reg can deliver 100cfm if all you and a buddy can breath is 20.

[rjack321]

The reason I ask is that the limiting factor on regs is the flow rate of the second stages ,not the first stage. Pretty much any first stage will provide more gas than 2 seconds can deliver. This is esp true if you consider what the max flow rate a diver can handle....and do so without hyperventalating. Who cares if the reg can deliver 100cfm if all you and a buddy can breath is 20.

Even 10cfm = basically freeflowing. Or maybe running a marathon UW. This is rediculous and totally overkill even if you had aspirations of 350ft (~11ATA). And at those kinds of depths its not like you have 2 divers on one 1st anyway.

[Kern]

Even 10cfm = basically freeflowing. Or maybe running a marathon UW. This is rediculous and totally overkill even if you had aspirations of 350ft (~11ATA). And at those kinds of depths its not like you have 2 divers on one 1st anyway.

And you'd have a reasonable dash of He thrown into the mix as well. So the gas should flow pretty easy too.

[muddiver]

Just how deep are you planning on breathing air anyway?

Personally I would just buy a whole new reg: scubapro, atomic, diverite, salvo, or Apeks would all be fine. Go with SP or Atomic pistons if you like their hose routing and don't mind parts buying hassles. Go with DR, Salvo or apeks for easier parts sourcing but a bit more convulted hose routing on doubles.

Ok Mr. Money Bags, why don't you just front me $1000 so I can re-outfit my self with a brand new regulator setup.



I can't really comment on the K-M 2nd but its seems a bit odd to build your entire kit selection around a 2nd stage. From what I can tell the K-M 2nd is a fairly ordinary looking balanced 2nd, nothing that can't be readily duplicated (performance wise) by any of the recreational brands above.

The K-M second stage will blow away any of the "recreational" products because it was originally designed to be used on a commercial diving helmet made for supplying a diver doing hard work at depth with a unlimited gas supply, not a SCUBA regulator attached to a high pressure, limited supply of gas. Also, it is not just a simple reguletor design. It is fully adjustable to supply a high or lower flow at depth. There are not other regulators that I know of that provide that, most are just adjustable venturi vanes or some other gadget.


If you are heart set on the K-M 2nd, why not just get the K-M balanced piston first stage and have a matching unit? From what I can tell from the schematics, its got a LP port on the "bottom" which should make its hose routing on doubles similar to the SP and Atomics.

I guess you didn't bother reading that last sentance on my last post. :shakehead: