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I have an AGA mask but was curious if others who own one have experienced an issue i've been having.
It seens to work great if i breathe through my mouth. However, if i try to inhale through my nose i seem to get this regulator "bouncing" effect where the masks jiggles back and forth. Don't really have any explanation for it.
Any clues?
And another question: is there an optimal intermediate pressure for the regulators in these masks? I've got an APEKS TX50 1st stage and was wondering if this is the best match. Any thoughts on that as well?
First of all, there are a lot of different generations of AGA masks. What generation second stage to you have? (i.e, grey natural rubber, beige silicon, gold silicon, non-positive pressure, positive pressure, etc.) The older type with positive pressure had a manual Positive Pressure valve that you had to turn manually to the on position. If you didn't turn it on, it would "bounce" or ossilate similar to what you are experiencing.
The AGA mask works best at 149 PSI over bottom pressure. It can go up to about 175 PSI over bottom pressure but anything over 175 PSI, it starts to free flow. It will work down to 90 PSI but it works better at 149 PSI.
If the regulator is in need of service, sometimes the popit will stick and it causes it to bounce a little.
Some of the quick places you may look are to make sure the 2 valve disks on the oral/nasal are in good shape and not potato chipped and are installed in the right direction. Also make sure the oral/nasal is in good shape with no cracks or anything. If everything is in order, you may want to see about getting the second stage serviced.
All the data that I have read on the AGA FFM is that it is the best FFM. It was tested to 1800 feet in unmanned tests and it is the choice throughout the world by search and rescue and military teams.
This one is a brand new black non-positive pressure. As far as i can tell, there are no manual adjustments on it.
Because its new, everything is in good shape (as far as i can tell).
I just looked up the apeks 1st stage and apparently its medium pressure seems to be 9.5 bar above ambient (which would be about 139 psi ) which seems a bit low compared to the numbers you mention. Where did you find those numbers? I haven't had any luck with locating much info on the regulator that comes with it. The AGA manual didn't seem to mention what pressure it was expecting.
Like i said, though, this only seems to happen when i'm inhaling through my nose which i find a bit strange. Do you think it could be due to the lower pressure i'm feeding it? I will see if i can try it on a slightly higher pressure first stage and see if that makes a difference.
Contact Ocean Technology Systems (oceantechnologysystems.com). Mr. Tim Chapman is the Interspiro/AGA service technician and should be able to help you.
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