warped first stage?

[down4fun]

I blew an o-ring at 40' last november and have had no troubles again until yesterday (aprox 35 dives in between). Yesterday I again blew an o-ring at depth this time around 55'. Back on the boat you could see the o-ring bulging out from between the first stage and the yoke. When I took my first stage off the o-ring was intact just displaced. My buddy looked at my first stage and it appears that the (pardon my ignorance i dont know that name of it) flat part that should seat up against the o-ring is warped or bent. I was unsure if that was the cause of the o-ring failure or not. But when I hooked my reg set up to a new tank within minutes it displaced the o-ring again. I took the reg set into my LDS to be serviced, but I am wondering how it got bent? What would cause that? Was it something I did or did not do? How do I prevent it from happening again?


I wasn't sure where to post this thread so please move it if it belongs somewhere else thanks.

 

[Randy43068]

It probably got banged against something else. Glad you took it in for repair and you found the problem.

 

[Randy43068]

I've seen the first stage with a deformed seat on other regulators. My guess at the time was that someone tightned it down when it wasn't properly seated against the valve. Or as I mentioned, perhaps it got banged against something.

 

[Bill51]

I’ve seen some older regulators with very thick seating rims (mostly Dacor) that were easy to not get seated properly. They could blow out an O ring just because they weren’t properly seated and then work fine on the next tank, or they were particular about the condition of the O ring.

 

[miketsp]

The easiest way to bend a yoke is not to resecure the cylinder with the bungee cord after setting up your gear. Then when the boat rolls and the cylinder topples and the reg 1st stage hits the deck, you easily get a bent yoke.

 

[Randy43068]

thought of this. Thanks for this information. Next boat trip (August) I'll remember to keep the reg off of the yoke 'till ready to dive.

The easiest way to bend a yoke is not to resecure the cylinder with the bungee cord after setting up your gear. Then when the boat rolls and the cylinder topples and the reg 1st stage hits the deck, you easily get a bent yoke.

 

[Tom Smedley]

The DIN adapter in the attached picture was on a tank that toppled less than three feet onto soft sand at Morrison Springs. The adapter as shown in the left picture is warped over 1/8 inch and will no longer seal an o-ring.

Worse news is the right picture. If you look closely at the inside corner of the yoke on either side of the filter you can see a crack. I didn't notice the cracks until after I got home.

It doesn't take much to warp a yoke but fortunately they are rather inexpensive to replace.

 

[Moogyboy]

I suspect that my SE2 first stage has a slightly bent yoke (as I've mentioned previously) but it only seems to hiss on my tank. When I took it in for its initial service--I bought it from eBay--the LDS insisted there was nothing wrong with it and to prove it they clamped it onto one of their tanks. No prob. On my tank it only leaks when it's oriented a certain way. Hmmm....

cheers

Billy S.

 

[Randy43068]

I suspect that my SE2 first stage has a slightly bent yoke (as I've mentioned previously) but it only seems to hiss on my tank. When I took it in for its initial service--I bought it from eBay--the LDS insisted there was nothing wrong with it and to prove it they clamped it onto one of their tanks. No prob. On my tank it only leaks when it's oriented a certain way. Hmmm....

cheers

Billy S.

were I you, and I ain't, I'd replace both. Start with the yoke, and try that, then replace your tank valve. It's not that much money... eliminates the PIA of the situation.

 

[Randy43068]

or replace both at the same time and be done with it. It's really not much money in the grand scheme of things...