My recently purchased Scubaprog Mk16 w/S550 2nd stage and R380 backup has arrived. I set it up and was a bit alarmed by several things, but perhaps this is not unusual (I am a very new diver). First, after several seconds air starts coming through both of the second stages. If I purge them or breath in, the leak (free flow I guess is the term) will stop, but after several seconds later will start again. I stuck them both in a big pot of water and they are definately blowing lots of bubbles. The position of the adjustment knob makes no difference BTW. Second, when I breathe through the R380, it sounds like a cross between a foghorn and a kazoo - more like a kazoo. I suppose this has something to do with the diaphragm. If I breath through the regulator underwater (yes, I stuck my head into the big pot of water and I'm sure it looked quite silly, but anyway...) it does not make this sound. Third, after these tests, I found that the 1st stage had become pretty cold. As an aside, I was surprised to see that my new Cobra computer was showing the AL80 tank (that I had rented earlier) at 3500 PSI. All of the above listed symptoms persisted after venting the tank to below 3000 however. Two other minor things - I could not detect any difference in breathing ease when I had the adjustment knob turned all the way up or all the way down. Is this more noticeable at depth perhaps? Also, It took a small but noticeable amount of effort to breathe. It wasn't much - not a problem - and I don't remember if it was different from the regulator I used several months ago when I was breathing out of the rental for my OW certification. Is there always a bit of noticeable effort to open up the valve (I think this is called "cracking pressure", right?), at least when not underwater?
Thanks in advance,
Dave
Thanks in advance,
Dave