Regulator for tec

[The Chairman]

i see that your a dive shop that does dive tours

Nope. I am an instructor, but most of my diving is for me. All of my recent inwater failures have been from crud in the water. I surfaced in the Cistine sink in the Peacock cave system and it was filled with duck weed. I even used a blast of air to clear it where I came up. For those not familiar with the system, climbing out at Cistine is almost impossible, and especially so for someone like me. As I started my trek back P1, some duck weed had become lodged in the exhale valve, allowing water to sneak back in during inhalation. I switched to my left tank (sidemounting) only to find an even wetter breathing reg. So, while I'm in transit and breathing gently off of my reg, I pulled off the face of my reg and cleared the debris. Once clear, I switched to that reg and did the same on the other and made a clean exit at P1. Having my regs only finger tight would allow me to switch first stages around as needed. IOW, if I couldn't clean out either first stage, I could have taken the reg off of my deco bottle and tried it, keeping my options open.

 

[The Chairman]

To clarify, the o-ring between your first stage and hose requires enough pressure from tightening in order to create a seal. You have to use a wrench to accomplish this as the seal is static and you need very little lube. However, the o-ring on the other end, between your second stage and hose, seals differently, using axial pressure to create the seal. You don't need to tighten the nut to create the seal and this allows that o-ring to be dynamic, so be sure to use a bit more lube.

 

[LanceRiley]

Well.. we dont really have that much of a choice. We dive as much as we go to the mall. The sea is just minutes away. These local techs do this for a living. Once upon a time they were employed by the dealers for servicing regs. Nowadays if you send it to our local dealer. They will give itback in 2 weeks. Wha? Regulator overhaul in 2 weeks? They have to ship it to another island where the trch is located. For some of us. We cant wait that long.... honestly ive dived more than i have gone to the mall

 

[The Chairman]

Well.. we dont really have that much of a choice.

Learn to rebuild them yourself. Then you're only waiting on you.

 

[LanceRiley]

Thats

Nope. I am an instructor, but most of my diving is for me. All of my recent inwater failures have been from crud in the water. I surfaced in the Cistine sink in the Peacock cave system and it was filled with duck weed. I even used a blast of air to clear it where I came up. For those not familiar with the system, climbing out at Cistine is almost impossible, and especially so for someone like me. As I started my trek back P1, some duck weed had become lodged in the exhale valve, allowing water to sneak back in during inhalation. I switched to my left tank (sidemounting) only to find an even wetter breathing reg. So, while I'm in transit and breathing gently off of my reg, I pulled off the face of my reg and cleared the debris. Once clear, I switched to that reg and did the same on the other and made a clean exit at P1. Having my regs only finger tight would allow me to switch first stages around as needed. IOW, if I couldn't clean out either first stage, I could have taken the reg off of my deco bottle and tried it, keeping my options open.

amazing. Hope to learn that one day

 

[LanceRiley]

Ok this is interesting. I do just snug the hoses to the 1st stage. But hose to the 2nd. I didnt know that the fin/spline is there to finger tightt. Will try that when i get the tools. Also got a set of thin wrenches. Im sure over time... im gona end up with regulatorS.

Im also curious about mk19 seems like its a german only model. A mk17 with a turret.

 

[The Chairman]

Thats

amazing. Hope to learn that one day

I wasn't trying to impress, but thanks for the kudos. The point, and I didn't state it plainly, is that those of us who keep our hose/2nd stage nuts only finger tight, do it to keep our options open. We may never use that option, but it's calming for us to have it like that.

Tech tip: if you adopt this and don't check them regularly, you might find them start to leak. WHATEVER YOU DO... DON'T JUST REACT BY TIGHTENING THAT NUT. You'll cut it in two instead as it's already extruded out of the o-ring groove. You have to turn off the air and completely remove the reg. The o-ring will pop back in place and you should be able to simply screw it back on. Again, you easily avoid this by checking it before you dive.

 

[LanceRiley]

I wasn't trying to impress, but thanks for the kudos. The point, and I didn't state it plainly, is that those of us who keep our hose/2nd stage nuts only finger tight, do it to keep our options open. We may never use that option, but it's calming for us to have it like that.

Tech tip: if you adopt this and don't check them regularly, you might find them start to leak. WHATEVER YOU DO... DON'T JUST REACT BY TIGHTENING THAT NUT. You'll cut it in two instead as it's already extruded out of the o-ring groove. You have to turn off the air and completely remove the reg. The o-ring will pop back in place and you should be able to simply screw it back on. Again, you easily avoid this by checking it before you dive.

Well honestly it is. Iv dived with buddies on rentals. Whenever they have stage 2 problems, well its end of the dive.

Ive done my research on why sb g260s and their other variants and why not s600 or an a700 which are top of the line. Along the way techies did ans... g260s and their tech equivalent can be taken down underwater and cleaned of debris. That was in theory...
And here you are telling me about it!
Ok will keep that in mind wi the leaking hose. Ill probably be able to implement that by june. For the meantime im still ordering the scubapro tool.

 

[Caveeagle]

Well honestly it is. Iv dived with buddies on rentals. Whenever they have stage 2 problems, well its end of the dive.

@chairman is referring to dives where you cannot really just “end the dive”, and surface if you have a second stage issue. Sure in a true OOA situation, you could exit from Cisteen, but that’s actually fairly unusual in cave diving. If you have a second stage start acting 3,000 linear ft back in most caves, you have to make your way back out before you can surface.

If it isn’t obvious already, the term Tech diving covers several different diving specialties. Some of us do tend to very cave-centric, but when decompression diving, you have a virtual ceiling and also need to be able to problem solve underwater.

Comments have already been made about the need for Tech divers to service gear. I know some very experienced cave/tech divers that don’t really do any reg service. I find this kind of scary, because I have found they often don’t understand their regs well enough to recognize failure issues. I have witness a very experienced cave diver about to start a long cave dive with a reg that had an active leak, bubbling from the enviro seal cap. “It’s only the environmental seal, and we are in fresh water”...was the basic comment. I asked.. “do you know why it’s doing that?” We checked the IP and it was off the chart, and blowing past the diaphragm. Scary sh1t....

some basic gear trouble shooting shout be required for advanced “Tech” diving. IMHO

 

[Angelo Farina]

I m also curious about mk19 seems like its a german only model. A mk17 with a turret.

All SP regs are made here in Italy, not in Germany.
You can buy the MK19 from any official online reseller here in Europe. It should be a great reg, particularly for dirty water, albeit I cannot testify, not having used one.
Here, for example, form Spain, matched with the new D420: Comprar Regulador de Buceo Scubapro MK19/D420 online - Alvarez