rubber plug on Sherwood 1st stage
- Thread starter homerdoc
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Since no one explained the dry bleed system, I will.
Sherwood vents/bleeds a small trickle of air into the spring chamber of (most) their regs to keep the spring chamber dry. This air will vent out of that rubber plug as a small stream of "champagne " bubbles, in other words,. SW regs SHOULD leak. It you remove the plug, the reg will still work fine but water will enter the spring chamber and with such a small hole (as opposed to the 4 on most piston regs) it will be almost impossible to rinse the spring chamber. Fresh water will not do too much harm but saltwater will damage the reg in short order. Bottom line, leave the plug in and expect a stream of small bubbles to come from it.....if they don't, the reg needs servicing.
Sherwood vents/bleeds a small trickle of air into the spring chamber of (most) their regs to keep the spring chamber dry. This air will vent out of that rubber plug as a small stream of "champagne " bubbles, in other words,. SW regs SHOULD leak. It you remove the plug, the reg will still work fine but water will enter the spring chamber and with such a small hole (as opposed to the 4 on most piston regs) it will be almost impossible to rinse the spring chamber. Fresh water will not do too much harm but saltwater will damage the reg in short order. Bottom line, leave the plug in and expect a stream of small bubbles to come from it.....if they don't, the reg needs servicing.
Bob DBF
Contributor
I don’t know how many times I’ve been told my first stage is leaking, so expect to hear from other divers. Good idea to tell your buddys, it may take up some dive time while doing underwater pantomime to figure out they are seeing the Sherwood bubbles.
Kevin Blaylock
Contributor
Since the OP is planning on using the first stage as a hookah rig, that first stage will probably never get wet. He will probably never see the little champagne bubbles. It will work just fine. I would leave the plug in place, but since the first stage is probably not going to get wet, it doesn't matter much.
For this application I prefer an old Conshelf because it is really easy to crank up the IP to the max the second stage can deal with. That way when I am underwater the lack of depth compensation is less of an issue.
Actually, I prefer a Conshelf first stage for just about anything, but that is just me.
I have a similar rig with 100 feet of hose, an old Conshelf first stage (with a button pressure gauge), and a 109 second stage. I use a belt to attach the hose to me.
For this application I prefer an old Conshelf because it is really easy to crank up the IP to the max the second stage can deal with. That way when I am underwater the lack of depth compensation is less of an issue.
Actually, I prefer a Conshelf first stage for just about anything, but that is just me.
I have a similar rig with 100 feet of hose, an old Conshelf first stage (with a button pressure gauge), and a 109 second stage. I use a belt to attach the hose to me.
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