Regulator tuning

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Daniel M. Thomas

Contributor
Messages
96
Reaction score
19
Location
Cozumel, Mexico
# of dives
200 - 499
Hi guys,

i dive an Apeks XTX200 but it came time for its first service and i was trying to decide if i should try some new regulators to try something new or just stick with the ones iv'e got and get them serviced, after reading alot on scubaboard a guy named Tbone wrote something about being able to make any regulator breathe effortlessly by tuning a regulator to the very edge, so i decided i'd take my Apeks XTX200 to the local dive shop (im from south london, UK), so i went to my LDS and asked the owner "Could you please service my regulators and tune them so they are on the very edge, so they breathe as easy as possible" he said he would. So i returned one week later to drop off my regulators and this time said the same thing, he must have forgot he spoke to me only a week before and told me something different - this time it was a totally different answer which i found strange, it was a stern"No" he replied, and explained that he would service them to the manufacturers specifications not how i had asked, and said if it breathes too easy i would use twice as much air as i normally would and also end up swallowing air rather than breathing it whilst i dive.

After telling me two different things, i don't really know what to leave..
 
That comment from your local shop or tech, doesn't really pass the smell test.

Many, if not most manufacturers allow for a range of adjustments, with their second stages, from just short of free-flow to desensitized -- as a safe second, for example. Even Poseidon, among the most anal-retentive of scuba companies, allows for some latitude; and even calls for their.Cyklon to be set, just short of free-flow. Yet, another model:

"Some divers like the setting extremely light, and some prefer a higher cracking pressure. Ask your customer . . . The risk for a free flow increases with decreasing cracking pressure. Below 25 mm w.c. in a certain attitude (exhalation diaphragm the shallowest and inhalation diaphragm the deepest), the regulator inhalation valve will stay permanently open, bubbling. Above 40 mm w.c. [the breathing will be an effort]."

Years ago, when I was worked in a shop, while at school, we always inquired of the customer's particular preferences, in terms of cracking effort -- and had them test it, while in store. There was never an issue that I can recall.

Find another shop . . .
 
find a new shop or learn to DIY

but did you talk to 2 different employees at the LDS? usually you wouldn't get such an about-face on the answers

Sounds like some of the shops around here. I would learn to DIY and find a new shop for anything else.

DW
 
Of course are certified technicians usually obliged to adjust the LP and cracking effort for customers regs within the manufacturers specs.
But latest if that 'specialist' tells me that I will use the double amount of air when diving a hot tuned reg, I would instantly flee the shop......

Just come over to the Dark Side!:)
 
I can understand only setting them to the manuf specs, it helps avoids possible legal issues or customers returning a reg with a complaint. A reg set on the edge is more likely to need readjustment as it is used due to parts taking a set (normal) causing an angry, uneducated customer to return it for "repair" because it has started free flowing . The LDS here, which has a very good repair shop, will not set them close to the edge unless they know the diver well.

The part that concerns me is the pure bull crap about using more air. To be fair, a reg set on the edge is more prone to free flow which obviously will use more air but assuming you don't allow it to free flow, there is no reason you will use more air than with a reg set to a harder breathing level....and the part about swallowing air, that is pure BS.
 
XTX200 Manufacturer specification is + 1.0 - 1.5 H20 (2.5-3.7 mbar). If the shop adjusted it to +1.0 they would be covered and I expect you would be happy.
 
My concern with your LDS would be the 180 coupled with the lie or ignorance of air use/swalling air statement.
Regarding the reg itself, even if you don't want to DIY your servicing, I would recommend learning to DIY the tuning. It's not difficult, and takes no replacement parts. If you do get a shop to tune it hot at service time, then as Herman said it will probably need an adjustment before the next service due to parts taking a set (which is normal). A couple years ago an instructor that I was diving with had his octo start a slow freeflow near the end of the first dive. Once I convinced him I knew what I was doing, it took me about 5 seconds to make a small adjustment (and show him what I was doing and explain why), stopping the freeflow and letting us do another dive.
Respectfully,
James
 
You cannot blame a shop for adjusting life support systems to factory spec for liability reasons. Let him service your regulator and if you have a problem with its performance bring it back and discuss the problem with the tech.
 
A reg tuned below 1 inch cracking effort is substantially unstable, and I do not recommend it to a guy who cannot re-tune it himself.
When you service your own regs, then this is another world: you are free to experiment very light tunings, very close to free flowing, as you are capable of changing it easily if needed. Even on the boat, a few minutes before diving...
I did it recently to my son regulator while on the boat. The boat owner was quite concerned seeing me with a small screwdriver retuning the reg "on the spot", but in the end the reg was working again as expected, and we did dive with no problems.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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