XT1 1st stage failed CLOSED at depth

[buddhasummer]

Will post the full results from DR shortly.

Short answer, as relayed from the dealer (I did not talk to DR directly) is that the area around the HP orifice was out of spec which allowed movement that shutdown the airflow.

They have no idea how the defect happened.

There is no way to check if this is an issue in your reg besides sending it back to DR for them to inspect.

However, if it hasn't failed on you at depth yet, you're probably OK.

"probably" would not put my mind at ease.

Given that this can occur seems DR should perhaps look a little more closely at their QC.

 

[gumbumgum]

Will post the full results from DR shortly.

Short answer, as relayed from the dealer (I did not talk to DR directly) is that the area around the HP orifice was out of spec which allowed movement that shutdown the airflow.

They have no idea how the defect happened.

There is no way to check if this is an issue in your reg besides sending it back to DR for them to inspect.

However, if it hasn't failed on you at depth yet, you're probably OK.

As a scuba technician for 30 years ,i dont believe DR that a basic error caused it to lock up ,the travel on a piston regulator is controlled by the HP Seat , the cap and the spring it cant go in deeper than the seat allows ,and out further than the cap allows , so irrespective of the depth the piston travel remains the same , up or down , the piston only moves around 1 mm up to maybe 3 mm on opening , no air that is breathed goes through the piston ,that is solely for balancing in the cap and forcing the piston down ,controlled by spring tension, the air comes out through the orifice and goes direct to the ports if you turn an lp hose out you will see if you look through the port hole , it is possible that the hp seat was loose in the piston nose and the backpressure from the balancing side of the piston forced the seat out of the piston far enough to block the orifice but highly unlikely ,i have never seen a piston reg that has locked up or heard of it before ,i would say possibly that the valve slug inside the valve came loose and the backpressure going through the tiny hole in the back of the slug carrier forced the nylon slug to push out and prevented the air from going to the regulator , we see that a lot when filling cylinders thats why valves like Sherwood, dolphin,etc crimp the slug in ,I would have loved to see that 1st stage , and yes i am multi agent certified .
Sherwood,Genesis, Oceanic,Hollis ,Aqualung,Apeks,Mares,Tusa,Scubapro,Beuchat,(Cavalero)Spiro,Technisub,Poseidon,It would be very interesting to see ,I dont believe its a simple miscalculation on the machining unless they cut a step into the casing and the piston moved sideways but then i dont think it would seal enough to cause a sudden stop.