Cold Water??

[Scuba-Blue-13]

Here's my amateur newbie question of the day:

I'm in the market for my first regulator. I see comments about regs being cold water regs vs not. What I can't find is "What is considered cold water?".

Most of my diving is definitively warm water > 70 degrees. With occasional quarry diving ~ 50 degrees.

Do I need a cold water specified reg, or will just about anything be ok?

At what temp do I need to be concerned with a non-cold water reg free-flowing or not functioning?

 

[shurite7]

The defining point of cold water is subjective. I've seen cold water defined as 40 degrees or less. I've also seen cold water defined as anything less than 80 degrees. In my experience I've seen second stages let go in 48 degree water.

 

[ljpm]

Quick google search found this.

"PADI describes cold water diving as temperatures cooler than 15ºC/60ºF"
The Best Cold Water Regulators You Can Buy Right Now

 

[TMHeimer]

I have often dived with my regular (bought used 13 years ago) Mares reg. in temps. well below 50F, and as cold as 33F (a dive May 26, 2007 to 120'--that was a dive for 15 minutes wet....) with no problems. Perhaps they all differ and I've been lucky?

 

[jlcnuke]

https://divelab.com/download/proced...ubaRegulatorFreezing-ChillingFacts-4-9-14.pdf

This seems to have some decent technical explanations regarding the use of regulators in "cold" water. It seems below 40F is the primary concern from what I've read.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

https://divelab.com/download/proced...ubaRegulatorFreezing-ChillingFacts-4-9-14.pdf

This seems to have some decent technical explanations regarding the use of regulators in "cold" water. It seems below 40F is the primary concern from what I've read.

Good article. Thanks for posting.

 

[northernone]

Agreeing. "cold" water when speaking of regs is water cold enough to possibly freeze up or cause the reg to malfunction without special handling or design characteristics.

Specifically, I've never been concerned with 50 as cold for that consideration even though without adequate thermal protection that's cold for a diver and might be called cold by Padi.

Regards,
Cameron

 

[Kharon]

This is what I've been using since I certified (about 260 dives). Dove it to 130'. Dove it in cold (42°F) water deep. Dove it working in silt. Never a hickup. I don't think it can be beat - huge bang for the buck at $150 for both 1st & 2nd stages.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

"Cold water" reg is kind of a misnomer. The technical name is "environmentally sealed" meaning that the innards stay dry or are otherwise insulated from the water. Sherwood uses a dry bleed system that is decades old and just plain works.
Other mfg's use an environmental seal on their diaphragm regs that keep the water out.
Another way to insulate that is generally seen in piston regs is to pack the ambient chamber with christolube and put a heavy rubber band over the holes that normally allow water in.
There really is no sense today to NOT get an environmentally sealed diaphragm reg or the Sherwood dry bleed. Not only does it help prevent icing, it also keeps all the sand, silt, vegetation, and critters out of the reg. Makes rinsing and servicing easier. Cost wise an environmentally sealed reg should be maybe 10-20 bucks more than an unsealed version. If it's more than that, look at other brands. I do my best to only sell customers sealed regs and keep the cost difference as low as possible.

 

[lowlysubaruguy]

Your temps no concern. You should read up on balanced regulators this is something to know about.