Damaged plating on first stage

[mikeycanuk]

We love our 3 XTX-200 regs but on our recent 23 dive trip to the Caribbean 2 of our 3 primary stages are leaking where they connect to the tank. We thought it was initially bad o rings but the DM showed us the plating has partially come off and there is rust present was well. We only have 50 dives on these are not happy about their current condition. How do they get fixed? And more off how did this happen?

Apart from this we LOVE these regs. The egress however did free-flow once on me right after a giant stride entry. I should probably have it de-tuned? Didn't help the dive op was operating full out with lousy 2820-2920 air fills (hot compressor?).

 

[herman]

Several things here, first off if there was rust on the regs, it came from somewhere else. The regs are marine brass plated in chrome so there is nothing to rust....brass corrodes and turns green, it does not rust. Bare brass will tarnish some and turn a dark brownish color but that does not hurt anything. Odds are the damage came from mishandling of the regs. The chrome plating is fairly hard and it takes a good bit of impact to dislodge it.
In any case there are 2 ways to deal with the problem. The least expensive (totally acceptable but not pretty) way is to simply polish off the face of the yoke seat. Any dive shop can do it and it takes a few minutes. The brass will quickly tarnish but then be stable as long as you properly rinse it. This is pretty common on very old regs. The other more expensive but prettier way is to replace the yoke nut. A simple fix but likely in the $80ish range.

 

[redacted]

You might see if you can get the yoke nuts replaced under warranty. To me, 2 out of 3 suggests a possible defect rather than damage. I expect the yoke nuts would run under $10 to the dealer.

 

[tphillipp]

Herman is correct. There is nothing present on the regulator itself to rust as it is brass and chrome. We have seen surface rust on a reg before that was caused by steel particles being transferred to the chrome by a steel wrench. If you really see rust, it was transferred to the regulator from something steel. Whatever this was, could it also be responsible for the chrome coming off?

If the chrome plating flakes off, like it is not properly adhered, then that it's a warranty issue. If the chrome plating is gouged off or abraded off, then that would not be covered.

 

[mikeycanuk]

Thanks for the quick replies. You are right, it's not rust, I just have not had much time to talk a really close look. I've attached some quick iPhone pic off one of the regs. The plating is clearly flaking off. Hope this works, never posted pics before, the last one shows how flakes of the plating came off when I just polished it with a Kleenex



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[mikeycanuk]

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[mikeycanuk]

The other reg (mine). #3, my son's, is fine.


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[grf88]

I would print off post No 4 and take the regs back to where I purchased them. Certainly looks like a plating issue to me, it would be difficult to damage two regs that easily.

 

[herman]

I agree, that does appear to be a bad plating job and Apex should repair it. Easy fix, just remove and replace the nozzle.

 

[abnfrog]

as a reg tech and the fact im a 30year third generation chrome plater i can pretty much tell you what happend as ive seen this before... if you put the reg on the valve (steel to steel) wrong( not in the o ring groove) and tighten the reg it fractures the plating , agreed the adhesion might be the fault but im guessing with 2 regs having the same problem id love to look at them. there is a chemical test to see if the metal was passified (bad adhesion) but the reg manufactures know this and you might not get it fixed for free.