Just bought a Vintage Aqua-Lung Regulator!!!

[Sam Miller III]

I would stronly urge you to have it serviced by Vintage Double Hose-- They have all the parts; both OEM & New, and knowledge to over haul all vintage regulators.

sdm

 

[Paladin]

I just got back from diving my Vintage Double Hose rebuilt, 1959 DA Aqua-Master mounted on a set of steel 72 doubles. I spent about an hour and a half underwater cruising the bottom of the Ohio river and the first breath was just as sweet and easy as the last. Once Bryan gets through servicing a DH, you just won't believe how well it breathes. I love my old DAAM and since I got it last year, all my other regs have been sitting around gathering dust. I just don't use them.

I learned to dive using a DA Aqua-Master back in the '60s and then sold it in the late '70s. For years afterward I regretted selling that regulator. Now that I have another one, I'm not letting go of it.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I would stronly urge you to have it serviced by Vintage Double Hose-- They have all the parts; both OEM & New, and knowledge to over haul all vintage regulators.

sdm

That is a huge bit of over statement.

There are advantages in getting familiar with both - both have their quirks and both have their pros and cons.

Realistically, it is also not magic nor a lost art. If you have some basic mechanical skills, access to the service manual (available on-line, and are not afraid to ask a few questions overhauling a DA is a fairly simple and enjoyable experience.

 

[halocline]

I just got back from diving my Vintage Double Hose rebuilt, 1959 DA Aqua-Master mounted on a set of steel 72 doubles. I spent about an hour and a half underwater cruising the bottom of the Ohio river and the first breath was just as sweet and easy as the last.

DA Aquamasters have unbalanced upstream first stages, and so the reg does breathe more stiffly with a full tank than with a near empty tank. If your doubles were filled to 2250, that helps, but even so there is definitely higher WOB at the beginning of the dive. It doesn't matter who rebuilt it, unless Bryan put a phoenix nozzle on it.

 

[Sam Miller III]

It is certainly true -- Repaining SCUBA regulators is not Rocket Science..

But for one who is new at the sport I would strongly urge the individual to utilize the services of a professional such as Bryan at Vintage Double Hose! untill they became familar with the unit.

sdm

 

[Paladin]

DA Aquamasters have unbalanced upstream first stages, and so the reg does breathe more stiffly with a full tank than with a near empty tank. If your doubles were filled to 2250, that helps, but even so there is definitely higher WOB at the beginning of the dive. It doesn't matter who rebuilt it, unless Bryan put a phoenix nozzle on it.

I dived a DAAM for over a decade from the mid '60s to the the late '70s and I am quite familiar how they breathed back then under various pressures. The new silicone main diaphragm that Bryan put in mine makes a huge difference in breathability. It responds immediately to the slightest inhalation and instantly delivers airflow. Plus, Bryan adjusts the IP to the highest pressure he can get without causing freeflow. The second stage is set to maximum sensitivity with very low cracking pressure. At the instant I begin to inhale, I get air. I used my DAAM to help raise a sunken house boat and even under a work load, I was never short of breath.

Yesterday, my tanks were filled to 2475 psi and I can tell you that, at least with my Aqua-Master,, there is no "stiffness" at the beginning of the dive. there is very little difference in breathing effort between the first breath and the last through my regulator. In fact, the breathing effort is so light as to be almost unnoticeable.

The only time I any notice any breathing resistance is when I am diving my AL80 at 3000 psi. For the first few minutes there is some (very slight) "stiffness", as you call it, but that soon disappears.

Yes, it does matter who overhauls it and I will tell you without reservation that Bryan at VDH is a master at his craft. Add to that the new parts made of improved materials and you have a regulator that can compete with practically anything that is being produced today.

 

[halocline]

I'm sure Bryan did a great job with your DA. He rebuilt my RAM nozzle and installed a phoenix on my DA, so I'm really familiar with his work.

You can't argue with the fact that the DA first stage is unbalanced, and as a result, the IP rises throughout the supply pressure range. Even with the modern silicone diaphragm and excellent adjustment of the IP, it's still going to have measurably more breathing resistance at higher supply pressures. You might not notice it with your LP tanks (I also use LP72s) and you might enjoy using the reg so much that it doesn't matter to you that there's more breathing resistance at the beginning of the dive, but it definitely is there.

When I first bought a SP MK2, I was warned by several people that the reg would breathe much harder at low tanks pressures due to the unbalanced downstream valve. I did a test on a training platform to determine for myself how much harder it breathed, and was surprised by how subtle a difference it was.

When I got my first DA, I tried it in the pool at varying tank pressures specifically to see how it breathed, and I was surprised at how much there was a difference between 2500 PSI supply and 500 PSI. This was after careful rebuilding and adjustment of the IP. Of course, I was diving the reg specifically with the intent of evaluating the breathing resistance at different tank pressures, and switching between full and near-empty tanks to directly compare. On a regular dive I might not have noticed much.

As we both know, position changes affect dh regs more than anything else, so throughout any dive the reg is going to respond to your position more than to changes in tank pressure.

The reason I responded to your statement was not to question how well your reg works, but to clear up any confusion that might exist by a claim that a DA breathes the same on the first and last breaths of a dive. It simply cannot do that. That's one reason why the RAM nozzle is so desirable.

 

[Paladin]

Mattboy,
Of course there must be differences between breathing resistance between high and low tank pressures with any unbalanced reg, but what I am saying is that the differences (for my DAAM) are so slight as to be negligible. In fact, I honestly cannot tell any difference at all unless the tank pressure is up around 3000 psi and even then I wouldn't have noticed it if I wasn't looking for it.

When I first got my Aqua-Master, I also tested the reg out with tanks at various pressures and I still couldn't tell any difference. Perhaps the difference is in our individual physiologies, I really don't know.

 

[Doubler]

Scubabrett,
While all the back and forth about getting the regulator rebuilt before using it and breathing at different pressures are all true there is a couple of things you should know. Position of the regulator is highly important. Brian, the best in the business IMHO, could rebuild it with all new parts and then fine tune it but if you place it on your BC like a modern single hose it is going to breath like crap. This is one of the main reason new comers ditch the dual hose, lack of position knowledge. Buddy breathing means learning a new skill, it is not the same. You have no place on the DAAM for a Octopus or an inflator. If it has a Hookah adapter I guess you could hook up a Octopus. You could also purchase a banjo fitting. I strongly suggest you go to the VDH website and get some knowledge before taking her out for a test dive. Go to the forum section for a lot of great info from a group of great Engineers, Technicians and dual hose divers.

 

[vintagediver]

I think we lost this guy a couple of days ago.