Question about rinsing the reg

[djanni]

awap and DA Aquamaster

I know... Not well said. It takes a good long rinse with some pressure.

Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[mislav]

...the seat saving orifice extends the life and maintains the performance of the reg. It also contributes to core body warmth and makes split fins perform better.

LOL!

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I don't think Scubapro has a seat saving orifice.

Scubapro tried it for awhile but then backed away from it. Ran like hell is probably more accurate.

In a balanced second stage the spring pressures are already light and are not prone to cause excessive engraving of the seat between services anyway, especially an annual service. Although to be honest I have more than few scubapro balanced second stages that have been sitting in storage for well over a couple years that still perform fine, so I don't see the need for a seat saving orifice with a biennial service period either.

What seat saving orifices do accomplish very well is to add complication to an otherwise imple system and leave it open to invasion by dust, dirt, bugs, etc. Those two effects of the seat saving orifice concept together cause far more problems than they resolve. The problems related to the inability to soak the reg are just one of them.


So in effect, the benefits of a seat saving orifice pretty much ends when the sale is made and it benefits the dealer a lot more than the customer.

 

[halocline]

The automatic seat saver really complicates the most basic, simple, and necessary task for keeping a reg in good condition, which is cleaning it. If you want a seat saver, it's simple enough to design something to partially depress the purge button while in storage between dive trips. The lowly R190 has one of these, you push in the purge button, and turn it a little. Even simpler is just to use a quarter, poker chip, guitar pick (my personal favorite) or anything to slightly depress the purge and keep it there. The big advantage of a "system" like this is that you can use it when you want.

Atomic really dropped the ball on that one IMO. I guess it's a tough market, especially when a $30 MK5 or MK10 does the job for 98% of divers every bit as well as a $500 titanium 1st stage.

 

[djanni]

Gentlemen, do I detect a bit of seat saving orifice envy?

Learn more here.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

'Fraid not. I still get the occasional SP reg come through for service with the short lived air off seat saver feature. They are a bit harder to adjust and tend to have more problems between service intervals - and they operate the same was as the Atomic system. No big surprise there when you understand who started Atomic.

And that is not even getting into the problems that occur due to the constantly open when the reg is depressurized system.

Don't believe all the marketing hype you read.

 

[Couv]

As Awap and others have pointed out, a regulator should be soaked preferably over night to dissolve salt crystals. Whether you have something holding down the purge button or not, simply hang the low pressure hose over something out of the water so that water will not migrate from the second stage to the first stage. Then, after a good soak, hook it up to a tank and slowly purge air through it to dry it. After it is completely dried, put sandwich bags over the stages to keep the bugs out during storage.

This is done after a dive trip....during a trip where the regulator gets wet a couple of times a day salt crystals will not form. Therefore, a couple of quick dunks holding the hoses in the same manner is sufficient.

Incidentally, a broken pull dump cable will not cause a BC to lose air, just make the pull dump inoperative. Perhaps, something jammed the dump valve open.

"Atomic orifice"....bet that helps pick up the girls.

couv

 

[brocnizer]

So after reading all these replies, I think I know the best way to clean my gear after a dive.

1.) Make sure dust cap is dry
2.) Make sure dust cap is properly seated
3.) Let the 1st and 2nd stage soak for a while in clean fresh water
4.) Connect to a tank and purge a good bit to blow out any possible water that might have entered
5.) Put on dust cap again and let the system air dry out of the sun


Last thing I want to do is screw up my first set of gear on my first trip in August!

 

[sanggapr]

I dive saltwater. I get it where you aren't supposed to press the purge button on the second stage to prevent water from entering the 1st stage (and God forbid, corrode the internals). Correct me if I am wrong: if water were to enter the 1st stage due to a flood and then pressurized to blow out the water of the 1st stage. The water would have to flow to the 2nd stage and spg (I don't think there would be any problem with the low pressure hose to the bcd inflator). Would water from the 1st stage damage the SPG and more importantly the wireless air transmitter (pretty pricey to replace)?

I also have an atomic SS1 integrated octo/inflator, detachable from the bcd hose. I assume that water would enter the bcd from the inflator, so it is ok soak the octo/inflator in water without preventing water from entering the unit (unlike a 2nd stage). Am I right?