Regulators for Ice Diving

[mathauck0814]

our dive club is planning ice dives on a local lake this winter (in part as a method to get people to pay for dive training during the winter months) which I thought sounded like a good time. in thinking and reading about this further, it seems there are specific regulator requirements for this type of diving. what are the specific considerations for driving in very cold water and sub-freezing air temperatures as it relates to regulators?

 

[ppo2_diver]

Environmentally sealed 1st stages will handle the cold water well. I use Apeks and have no problems.

 

[gndpdr]

i use to use a sherwood blizzard ..now i use a oceanic eos with a fdx10 dvt first stage

 

[zider]

The Scubapro MK17 is another good option to look at.

 

[hg frogman]

For cold water, second stages with lots of metal in them (or full metal ones) matter as much (or even more) than environmentaly sealed diaphragm first stages.

For example the Scubapro G250V (big metal barrel inside) is better than the S600 (plastic barrel inside) for cold water.

Many brands have regs dedicated to cold water diving.

 

[BlueWaterDiving]

This is one of my students he likes the DiveRite regs. Dives that ice stuff all the time no problems. NOT me Florida boy

 

[it_mike]

Sorry, but that looks like AGA diving conditions! Brrr

BTW, to the OP, that's another option you may want to research. A good first stage supporting an AGA mask. Full face does wonders for keeping your reg in your blue lips when ice diving.

 

[mathauck0814]

Thanks for the great feedback. I hadn't considered a full face reg, will definitely look into it. I have mostly been looking at the Sherwood Blizzard reg. I assume that fills the bill for a "mostly metal" secondary?

 

[hg frogman]

There is already at least this thread (year 2008) about the Sherwood Blizzard in cold water (BTW it doesn't look like there is much metal in the second stage but it's hard to tell as I couldn't get the schematics) :

www.scubaboard.com/forums/regulators/223317-has-anyone-dove-deep-sherwood-blizzard.html

But the tests reported in that thread are really old (and sometimes questionable) and lots of new regs designed for cold water diving have been appearing since.

On Google you will find a lot of information about current Artic dive trips. Some of them use Apeks regs and seem to be very happy with them.

Aqualung has a very good reg for ice/cold water diving called Legend Glacia (Glace means Ice in French). It's the mainstream in my area amongst instructors teaching ice diving.

People diving in Alpine lakes here (water temperature down to 4°Celsius in summer) are also happy with the Mares MR22T Abyss (full metal second). I don't know how it behaves for ice diving though. There is an Extreme version environmentaly sealed.

Scubapro Mk17/A700 (full metal second as well) is a new product but maybe good for ice diving. Check if there is a thread from DA Aquamaster about this reg, he's the ultimate guru about Scubapro and his advice is usually extremely valuable.

For ice diving, it's common (and safe) or even mandatory practice (at least here in France) to use two first stages, either on an Y or H valve, or on a twinset (but you probably know that already, sorry).

Freezing ends at the first stage but begins at the second (provided you don't have too much moisture in your tank).

Cheers
HG

 

[Greg Barlow]

I ice dive exclusively with Mares metal second stages due to their excellent thermal conduction. My favorite Mares first stage is currently the V/MR42. My buddies and I have yet to encounter a single problem with any of our Mares regs while diving in ice/cold water. One of the divers uses sealed V16 first stages, but none of the other first stages are sealed against the ambient water.

Greg Barlow
Former Science Editor for Rodale's Scuba Diving Magazine