Service interval and new regs

[guruboy]

Why wouldn't it seal? The crown formed the set to begin with.

LP seat moves around too much?

 

[Ghetto Diver]

^ the 2nd stage lp orifice will form or cut a deformation on the lp seat.

Reason #4 for getting adjustable regs.

 

[Bryan@Vintage Double Hose]

Regulator Savvy, How Regulators Work, Section One does a great job explaining this. Both text and illustrations make it easy to understand.

 

[guruboy]

Are you saying that if the orifice forms a ring in a LP seat it starts to leak? Why doesn't the orifice just seal in the ring it makes?

A piston will form a ring where it goes into the HP seat. No issue with that there.

 

[Ghetto Diver]

A lot more force at work against seat in 1st stage plus the seat is made of harder material, plastic etc. 2 stage seats are made of rubber, and a pretty weak spring compared to the 1st stage.

 

[tbone1004]

Are you saying that if the orifice forms a ring in a LP seat it starts to leak? Why doesn't the orifice just seal in the ring it makes?

A piston will form a ring where it goes into the HP seat. No issue with that there.

there is definitely issues when the HP seats get deep indents, it's call IP creep... I.e. a freeflow of the first stage

 

[Lorenzoid]

can cause them to start freeflowing by not sealing properly against the crown. Takes a long time for it to do that, but it happens. Can me temporarily resolved by de-tuning the regulator, but then you have increase WoB. Vicious cycle

So let me get this straight. As I understand the term "taking a set" from Regulator Savvy and the HOG service class I recently took, the 1st stage soft seat MUST initially take a set (i.e., form a groove) in order to form a good seal. You WANT the seat to take a set. However, as a result of use, the set or groove will eventually deepen to an extent that starts to compromise the seal and cause IP creep. At that point, the reg needs to be serviced. Is that what you mean?

 

[tbone1004]

@Lorenzoid correct

 

[halocline]

Why wouldn't it seal? The crown formed the set to begin with.

LP seat moves around too much?

It does seal for a long time, eventually the groove is deep enough so that the orifice has to travel farther enough into the seat that the spring tension is lowered enough to cause a leak. Something like that.

 

[FFghost]

Guess I don't get it. We don't blink at $120.00 oil changes in a year but it is ridiculous to have life dependent equipment serviced yearly for about the same price.