Unbalanced regulator for high O2 deco mixes

[LFMarm]

To OP:

1. You asked for a bailout deco regulator - means your have a rebreather.
2. Rebreathers are expensive.
3. Not looking into anyone's pocket - but:
- If you can buy a rebreather - you shouldn't be saving on a regulator.
- It's the equivalent to hearing a diver saying that helium is expensive so using air diluent to save money. Can't justify that after purchasing a rebreather.

Get a good regulator - Worst case purchase a used one and service it.

*All other non financial arguments for getting a good regulator were already explained before me - No point to adding that as well.

Matan.

I never said I wanted to go for the cheap option. I wanted to learn from the experience of this group and make a decision based on it. My initial assumption (which was proven wrong by some of the experts here) was that it makes little difference to have a balanced first stage for a regulator that will be used very shallow. I have only ever used balanced regulators so I don't know what it feels like to breath at 6m from an unbalanced first.

For anyone interested, I was convinced by the argument that if you end up in a 30 min stop on O2 in the blue after a bad dive, the last thing you want is a regulator that doesn't breathe well. I have already sent one of my Apeks DSTs for O2 cleaning.

Thanks all for sharing your thoughts.

 

[tbone1004]

I never said I wanted to go for the cheap option. I wanted to learn from the experience of this group and make a decision based on it. My initial assumption (which was proven wrong by some of the experts here) was that it makes little difference to have a balanced first stage for a regulator that will be used very shallow. I have only ever used balanced regulators so I don't know what it feels like to breath at 6m from an unbalanced first.

For anyone interested, I was convinced by the argument that if you end up in a 30 min stop on O2 in the blue after a bad dive, the last thing you want is a regulator that doesn't breathe well. I have already sent one of my Apeks DSTs for O2 cleaning.

Thanks all for sharing your thoughts.

Balanced or unbalanced is a function of IP vs. Tank Pressure, not depth. Some of the best second stages in the world for deep diving are unbalanced *Poseidons*, but they are all depth compensating. The second stage with that Dive Rite kit is balanced so it should breathe mostly the same from start to finish, but the comments are all based on our experience *and you would be hard pressed to find someone with more experience than @cerich fwiw* and that experience says that the relatively inconsequential bit of money to spend on high end regs is well worth it when you've had a bad day on a rebreather and you get to that deco reg that you're stuck on for a long time *remember also that many of the people who have commented in this thread are used to multi-hour deco obligations* and the last thing you want is to have a bad day and then get stuck on a "meh" regulator.

Yes that regulator exists for a reason, yes it has real world uses where you may want to choose that first stage as an option and it makes the most sense for a particular use case, but that use case is not a primary decompression regulator for rebreather diving.

 

[cozmo]

Well, the regs I have in my stable are SP, Dive Rite, Poseidon and Kirby Morgan and I clean all of them for O2 even if I don't put it on an O2 bottle (even the one in my save a dive kit). Also I set all the IPs on all the first stages with the same pressure; so in the field I can swap out any of my second stages(all adjustable) and they will match the first. The only regs I have that are not balanced are the Kirby Morgan second stages everything else is balanced. This day and age it is not worth getting any non-balanced it does not save you much and in an emergency it can be an issue(over breathing it). If you service your regs at least once a year and at least the 1st is balanced don't worry about it as there is no such thing as a true O2 clean/rated regulator in the commercial sense. Besides once you take something that is O2 clean out of a hermetically sealed bag when not in an O2 clean room it is no longer O2 clean.

 

[admikar]

Bit off topic, but I am starting to wonder where this obsession with O2 clean is coming from?
Yes, don't coat your reg in engine oil, don't crank a valve as fast as you can, but all this O2 stuff starts to sound more dangerous than nitroglicerine.

 

[PfcAJ]

Bit off topic, but I am starting to wonder where this obsession with O2 clean is coming from?
Yes, don't coat your reg in engine oil, don't crank a valve as fast as you can, but all this O2 stuff starts to sound more dangerous than nitroglicerine.

Every once in a while someone gets burned by an oxygen fire. It’s a thing.

 

[rjack321]

Every once in a while someone gets burned by an oxygen fire. It’s a thing.

Or/and the boat burns to the waterline from an O2 fire - typically the O2 tank on a CCR.

 

[grantctobin]

Or/and the boat burns to the waterline from an O2 fire - typically the O2 tank on a CCR.

Or the oxygen booster on a rather well known liveaboard explodes

 

[rjack321]

Or the oxygen booster on a rather well known liveaboard explodes

Shush you, stop scaring people O2 isnt even flammable

 

[rddvet]

Shut up. You all are about to awake the beast. Brad Horn

 

[OTF]

Shut up. You all are about to awake the beast. Brad Horn

if you want to awake someone you have to tag them like this @Brad_Horn