zx 50D regulator air pressure requirement

[p1p]

I was diving the other day with an dive buddy/instructor that stated at 300 psi, regulators start to flow poorly.

Fact or fiction?

thx!

 

[davetowz]

Typically I would say Fact.
Gotta have air to regulate it.

 

[p1p]

Scott?

 

[herman]

That sounds a bit high, somewhere in the 150 PSI range is more like it. Odds are he is using his HP gauge to check the pressure and most gauges are not that accurate, esp. at that low a pressure. With any reg, Zeagle or otherwise, once you start getting near IP (140 +/- 10 PSI), the reg is going to get harder and harder to breath from. Which by the way, is the reason I call BS any time I hear an OOA that starts something like...I was just diving along and the reg quit. I looked down and my gauge was on zero.....no, your reg was telling you that you were getting low on air long before that if you would have just listened to what it was telling you. What your buddy is telling you is normal for any reg. I highly recommend you breath a tank down to zero at least once so you know how it actually feels and to experience what the reg is telling you. Obviously, this has to be done in a safe place, like 5 ft deep in a pool where you can just stand up when you can no longer breath.

 

[ScottZeagle]

Herman is pretty much correct. It's really has nothing to do with Zeagle regs exclusively, it's a regulator characteristic.

 

[p1p]

Thank you, I thought 300 seemed rather high, as I've run mine to 300 with no negative effect. But maybe sometime I'll take his advice, and run it all the way down, so at least I'll have an idea what happens.

thx!

 

[gibby_z]

It's not necessarily regulators that flow poorly at 150 PSI.

Not much volume gets pushed out of a tank at < 150psi.

@ <100 you can have the regulator off the tank and its not as fast as you can inhale.

 

[Capt.Gene]

Air flow in the hose is regulated to 150psi above ambient pressure.
You can do a very little math and know at what depth your known tank pressure will become unbreathable.
As your emergy ascent continues toward the surface and the ambient press decreases, tank press becomes greater than ambient and you may be able to capture another breath, thus the reason for keeping mouthpiece in you mouth during your OOA ascent.