Regulator “I Gottachas”
Contents
1. KEEPING THE REAPER AWAY FROM YOUR REGULATORS Break Out Session November 17 2007 Presented by Jack Gregory NACD Life Member and Master Equipment Technician The Dive Shop Inc Marietta GA Revised 06 16 2012 National Association For Cave Diving Regulator I Gotchas The smartest thing to do with your regulators is to have them serviced repaired by a motivated competent and qualified factory authorized technician one who has a proven track record working on 1 and 2 Stages in the technical diving community These people are not impossible to find Not only is it safer for you liability is transferred to the entity doing the work if something were to go wrong at depth Having said that I am well aware that most in this group work on their own equipment and always will having access to specialized tools parts and repair guides thru all sorts of current and past associations Some of you are even part time Factory Authorized Technicians for different manufactures Recognizing that all y all have been and will continue to be doing your own servicing and rebuilds our intent here today is to simply try to cover some of the things that YOU need to be mindful of when working on your own personal equipment Unless you are one of those part timers who runs all of their work through the LDS who employs them I d strongly suggest that you refrain from volunteering to work on other people s equipment If something bad w2. C Recall or Voluntary Recall If that happens you may never know about these unless you are diligent in staying up on things with that particular manufacturer Most Safety Notices will be posted on the manufacture s consumer portion of their web site gt Modifying regulators without thinking thru the unintended consequences For example keeping second stage covers loose so they can be cleaned out during in water use when on some models a loose second stage cover allows water to enter under the diaphragm causing a major Goat Rope in places where you want NO Goat Rope going on Or adding aftermarket goodies to 1 and 2 Stages or their hoses without knowing about their failure points or failure history can compound failure Or turning an older piston 1 Stage into a deco reg when the service manual specifically prohibits using it with gas that s greater than EAN 40 gt Putting in parts that you think will substitute for the original without knowing for sure they are an exact duplicate or proper fit For example not mikeing measuring and or doing an adequate job of comparing the counterfeit part with the original part that s being replaced may lead to failure Putting in O Rings that look like they came from the Kit without being absolutely sure that they match for size and shore hardness can reduce performance gt Doing what Vance Harlow above refers to as an Underhaul Where all you do is to throw ina Pa
3. CHECKED _ N A 14 IN WATER BUBBLE LEAK TEST ALL PIECES _ SECOND STAGE S PRIMARY SECOND STAGE DYNAMIC FIRST STAGE INTERMEDIATE STATIC MAGNEHELIC VALUES FLOW ANALYZER with VALUES 3000 psi STATIC PRESSURE TESTS Static Opening Knob Out Knob In Venturi Venturi Effort H O H O Closed Open Primary i i PRE REPAIR READINGS Pre Repair MIN amp Is the IP Octo MAX C reeping A FLOW PreRepati VALUES Primary OK Post Repair Octo Y N NA Post Repair NOTES ANY PRE REPAIR 1 STAGE ISSUES DEPTH ACCURACY TEST CHAMBER Reads CHAMBER Reads POST REPAIR READINGS DEPTH DEPTH Is the IP 10 fsw 120 fsw A 20 fsw 140 fsw 40 fsw 160 fsw 7 60 fsw 180 fsw CrossOver pena xi 80 fsw 200 fsw Flow Rate IP is OK and SET FOR THE FOLLOWING PRIMARY 2 STAGE bal IS Stage IP OK DEPTH ACCURACY PASS FAIL Dynamic IP Y N NA ASCENT WARNING PASS FAIL N A 10 SCFM TECHNICIAN SIGNATURE DATE PLEASE TEST DIVE YOUR SYSTEM IN THE SHOP S POOL at no cost PRIOR TO USING IT ON A TRIP
4. E DATE __ SERVICE KITS COVERED Y N EXPLANATION SERVICE TO BE PERFORMED HOSE CONFIGURATION 1 STAGE Y N 2 STAGE Y N OCTO AIR Y N COMPUTER BATTERY CHANGE Y N COMPUTER DEPTH ACCURACY TEST Y N COMPUTER HP HOSE QDC HP HOSE SPOOL amp SPG ACCURACY TEST Y N ANALOG DEPTH GAUGE ACCURACY TEST Y N ANALOG SPG HP HOSE SPOOL amp ACCURACY TEST Y N BCD INTEGRITY AND INFLATOR REBUILD Y N OTHER SERVICE SERIAL NUMBERS amp SERVICE KITS PARTS USED MODEL S N SERVICE KITS USED amp APPLICABLE COSTS 1ST STAGE PRIMARY OCTO AIR COMPUTER SP GAUGE DEPTH BCD INFLTR OTHER SERVICE CHECKLIST CONFIRMATION All Items 1 14 1 SERVICE NOTICES AND RECALLS CHECKED 2 FIRST STAGE MAIN SPRING SHIMS PRE REPAIR POST REPAIR 3 ALL REQUIRED TORQUE SPECIFICATIONS MET _ 4 187 STAGE IP LOCKUP CONFIRMED FOR MIN 5 2P STAGES PRI LEAK TEST CHECK _ 3 H O N A OCTO LEAK TEST CHECK _ 3 H O N A 6 187 amp 28 STAGES BREAK IN FOR 5 MINUTES _ 7 SPG MATCHES BENCH GAUGES 500 3000 PSI Y N N A 8 INFLATOR HOSE O RINGS SHRADER VALVE AND OR AIR QUICK DISCONNECT O RINGS REPLACED _ N A 9 2P STAGE HOSES O RINGS REPLACED _ N A 10 HI PRESSURE HOSE AIR SPOOL O RINGS REPLACED _ N A 11 1 amp 2P STAGES CLEANED FOR NITROX NTE 40 _ 12 ADDITIONAL 100 O2 CIP SERVICE RATING _ N A 13 BCD BLADDER DISINFCT amp INTEGRITY
5. ch of good common sense suggestions and go bys It does need updating in a few places The other book 2 is SCUBA Regulator Savvy by Pete Wolfinger http www scubatools com c 23 requlator savvy book aspx This book does a good job in covering theory Most of the examples used come from the Scubapro line along with the very well done illustrations GET BOTH BOOKS Actually one good way to learn about hands on regulator assembly adjustments comes from the instruction sheets that are provided with each individual tool sold by ScubaTools gt Not performing an adequate Pre Check on the systems to be taken down As a minimum note 1 Stage IP gn Stage Cracking Leak Bubble Checks for both Stages overall hose condition and other relevant tests pertinent to the model of the regulator BEFORE you start to take it apart gt Continuing to dive regulators and other equipment subject to recall notices without fixing the problem that caused the recall Well I didn t know mine was on the list Here is the list http www cdnn info recall recall html The folks at CONN do an excellent job of keeping this list current all the way back to the first official SCUBA recall circa June 1977 It also matches up nicely with what s on the CPSC site http www cpsc gov cpscpub prerel prerel html but without having to do time consuming sorts Also be aware that manufactures have the option of issuing a Safety Notice outside of a full blown CPS
6. ere to happen due toa servicing mistake made by you that friend or their heirs may turn out to be your free ticket to a nightmare of litigation for the next 5 years So if you are going to work on your own equipment BEWARE of the following Grim Reaper I Gotchas gt Servicing regulators without having a copy of the schematic and or the Service Manual TIB s Don t copy what you found in the requlator Oftentimes parts show up in regs that should not be there or they are missing other critical pieces and the repeat is then made during servicing by copying what was in the regulator Extra O rings up side down bushings and guides backwards installations and all sorts of other things that either should not be there and are or other important components that should be there and aren t DO NOT work ona reg set unless you have the schematic no matter how many times that you have worked on the same one and think that you know it always have the appropriate documentation in front of you when doing the work If you can work from specific Service Manuals that are published for most modern day high performance regulators Most of you know where to find the necessary schematic s and other important information Additionally there are in my opinion two publications that anyone working on regulators should own 1 SCUBA Requlator Maintenance and Repair by Vance Harlow http www airspeedpress com The book has a bun
7. nd or deco regs due to a perception they are used less You don t want to be in the middle of an extended range dive and have these babies fail gt Not checking overhauling BC OPV s their pull cords and inflator inlets Not checking cylinder valves HP Spools any swivels hose shrader valves and O Rings Make sure to do all of these at the same time that you work on your main regulators These items can involve life support emergencies if overlooked There are common themes running throughout the above Vv Know what you are doing as there may be serious consequences for both you and your dive buddies if you don t v Have the necessary resources available BEFORE you start work v Don t take shortcuts Attached is a copy of the Protocol that I use at the Shop each time I work ona system It may help you as a check list while you are working on yours If you have questions about anything discussed or about a specific issue with your system please don t hesitate to contact me on my cell below SAFE DIVING s Jack Jumpin Jack Gregory Lead Master SCUBA Equipment Repair Technician NACD amp TDI Cave DPV Advanced Trimix Diver The Dive Shop Inc 2714 Sandy Plains Road Marietta GA 30066 Cell Phone 770 789 0471 Shop Phone 770 973 7909 OWE THE DIVE SHOP MARIETTA EQUIPMENT SERVICELOG __ of _ NE Shy ONE SERVICE LOG PER AIR DELIVERY SYSTEM Si NAME CONTACT RWO INVOICE NUMBER i LAST SERVIC
8. rts Kit and fail to properly clean all parts of the stage or notice that other parts are worn damaged or missing This is probably a good place to mention that if you work on your own regs you need to know about how they actually work rather than just be a parts replacer or a procedures follower By understanding about how the opposing forces flow paths and different pressures affect your reg sets you are ina better position to diagnose problems that continue after you have put ina new kit 3 4 times Pete Wolfinger makes a point of this by emphasizing that folks working on regulators need to be able to think rationally and understand the whys rather than just following a set of procedures gt Not obtaining the right tools and or chemicals to do the job Folks this is the 21 Century You really don t need to be using Vinegar for cleaning silicone grease for lubricants a crescent wrench and screwdriver as your only tools and the toilet bowl for setting the cracking pressure Buy the right tools and test instruments for the intended job and ASK other experienced technicians rather than take as gospel everything you see on various Internet Forums what they are using for tools and chemicals and how they are using them gt Working on Primary Regulator set s but not Stage or Deco Regulators Failures in Stage and Deco Regulators happen more than you may think After working ona primary set there is a tendency not to overhaul stage a
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