Back to: Free Training | 7 h 04 min split over 49 videos
00:00 We Answer Your Questions On Regulator Failures
00:43 What We Do On Our Technical Training Courses
01:16 Our Regulator Of Death Exercises
02:30 Why You Should Not Breathe Directly From A LP Hose
03:25 Swapping Out A 1st Stage Underwater
04:20 Can You Breathe Directly From Cylinder Valve
04:54 Details On Our Other Online Videos
7 Comments on “Regulator Failures”
Since most dive shops do not permit you to test the equipment in-water, how can we tell how they behave in-water before we invest in it? Or we have to burn our pockets a little in order to get our ideal setup?
A good dive shop or dive instructor in my opinion is one that DOES provide all essential equipment for your training course. For example I provide ALL my side mount course students with a harness and regulator system and sometimes even fins. Other essentials like exposure suit, computer, mask they should have already. The way the dive industry currently works is wrong, they try and sell equipment first!! sometimes even what is on the shelf not what the customer may need. The correct order should… find what the customer wants to do, dive a certain wreck or reef (Experience), then sell the training to go with it (Education), then after training the customer can make an informed decision on what to buy (Equipment) and most importantly now when they dive they can do it safely, protecting the most important (Environment). This is my 4 E’s talk and order. 1) Sell Experience and Environment, 2) Sell Education, 3) Equipment will sell itself!! Cheers, Steve
Steve, I don’t agree. Most brands I have experience with offer some kind of “try before you buy”. If our local dive shop doesn’t have already the requested piece of equipment, they ask distributors to provide one for a short period of testing purposes. I am testing dive computers and I was able to borrow most brands this way and do real diving with them. Other people did this for masks, fins, or even for drysuits. Dry suite distributors do exhibition days at dive sites, where they bring dozens of sizes, they help you to find the correct size for you and you can try one dive with it. If your dive shop is unable to provide you this service, then the issue with the shop, not with the producers or with the dive industry.
Other than correct post-dive maintenance and regular servicing, what pre-dive checks can one do to detect possible failure points in their regulator sets?
Honestly, go diving with them. The more use the better, let them dry after diving, make sure the dust caps go back on and inspect the mouth piece for wear and tear. That is it really, I always recommend buying regulators that have a good reputation and customer service too.
Loved this video. A true example of how great Steve’s videos and instructions are. Teaching by showing what is taught, why it may be taught in courses, reasons for using it or not using it and finally his take on the situation of what he would recommend. The post processing in the videos is also great. I liked his original online video series but the new courses look and sound top notch.
Love this video. I was always of the philosophy that I had my equipment serviced regularly but someone I trusted. However a few years ago I was in the middle of the summer dive season. The water was warm, I was only at 20 metres and my regulator started to free flow. Turned out the servo in my second stage needed replacing.
Bottom line, just because you have your equipment serviced regularly does not mean you will never have a free flow.