Background
If you're not yet very familiar with scuba diving regulators, please take a moment to read our articles Regulator Introduction – First Stage Regulator, Regulator Introduction – Second Stage Regulator, and Everyday Regulator Maintenance Tips.
We're sure they'll help you better understand what a regulator actually is — and how to take good care of yours!
Can You Actually Soak Your Regulator in Water??
A lot of divers share the same concern: after a dive, should you soak your regulator in fresh water to clean it?
After all, a regulator can handle 200 bar of pressure underwater.
Surely it can't be defeated by a mere 50 cm of fresh water (0.05 bar)?
But then again, if you don't rinse it in fresh water after a dive, won't salt build-up cause damage?
So what's the right thing to do?
Today we're going to run some experiments so everyone can better understand everyday regulator maintenance!
Normal Conditions — Dust Cap Secured
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Start by preparing two pieces of tissue paper and labelling them
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Insert them into the intermediate port and the high-pressure port
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Secure the dust cap normally
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Submerge in water for one hour
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Remove the tissue paper from the intermediate port and high-pressure port — and the result is… bone dry!!
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Inspect the inside of the dust cap — also completely dry
Conclusion: As long as you properly secure an undamaged, well-sealing dust cap, water will not enter the first stage regulator!!
Conditions — Dust Cap Left Open or Damaged / Not Fully Sealed
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Next, we tried the challenge of submerging both the first stage and second stage regulator in water without the dust cap on
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After removing the regulator, we checked the tissue paper: the tissue in the intermediate port was dry
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However, the tissue in the high-pressure port was so saturated with water that it couldn't be pulled out — the high-pressure port had to be opened before it could be retrieved
Conclusion
Leaving the dust cap off, or using a damaged dust cap that cannot seal properly, will both result in water entering the high-pressure port. Therefore, rinsing instead of soaking is the more conservative approach to everyday maintenance.
It is worth noting that standard piston-type regulators are not fully environmentally sealed — seawater enters through the ambient port to act as depth compensation for the piston. For this reason, be sure to thoroughly flush any seawater from the interior during cleaning.
In fact, the ideal time to rinse a regulator is while it is still attached to the scuba tank / cylinder before the pressure is released, because the internal pressure makes it virtually impossible for any water to seep in.
Bonus Test — Water Intrusion in the Regulator
- Next, we went a step further and poured water directly into the regulator to simulate how to handle accidental water intrusion
Regulator water intrusion test
- Open the scuba tank and press the purge valve on the second stage regulator to expel the water using the second stage
Quite a bit of water sprayed out — but was it clean? We opened it up to check the inside, and found small residual water droplets remaining. No problem — reassemble and purge a few more times. After purging approximately 20 bar, we disassembled it again for another inspection, and the result was a little disappointing: there were still residual water droplets. They would of course evaporate over time, but if the water contained impurities, those could accumulate inside the regulator.
- Here we'd like to share a small technique found in regulator service technical documentation (for emergency use only — this cannot replace necessary professional servicing). Remove all hoses from the first stage — including the primary and backup second stages and the pressure gauge (SPG) — then attach the scuba tank and repeatedly open and close it rapidly to generate a purging burst of air.
- After just three repeated purges, every last water droplet on the first stage was gone!!
Further viewing:
SCUBAPRO潛水調節器大解密！SCUBAPRO Diving Regulator Unboxing
APEKS 潛水調節器大解密！APEKS Diving Regulator Unboxing
