The Most Likely Time for Your Regulator to Fail

The most common time for a regulator to fail is on your first dive after it is serviced. When 50 feet into his first dive in St. Maarten, Undercurrent reader Stephen Moore (Toronto, Ontario) found that his Scubapro G250 regulator failed to give air, even after he adjusted the inhalation pressure. “No air whatsoever flowed from the second stage, and depressing the purge button did nothing.” But the regulator had been serviced immediately before his trip. Moore switched to his spare air tank and aborted the dive.

He took the regulator back to the Toronto technician who had serviced it. It turned out the lever that moves while the purge button is pressed was not properly attached. “The suspicion was that when I turned the inhalation pressure adjustment knob, this never disengaged.” The lever was removed and the regulator then worked perfectly. It was returned to Scubapro, which found nothing wrong but replaced all the internal parts except for the diaphragm.

Actually, it is common for problems to appear immediately after a regulator is serviced. Technicians make mistakes, too often, it seems. When you get your regulator back, test it on a tank in the store before you go home. If it’s adjustable, test the adjustment while breathing through your regulator. Before your first dive, test it again. And be alert throughout that dive.