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Thanks to all who replied to my query about the mechanical reliability
of Oceanic Delta regulators. My question was prompted by an investigation
we're conducting into an incident involving one of our divers working on a
salmon counting fence.
This appears to be one of those situations where a number of annoyances
combine with near fatal consequences. The free flowing regulator by itself
would just have been irritating, but it left the diver with no air supply
(either the tank emptied or the first stage iced up and froze?) except for his
snorkel as he was being hauled back on a safety line, and kept submerging
uncontrollably in the current. Several lungfuls of water later, he arrived back
on shore alive, but somewhat the worse for wear.
On the way home from the site the diver dropped off his regulator for
servicing. On inspection, the technician found debris (mainly fir needles) in
the second stage and high intermediate pressure. After cleaning, he replaced
the first stage high pressure seat and diaphragm and returned the parts to
the factory under warranty (the reg was purchased new five months previously
and had less than 6 dives on it).
The majority of the responses (with some editing, below) indicated
no problems with the Delta or its stablemates over a wide range of time
and conditions.
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From: SMTP%"hamblin@u.wa*.ed*" 5-JAN-1995 15:25:11.65
..... I have owned one for a short time (<20 dives) and have had no problem.
...
..... I have a diaphram.
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From: SMTP%"JEFF@UT*.UT*.ED*" 5-JAN-1995 16:08:07.37
No experience with the Delta, but I have an Alpha octopus (2nd stage only).
Never had any trouble with it, breathes easily even at depth (well, 150'
anyway) on the occasions I've given it an exercise. Never had to use it
for any extended period of time but bailed out a buddy with a blown O-ring
and he didn't have any complaints.
.... Rodales had a review of them as octo regs (as well as the Delta I think)
and both got excellent reviews and "best value" as well. They reviewed
them previously as primaries, but that was about a year ago; the Delta
did very well.
-------------------------------------------------------------
From: SMTP%"lawrence@hp*.sg*.hp*.co*" 5-JAN-1995 16:51:18.34
....
As for the regs, no problems for mine and wife's. Both rigs are 2.5-3yrs
old. Mine goes thru 2-3 pool sessions a week, 2-4 o/w dives a week, and
during the season, about 6-8 short trips of 6-8 dives each. 1st stage is
the balanced piston version. Regs are serviced annually (if it makes a
difference here). Of course, I don't usually fiddle with the flow
adjustment, and most of the dives are less than 120ft.
--------------------------------------------------------------
From: SMTP%"david@la*.st*.ed*" 5-JAN-1995 16:56:52.19
I have had one for four years. Love it. It has never given
me any difficulty. I often beach dive here and it has seen more than
its fair share of sand and gravel in the regulator. I always rinse and
clean it at the end of a dive and store it in a sealed case with about
500gm of silica. I have dropped it a few times on the needle valve, but
other than some scrapes, it seems to be fine.
.......
....... I have no idea how it performs in its environmentally sealed
form. I find it hard to imagine how to make it better. .......
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From: SMTP%"crohre@sc*.co*" 5-JAN-1995 20:33:14.71
>Charles,
>The Oceanic Delta reg is primarily the same as Oceanic's Alpha III & IV series.
>We sold a few of them in '94 and the general opinions of our customers
>were that it was a good mid to upper level performance regulator, but not quite
>falling into that top of the line, ultra high performance.
>I have made about 40 dives with the regulator and found it to be a good piece
>of equipment that requires slightly more maintenance than non-adjustable regs.
>This may be true of other adjustables, but I don't have enough first hand
>knowledge to form an opinion on it.
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From: SMTP%"james@sa*.ci*.ac*.uk*" 6-JAN-1995 03:32:46.43
Both myself and my buddy have used delta regs with piston first stages
and delta octos for about 2 years - thats about 100 fairly demanding
dives each - with no problems
---------------------------------------------------------------
From: SMTP%"100237.2220@co*.co*" 6-JAN-1995 21:15:21.48
I have used the Oceanic Delta regs for the past 4 years. No probs.....need to
be serviced regularly (don't they all) but once tuned are excellent. Used up to
80m, in salt & fresh, temp 9 degrees Celcius to 20 degrees Celcius, caves &
open. Only issue is that after a few years second stage started to show rust on
arms (side breather) but Oceanic replaced this.
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From: SMTP%"ode@ll*.go*" 6-JAN-1995 07:54:58.18
I have used a oceanic delta for three years now. I dive it about 50 times a
year and have it overhauled once a year. I have had no failures of the
regulator. During the last two overhauls the technician (whom I respect)
has commented that the first stage was showing wear inside. He regularly
replaces the high pressure seat and gives me the parts. The high pressure
seat has a defininte indentation worn into it at the end of the year. I
find that over the course of a year, between overhauls, it will start
breathing both harder and less smoothly. The solution to this is probably
to get it overhauled more frequently. The tech suggested that I needed to
soak it longer in fresh water after each dive (which I'm trying this year).
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From: SMTP%"STONE@sd*" 6-JAN-1995 07:07:04.36
Your note concerning Oceanic regulators was forwarded to me by Richard
Pyle. Last spring we acquired 40 new Oceanic regulators; these were
diaphram regulators with DIN threaded connectors (not yolks). Twenty
were converted to oxygen use and equipped with the alcohol-filled
environmental caps and functioned flawlessly. Of the remaining 20 which
were used as provided by the manufacturer, three exhibited first stage
leaks that were not repairable at the dive sites; fortunately we had
taken spare first stage blocks to guard against just such a possibility,
but it did not breed confidence, given our dive site location... 4200 feet
down in Sistema Huautla. All of the leaks were traced to punctures of the
rubber diaphram seat; I believe that all of these also had accompanying
fractures in the plastic disk that sits on top of the diaphram. The
leaks were not catastrophic... just continuous steady leaks. I do not
recall any subsequent changes in second stage pressure, but neither did
we check that pressure... we just retired the regulators then and there.
I have since concluded that piston type balanced first stage DIN regulators
are the way to go... less parts to fail. There was nothing particularly
different about our care and handling of those Oceanic regulators that
would not be experienced by other technical divers. My feeling is that
a diphram regulator without an environmental protection system is an
incipient failure situation... any sand or grit that gets in there is
a potential penetrator of that thin rubber membrane.
Bill Stone
-------------------------------------------------------------
I've concluded from the responses received that this regulator is a
high quality piece of equipment but does occassionally have HP seat problems.
Like my old Poseidon Cyclon, it seems a lovely little reg, as long as
it gets into the shop twice a year. It can't hurt to advise my Delta owners
to do likewise. I think I will also start requiring pony bottles instead
of alternate second stages for anything beyond buddy diving in ideal
conditions, mechanics being what they are. I wonder what the odds
are of a second stage versus first stage failure?
Again, thanks to all.
Charles Fort fortc@pb*.df*.ca*
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