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I'm still not entirely committed to the Y or H valve thing, however I do use a Scubapro H valve. I don't dive doubles (so no excuse there) but have found that hose routing is much cleaner with a H valve than with a single first stage. Also means I use a basic DIR doubles layout (with two Apeks US4's) saves mucking around with odd hose lengths and different hose layouts. Not really sure how effective a H or Y valve would be in practice, dealing with a burst hose or o-ring. Guess it would come down to how quickly you diagnosed the problem, which hose or o-ring you blew and how much air you had in your tank at the time. The only time I've isolated one of my first stages (apart from in practice) was for a fairly minor leak (I fixed the problem by cleaning crud out of the second stage during the dive). As far as Y vs H valves. I haven't used a Y valve so I'm probably talking through my arse. However, couple of things come to mind. With the H valve there is the potential for the left valve to rotate or be damaged WHEN it hits the roof of an overhang or swim through (I've done this numerous times but sofar with no damage or movement that I can detect (having a single tank adapter doesn't help)). On the Scubapro H valve though (with the hose layout I use, see... http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/rsm/staff/pages/shartley/projects/gear/first_a ..jpg ....) both valves are easy to reach and turn. Two Apeks US4's also fit side by side easily (enough space). With the Y valves I've seen I'd want to find out first if I could fit the two first stages side by side as I have them now and second if the hoses would interfere with access to the valve knobs (which angle down so would sit in closer to the first stages and hoses). I think you'd definately be screwed if you used a tank with one of those carry handles on like on the Beuchat site (http://www.beuchatdiving.com/frame3.htm). Tanks with those are hard enough to turn on and off on the boat before a dive let alone behind your back during a dive (seems like that would defeat the purpose of having a redundant valve in the first place). At 16:41 5/07/2001 -0700, "James Endicott" <webbie721@ea*.ne*> wrote: >Some people like the idea of a y valve so they don't have to have a set of >gear for single and doubles. They can dive a double tank configuration with >a single tank. I have found that my regs fit much better on my tanks with Y >valves as opposed to the H valve. The y valves are extremely hard to come >by right now. Good Luck > >James > >-----Original Message----- >From: Steve Schultz [mailto:se2schul@st*.ma*.uw*.ca*] >Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2001 2:51 PM >To: Porter, Greg; techdiver@aquanaut.com >Subject: Re: Y - valve > > >Greg, > >Y-valves only come in yoke, not DIN as far as I know. You can get DIN H >valves or yoke y-valves. There are other valves available as well that >offer first stage redundancy, but they aren't very popular and I don't know >them off hand. > >I think www.northeastscubasupply.com has H valves for sale. > >Let me give you a suggestion that may save you some money. If your dive >really warrants first stage redundancy, you are likely safer to buy doubles. >If your dive doesn't require first stage redundancy, why not just use an 80 >with a K valve? If you are planning on using a Y valve as training wheels >for doubles, I'd suggest just going right to doubles. If you're planning on >using it for recreational dives, you don't need the redundancy, so just use >an 80 with a k valve. > >Just a suggestion, >ss Simon Simon L Hartley RSM Website Coordinator\First Year Course Coordinator Associate Lecturer School of Environmental Science and Management Southern Cross University P.O. Box 157 Lismore NSW, Australia 2480 Ph: (02) 66203251 or (61 66) 203 251 Fax:(02) 66212669 E-mail: shartley@sc*.ed*.au* http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/esm/staff/pages/shartley/ http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/esm/ -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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