Did You Really Check Your Regulator? (or did you just do what everyone else does?)

Here is an interesting question. I was out with a group of experienced divers the other day and one of the diver was doing a buddy check. The diver doing the buddy check picked up the diver's regulator, pressed the purge button slightly heard a hissing sound and decided that was good enough. What just got checked? The only thing that was tested was whether the regulator had air coming to it and if the valve closed.

What wasn't tested??? The objective in a buddy check is to make sure both regulators are functioning correctly and that there is adequate air making it to the regulators. To test the function of a reg, you have to test several parts:

• First - does the air valve open and shut consistently and does it leak after being opened?
• Second - are there any holes in the diaphragm? The diaphragm is the part at the front of the regulator that moves back and opens the air valve as you breath in.
• Third - is the exhaust valve sealing when you breath in and is it opening when you breath out.
• Fourth - is the first stage regulator providing enough air.

All of this is easy to accomplish. When you check your regulator, put it in your mouth and while you look at the pressure gauge, take a couple of breaths. Here is what you should check. As you breath in, the air valve should open quickly and deliver lots of fresh scuba air. If the valve opens slowly, or goes on and off as you breath in, the you have a hole in the reg, most likely either in the mouthpiece, diaphragm, or exhaust valve. A hole in any one of those will cause the reg to breath very wet. This is really important when you check your spare regulator so that if and when an emergency arises, you won't have the person breathing on the reg panic because they are getting half water, half air.

Next breath out. Did the exhaust valve open? Sometimes after periods without use, or not getting rinsed, the exhaust valve will stick in the closed position. No fun rolling off the boat and finding you can't exhale through your mouth.

Finally while you are doing all this, watch your pressure gauge needle. Divers often turn on the air on the regulator to check the pressure, then turn it back off again, but don't drain the system. It gives enough for about 5 breaths and then stops. After you giant stride, your reg runs out of air and you can't inflate your bcd. If you see the needle isn't dropping, make sure the needle isn't moving at all. This happens when somebody closes the scuba valve and then opens it back a quarter turn like they have been taught (btw - you don't need to close the valve a quarter turn anymore, it is a scuba urban myth :-). The person checking the air has gotten confused about which way to turn the valve and as you start to descend, the first stage won't be able to deliver enough air to you.

Pretty simple check and takes just slightly more time than it takes to just press that purge valve, but can make a world of difference.

If you ever want to see how a reg works from the inside out, let me know. I'm happy to show you the "guts". Greg