June 2009    Download the Entire Issue (PDF)

Vol. 24, No. 6   What's this?

Four Solid, Inexpensive Regulators

well-suited for all but the most demanding divers

from the June, 2009 issue of Undercurrent  

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If a diver buying a regulator in the U.S. wants to be assured that it will deliver air under extreme circumstances, he must rely on the manufacturer’s word. There is no independent standard, and divers have no access to independent tests. Yet in the European Union, regulators must pass certain breathing safety standards to be legally sold. A European consumer can be assured he is buying a regulator that will supply air when needed, while an American diver has to trust the manufacturer, the advertisements and the manual.

In the late 1980s, ANSTI Test Systems in the U.K. developed a machine to scientifically test regulator performance. Under hyperbaric pressure at prescribed depths, the regulator is attached to a breathing machine. The work of inhalation and exhalation is measured and a computer readout of the breathing cycle is provided. A regulator must be able to deliver air to a diver at depth having to breathe hard with low tank pressure. Some regulators fail at that. This machine also measures the drop in pressure and effectiveness of the recovery by the performance of the first stage during the breathing process. Manufacturers have widely adopted the ANSTI machine for the purpose of designing regulators to meet the criteria.

Many regulators that pass EU standards are sold in the U.S. Three of us recently tested a number of inexpensive regulators available here that pass these ANSTI tests. George Brown, a working diver in the Scottish Highlands, is a BSAC National Instructor. Colin MacAndrias is a PADI Master Instructor. I have instructor certifications with both those agencies. Going off the beach at the Aqua-Sport International diving center at the Taba Hilton in Egypt, we took the regulators diving in a side-by-side comparison to see the differences. ...