Why Regulators Freeze and Not Only In Cold Water

Needless to say, on cold water dives there’s a chance your regulator might freeze, but not for the reasons you’d expect.

Clue: it’s got nothing to do with water temperatures.

As an expert over at ScubaLab clearly explains, regulators don’t freeze only in freezing water. In fact, their research has demonstrated that regs can fail in waters as warm as 50°F (10°C). Why?  Well, put quite simply, it’s because of the drop in pressure from the tank to the 1st stage that automatically causes the temperature to fall.

This happens on every dive, but on cold water dives, the water can’t heat the reg as fast as it’s being chilled. Consequently, this can cause your regulator to fail and cause to much-dreaded free-flow effect.

Below are some useful tips form ScubaDiving.com on how to prevent regulators from freezing up:

• Avoid breathing from the 2^nd stage out of the water.
• Slowly inflate your BCD, and never free flow your 2nd stage to fill an SMB.
• Breathe slowly and steadily. Avoid any hard work.
• Use a reg with an in-line shut off valve to stop free-flows.

Read the full article on scubadiving.com.

With that being said, it’s important to have a regulator with an anti-freeze design that prevents it from failing, thus allowing you to make the most out of your dive.

Luckily, there are a few regulators that have excellent performance even in extreme diving conditions. These are some of the best regulators for cold water diving:

1. Sherwood Scuba Blizzard Pro Cold Water and Ice Diving Regulator make cold and ice diving a breeze! With a sturdy design and incredible attention to detail, this regulator sets the benchmark for cold water regulators.
2. Apeks XTX 200 Din Scuba Diving Regulator is the epitome of innovation and style. Its rugged design and high-tech features make for easy breathing even in the most challenging of environments.
3. Mares Regulator Abyss 22 Navy II INT is a reliable dive reg for the toughest dive conditions and used to break many Guinness World Records.

Images Source: YouTube Clips

Read for More details at scubadiving.com

Related Posts:
Handling Regulator Free Flows at Depths