Scuba Tech Tips: Regulator Venturi - Good or Bad? - S06E15

a divers alley pier scuba tech tips and and this is another tech tip in response to questions and comments from you love them here's a question some of the comments are quite funny and I appreciate first of all the compliments they're always nice you guys don't give me a compliment so I like you to buy the compliments always nice no I'm you're kidding I love the comments keep them coming and questions if you have questions or things you need me do to consider to discuss I'll be happy to do so there's not very many things I can't discuss in scuba diving and if I can't I have experts I have lots and lots of friends or experts and I'll be happy to get one of them to talk to you about it and maybe solve some of your problems make diving easier anyway this is a particular detective and responds to your comment somebody asked about Venturi's okay if enteries are cool then Theresa will make airplanes fly that's cool and all kinds of other things um but as you probably know if you've shopped for a regulator any time in the last 15 years then thérèse are also used in scuba regulators yeah so what is the venturi is it good is it bad what does it do and so on I can take a couple of minutes and show you all of that information now first of all let me explain to you that regulators are very very simple irregular as a first stage which drops the pressure from 3000 to 150 we've gone through this before and as the second stage so drops the pressure from 150 to whatever the ambient pressure is very simple there's a valve in here which is not simple but it's not complicated the valve inside the second stage is real simple a little lever a little area pull the lever in here comes out the easiest thing in the world so when you suck on the mouthpiece the diaphragm moves in pushes the lever almost a belly bigger there you stop sucking the diaphragm goes back out the valve closes air stops it Rudy is very simple now when I say very simple the principle is very simple I mean you look at it actually looks very simple but in modern regulators it's actually very sophisticated everything is geared and balanced and sophisticated it matches so this air pressure and the flow matches exactly the spring pressure in the high pressure seat and the flow the size of the Ben of the orifice in here the diaphragm is exactly the right distance the levers are right height so and and the lever little things like the lever is held in place by a small screw and the lever is like this held by the screw the levy moves up and down like this as you're sucking in there well on the end of the leave there's a little bend that little Bend they spend a lot of money and a lot of time for getting exactly how wide that bend should be and where should it be widest it's a very today making regulars is very very sophisticated now most regulator companies offer the same features first age holds second stage and there isn't really much difference every once in a while there's a regular comes along so a little a bit a lot a little bit different and and sometimes it's good sometimes it isn't people buy a few but it's not really all that much better than a good solid standard so it disappears so regular manufactures just like current manufacturers and their attempt to sell their brand their product there's nothing wrong with that they would try to to add features to their regulator your job as a diver is to decide whether or not those features are beneficial to you you need those features like buying your card you need a sliding a sunroof you need a sliding back window and your pickup truck so you have to have 8 way adjustable leather heated seats and all that kind of stuff those are all nice features and they may have benefits are they beneficial to you and we had a video little while ago Kevin I made a video right here on tech tips called buying a regulator $300 or $800 and what's the difference between them the $300 regulator brand-new from a manufacturer every time you suck on it you get air every time you suck on it you get a now really what do you want from a regulator right however there is a damage between 300 and 800 and most of the difference is made up in features some of which are beneficial some are nice but you don't have to have them but that's the difference you you pay for those features the venturi is a feature that's a feature it's not necessarily a benefit ok let me explain what a venturi does and then you you need to decide whether or not a venture is beneficial to you they're not perfect no future is all right here we go first stage air goes into the hose comes out to the second stage I'm going to actually open up this second stage and show you how it looks inside so I've discussed in the past how to clean your second stage most second stages the regulator the second stage cover will come off fairly easily and I take that out this sector second stage has a has an extra protective piece over top of the diaphragm and then there's a diaphragm the diaphragm is you just black rubber or or in this case it's clear silicone silicone is better it doesn't doesn't deteriorate in the Sun or the salt so this is the diaphragm this is a knee goes in it in fact I'm going to show you right now Kevin if you'll take a look at the front of this regular I'm gonna put this back in that put the diaphragm there's the lever body but can you see that Kevin there's a lever when I go down on that lever air comes out when I believer goes back up air flow stops why she'll put some air on a watch now air when I push down on it I might go over there shot stops so in order to get area mouth all you do is push that lever down well how do you do that you don't reach up with your finger that's for sure well no you there's this flexible diaphragm sits right in there like that or close close to that now when I put this in my mouth watch the diaphragm Kevin you ready when I suck in the diaphragm sucks in naturally and when it sucks in the metal part in the middle of the diaphragm pushes on that little lever in there air comes out I want to have the air turn night air comes out okay now this particular regulator is a very very good way this is an $800 regulator this is a scuba pearl mark 25 been around for a long long time their first stage and the second stage is to scubapro s600 excellent regulator you'll notice that I gain insight Kevin I'm sorry the air barrel this part through the middle is the principal valve part of the second stage it has an adjustable second stage I think we've talked about that briefly we'll do that again and and the valve is all in there and this is metal so this is also a good regulator for cold water good for cold water excellent for down south from cars easy easy breathing adjustable breathing so that if it free flows you can turn it down yeah and if it's if it's hard to breathe you're gonna make it a bit easier and and so on so it's a beautiful regulator it also has a venturi I'm gonna show you the venturi inside Howard and what it looks like and I'm gonna show you what it does for you and you have to decide whether or not it's beneficial you're watching here Carolyn sucking in my bit can you still hear me okay so you can look through there can you see that blue through the mouthpiece of which wait am i tilted now inside that hole I'm gonna move this lever you see a little vein in there now watch you see that been moving blocking off the blue a little bit you see it so like this is blocked Oh like this it's open it's flat you pull it back it blocks it a bit right open blocked open blocked this actually blocks the air coming into your mouth hey that's not good uh-huh that's where the venturi effect comes in take off my bib all right thank you go so here's what happens the air comes out of the hose through the valve and there's a hole in the back of that tube and the air rushes right down the mouthpiece into your mouth that's good you want the air coming in easily okay and then you've got the venturi the venturi is a little block it just blocks a little rib it OC and when you want the venturi assist of entry to work to be in is to assist you you turn like that and now the block that little plastic plate no longer blocks it must be so now the air rushes like it comes around over the valve to the Lord rushes right into your mouth good that's really good uh-huh it does more than that I have to put this back in here Kevin I'm gonna show you what it does alright so now I put the fitted the diaphragm back in and I put the little diaphragm holder there to make a steady you watch that diaphragm and it works just the way it's supposed to suck air the diaphragm moves in pushes the lever I get there what is pretty good you know this regular is a very easy breathing I can make it a bit easier and a bit harder and so on so what's the venturi for it well when you turn the venturi you take away that little block it comes up like this and now the air rushes straight in through that mouthpiece and it has it rushes straight in through that month piece if you know what venturi czar it actually produces a vacuum a lower pressure not really a vacuum but it reduces the pressure on the back of the diaphragm well if you do suppression the back of the diaphragm the diaphragm just sucked in even more I mean will you suck on this you reduce the pressure on the diaphragm right and it's suction opens lever well now if you have the venturi assist and it sucks the diaphragm in even more now what happens it really fills up let me show you exactly what happens if I push on this diaphragm now the venturi effect is so great watch see what happened the venturi effect was so great it actually sucked the diaphragm in I kept it in it wouldn't normally do that if I put this back like so okay now watch doesn't happen put the venturi forward like that that's great so is it that's pretty crazy though is that beneficial has had a benefit to you well let me explain when folks come in to to the die store and I happen to be at the front counter serving them first of all they have a problem no I'm kidding the I attend a I'm an educator and I tend to show them everything so I will actually I'm gonna ask you about the venturi I will actually take one apart just like this and show them at work and then I won't say to them I would try to explain them it will decide whether or not they need to pay the extra for that venturi and one of the things that helps me to decide whether or not I should suggest yes you should do it is the diver if it's a little lady fit slim and so on she doesn't need a venturi however if a guy walks in nice guy I ever experienced was a big guy big chest maybe got a bit of a tummy on him big tall guy and and and maybe he maybe he is not as as maybe hasn't been working out as much as he should he's not in the best possible shape I suggest to him this has been true he'd be good for you he'd be good for you why number one he needs more air he needs as much help to get air in his lungs as possible number two if he's swimming along and there's a strong current his buddy is swimming away from him or for whatever reason he has to fin hard a big guy like that and he's a lot of air in a few minutes he's gonna get out of breath he's gonna start and a regulator will give him lots of air but it still takes work to get that air and slowly his body gets farther and farther behind it builds up what's called an oxygen debt and if he's not careful he can actually go unconscious actually pass out and that oxygen death so why the venturi because with the venturi if he has to turned on as soon as he sucks on it the venturi fills his lungs up it's no easier to breathe but he gets a shot of air that feels as long as right up for he's not gonna run out of there so you see that's the benefit of a venturi it will fill your lungs up without much effort you need it hard to say what's the disadvantage of a venturi well there are disadvantages you already seen one venturi on how many times have you had your regulator and you're dropped in the water facedown dropped in the water face down water flying all over and everybody in the dive boat looks at you and you feel embarrassed because you're supposed to be a good dive in the video you think my rigs broken they're not working perfectly the venturi is on and it started to work it sucked that diaphragm in you now you know all about you now you know how it works it's not really a disadvantage if you understand it you should not have the venturi on unless you need it and put the regulator in the mouth and the water mouthpiece down that won't happen but anyway there you go been Therese good or bad you decide at least now you know what they look like you know what they do you know how they work and you understand whether it's something you want with your regulator or don't want with your regulator all right no pen Therese good or bad watch again real soon Alec Pierce scuba

Channel: Alec Peirce Scuba

Views: 28,850

Rating: 4.9634466 out of 5

Keywords: tech tip, underwater, scuba, diving, scuba 2000, regulator, venturi, 2nd stage, second stage, low pressure, assist, adjustment, diaphram, knob, air, flow, ease, breathing, dive, store, shop, service, professional, 2nd, stage, silicon, reduced, pressure, effort, oxygen, debt, free, alec, peirce, pierce, tech, tip, tips, vintage, sea, hunt, remembered, good, bad

Id: 2y33I5zJs90

Length: 13min 42sec (822 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 21 2017