$30 Snark III Silver
Posted: Thu Oct 24, 2019 10:07 am
$30 Snark III Silver
- Sea Hunt Jerry called me last Summer and said he had a bag of "Junk" regulators he found a deal on somewhere. What was left of them were three Snark III regs. He sent a picture and they were all Snark III Silvers. He says I can have all three for $90. Well, nobody finds DH regs for $30 each these days. I figured they're worth that much just to have spare parts for my other Snark IIIs. So I bought them.
- Well, I went through each one and they're all intact inside the cans... Mushroom exhausts, diaphragms, etc. Hoses LOOKED good but they're stiff and probably shot. One of the three looked like it was missing the over-pressure valve.
- I sold the newest one to my buddy Rich for $30. And hung the other two on the wall until just last night. I had ordered a little first stage regulator over-pressure valve to see if it could replace the missing one. But when I looked closer, the Snark III OPV was actually complete except for the cover. The functional parts were inside but reversed. I cleaned them up and assembled the OPV onto the Snark III. Then I tested the function and it worked and didn't leak either.
- So then I put it on a tank just to see if it still worked. Sucking through the mouthpiece was totally dead... No air at all. So, I thought something must really be screwed up inside... No diaphragm or something like that. But when I opened it up, it had a decent diaphragm and the compound levers were functioning perfectly. So I put the reg on the tank again without the front can and diaphragm. Pushed the levers and WHOOSH... It fed air just fine. I sprayed some soapy water on everything and didn't see any bubbles leaking, either. Seemed in actually good operating condition.
- So why couldn't I suck air through the mouthpiece? Well, the dang hose loop is jammed up. Probably a stuck mouthpiece valve ( I haven't looked yet).
- Just for a quick evaluation, I put the cans back together with the original diaphragm and slapped on a new hoseloop. Put the whole thing back on the tank, turned it on, and WOW... It's a perfectly functional Snark III regulator that only cost $30. That means I can afford to buy new parts and fix it up!
- The easiest and most obvious upgrades will be:
1. A new VDH Silicone diaphragm.
2. New VDH Hoses, mouthpiece, and wagon wheel valves.
- More intricate parts replacements may be necessary on closer examination... Especially if I detect any air leakage. Fortunately the VDH DAAM kits have parts that are virtually identical... Gaskets and HP diaphragm. But also, some of the original parts might be better off left alone.
- Anyway, I thought I'd share this... Kind of fun to know you can still get a beautiful vintage double hose regulator for only $30.
(Thanks Jerry!)
- Sea Hunt Jerry called me last Summer and said he had a bag of "Junk" regulators he found a deal on somewhere. What was left of them were three Snark III regs. He sent a picture and they were all Snark III Silvers. He says I can have all three for $90. Well, nobody finds DH regs for $30 each these days. I figured they're worth that much just to have spare parts for my other Snark IIIs. So I bought them.
- Well, I went through each one and they're all intact inside the cans... Mushroom exhausts, diaphragms, etc. Hoses LOOKED good but they're stiff and probably shot. One of the three looked like it was missing the over-pressure valve.
- I sold the newest one to my buddy Rich for $30. And hung the other two on the wall until just last night. I had ordered a little first stage regulator over-pressure valve to see if it could replace the missing one. But when I looked closer, the Snark III OPV was actually complete except for the cover. The functional parts were inside but reversed. I cleaned them up and assembled the OPV onto the Snark III. Then I tested the function and it worked and didn't leak either.
- So then I put it on a tank just to see if it still worked. Sucking through the mouthpiece was totally dead... No air at all. So, I thought something must really be screwed up inside... No diaphragm or something like that. But when I opened it up, it had a decent diaphragm and the compound levers were functioning perfectly. So I put the reg on the tank again without the front can and diaphragm. Pushed the levers and WHOOSH... It fed air just fine. I sprayed some soapy water on everything and didn't see any bubbles leaking, either. Seemed in actually good operating condition.
- So why couldn't I suck air through the mouthpiece? Well, the dang hose loop is jammed up. Probably a stuck mouthpiece valve ( I haven't looked yet).
- Just for a quick evaluation, I put the cans back together with the original diaphragm and slapped on a new hoseloop. Put the whole thing back on the tank, turned it on, and WOW... It's a perfectly functional Snark III regulator that only cost $30. That means I can afford to buy new parts and fix it up!
- The easiest and most obvious upgrades will be:
1. A new VDH Silicone diaphragm.
2. New VDH Hoses, mouthpiece, and wagon wheel valves.
- More intricate parts replacements may be necessary on closer examination... Especially if I detect any air leakage. Fortunately the VDH DAAM kits have parts that are virtually identical... Gaskets and HP diaphragm. But also, some of the original parts might be better off left alone.
- Anyway, I thought I'd share this... Kind of fun to know you can still get a beautiful vintage double hose regulator for only $30.
(Thanks Jerry!)