Vintage Double Hose

My First Royal Aqua Master...
How Much Service is Necessary When a Reg's in Good Shape?
- I acquired this Royal Aqua Master at least a year ago if not longer and only just got around to servicing it last weekend. I had planned a complete re-build and ordered the rebuild kit and other parts from VDH to complete the job. - But when I took the cans apart, the mechanism looked absolutely brand new. Not a spec of corrosion, no water marks, not even a finger print. I pressed the lever a few times and it operated easily and freely. - The outside of the cans had a little watermarks, maybe some corrosion, and some discoloration from the old rubber hoses. So, I cleaned and polished them up. - I was wondering whether or not I should take the mechanism apart and decided to measure the IP (2nd stage pressure). I did this on a 400 psi tank as well as a 2500 psi tank. Both gave the same reading at a little less than 100 psi. So the balancing chamber was working. But I also checked to see if that pressure was holding and it was rock solid. Pushed the lever on and off several times. Turned the tanks on and off several times.

- I checked the service manual on the VDH website and found that the IP should be 115 psi. So, I adjusted it to 115 psi, checked it on both tanks, pushed the lever on and off several times. Turned the tank on and off several times. And the pressure held solid at 115.

- Finally I decided not to "RE-Build" this Royal Aqua Master. Instead, I'm calling what I've done a "Servicing" of this regulator. It needed a cleanup, new duckbill, hoses, and mouthpiece valves. But otherwise, the tune-up to 115 psi is all I did to it mechanically. I put it all back together and it breathes smooth and easy.

Very nice specimen Eben. A new LP diaphragm and duckbill and your off to the races.

Jim

Beautiful reg Eben. My unsolicited 2 psi is that if it were my reg, no matter how well it breathed and held IP, there are potentially 50 year old gaskets, seals, springs and a HP diaphragm involved. I would perform an overhaul before trusting it completely on a dive. It will probably work just fine as is, but my spidy sense says to not take chances. Feel free to ignore my ramblings. Mark

I would at least replace the LP seat, it's easy to do, cheap and has no doubt taken a bad set plus the setup from the factory is/was never up to my liking. I would also replace the main diaphragm since the originals were no where near as good as the modern replacement.

- Thanks for all the good advice. I think maybe I got a little anxious to "Get it done" while I had some time to work on it.
- My original intention was to completely re-build it and learn how it works in the process. But when I saw how nice it is inside, I got to thinking about some of the posts I've seen where other guys have had a hard time getting the HP and/or LP seats to seal and hold pressure after disassembly. So I thought to check the IP and if I found a leak... Well then I'd have nothing to lose just taking the whole thing apart. But instead, the pressures were holding nicely. DANG! And from a collector's perspective, I didn't want to mess it up by taking it apart.
- Another Option: I didn't mention it before, but I have a second Royal Aqua Master that is in equally good shape and I pretty much did the same routine with it last weekend. It's a round label however, and that's less desirable to me as a collectible than the other one. So I think I'll do the complete disassembly and rebuild on that one, get some experience and knowledge. And when I'm done, I'll be proud of myself and will probably like that regulator better than the first one!