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Valves / Manifolds


There's a large number of dive cylinder valves out there, and getting the right one for your needs can be daunting. The Scuba Doctor dive shop has a large range to chose from and have we tried to make it easier for you with detailed info about each type of valve.

Left and Right Scuba Cylinder Valves

Left and Right Scuba Cylinder Valves

A Left valve is the typical/common/standard valve orientation used by recreational scuba divers using one cylinder. The valve opening and closing stem and hand-wheel are on the left side as you look at the valve outlet. It's also popular for use on side mount setups on the diver's left side, and for the OXYGEN cylinder on rebreathers.

A Right valve is the atypical/uncommon/non-standard valve orientation often used on the second cylinder of sidemount divers and twin cylinder technical divers. The valve opening and closing stem and hand-wheel are on the right side as you look at the valve outlet. It's popular for use on sidemount setups on the diver's right side, and opposite side stage bottles to keep the valves facing in the same direction, while keeping hand-wheels on opposite sides. It's also commonly used for the DILUENT cylinder on rebreathers.

Please Note: Be careful to properly specify whether you need a left or right valve by stating the orientation. Some manufacturers use the opposite names for their left and right valves, just to confuse everyone.

Valve Threads and Cylinder Neck Threads

!!! IMPORTANT !!! Cylinders and valve threads come in a variety of sizes and great care must be taken to ensure that you are fitting the valve to the correct cylinder. The valve thread specification must exactly match the neck thread specification of the cylinder. Improperly matched neck threads can fail under pressure and can have fatal consequences if someone is hit by the flying valve or cylinder. Only qualified scuba servicing professionals should be installing this equipment. Please ensure you have the training and experience required before purchasing this item if you intend to fit it yourself. If you are unsure, please call your local scuba technician to provide appropriate information for your system.

Australian Standard Diving Cylinder Valve Thread
Most Australian Standard aluminium and steel tanks/cylinders/bottles use a standard 3/4-inch NPSM (NGS) parallel thread, sealed by an O-ring, which has a 60° thread form, a pitch diameter of 0.9820 to 0.9873 in (24.94 to 25.08 mm), and a pitch of 14 threads per inch (5.5 threads per cm). It is torqued to 40 to 50 N·m (30 to 37 lbf·ft) on aluminium cylinders.

European Diving Cylinder Valve Threads
On most steel and aluminium diving cylinders in Europe the M25X2 ISO parallel thread, which is sealed by an O-ring and torqued to 100 to 130 N·m (74 to 96 lbf·ft) on steel, and 95 to 130 N·m (70 to 96 lbf·ft) on aluminium cylinders, is now commonly used. (M25 means the diameter of the thread is 25 mm and the X2 defines the 2 mm pitch of the thread.) On smaller cylinders where the neck isn't large enough for the M25X2 thread a M18x1.5 parallel thread, which is sealed by an O-ring, and torqued to 100 to 130 N·m (74 to 96 lbf·ft) on steel cylinders, and 85 to 100 N·m (63 to 74 lbf·ft) on aluminium cylinders is used.

Please Note: The M25X2 metric thread valves are only for use with metric M25X2 threaded cylinders. While they can be wound into a cylinder/tank with a 3/4 inch NPSM threaded neck, they will not seal properly and the combination can be very dangerous. Do not try and use these M25X2 valves on typical Faber, Catalina, Luxfer etc. cylinders purchased in Australia.

When someone tries to fit a M25 valve into a 3/4-inch BSP cylinder thread, they will get it to seal, but only after damaging the brass threads on the valve. This produces an unstable fitting which can result in the valve coming out with an incredible force that could seriously injure someone, or even kill. You have been warned.

All parallel thread valves are sealed using an O-ring at top of the neck thread which seals in a chamfer or step in the cylinder neck and against the flange of the valve.

Valve to Regulator Connection

There are two basic types of cylinder valve to regulator connection in general use for Scuba cylinders containing air:

  • DIN Screw Thread Connectors — the regulator screws into the cylinder valve trapping the O-ring securely between the sealing face of the valve and the O-ring groove in the regulator. These are more reliable than A-clamps because the O-ring is well protected, but many countries do not use DIN fittings widely on compressors, or cylinders which have DIN fittings, so a diver travelling abroad with a DIN system may need to take an adaptor, either for connecting the DIN regulator to a rented cylinder, or for connecting an A-clamp filler hose to a DIN cylinder valve. We strongly recommend DIN connectors, as they are safer, which is why they are almost always used by technical divers.
     
  • A-clamp or Yoke Connectors — the connection on the regulator surrounds the valve pillar and presses the output O-ring of the pillar valve against the input seat of the regulator. The connection is officially described as connection CGA 850 yoke. The yoke is screwed down snug by hand (over tightening can make the yoke impossible to remove later without tools) and the seal is created by clamping the O-ring between the surfaces of the regulator and valve. When the valve is opened, cylinder pressure expands the O-ring against the outer surface of the O-ring groove in the valve. Insufficient clamping force may allow the pressure to extrude the O-ring between the valve and regulator faces, resulting in a leak. This type of connection is simple, cheap and very widely used worldwide. It has a maximum pressure rating of 232 bar and the weakest part of the seal, the O-ring, is not well protected from over pressurisation.

In Europe there is now a standard for cylinder valves for scuba cylinders containing gases other than air:

  • The new European Norm EN 144-3:2003 introduced a new type of valve, similar to existing 232 bar or 300 bar DIN valves, however, with a metric M26X2 fitting on both the cylinder and the regulator. These are intended to be used for breathing gas with oxygen content above that normally found in natural air in the Earth's atmosphere (i.e. 22–100%).

Most of the 200 to 240 bar valves supplied in Australia are a DIN/K convertible valve. They are made with a DIN regulator connection, but such that a DIN plug adaptor can be screwed into the DIN outlet so that an A-clamp or Yoke regulator can be connected to the valve.

Valve Pressure Rating

Yoke valves are rated between 200 and 240 bar, and there does not appear to be any mechanical design detail preventing connection between any yoke fittings, though some older yoke clamps will not fit over the popular 232/240 bar combination DIN/yoke cylinder valve as the yoke is too narrow.

DIN valves are produced in 200 bar and 300 bar pressure ratings. The number of threads and the detail configuration of the connections are designed to prevent incompatible combinations of filler attachment or regulator attachment with the cylinder valve.

  • 232 bar DIN (5-thread, G5/8) Outlet/Connector #13 to DIN 477 part 1 - (technically they are specified for cylinders with 300 bar test pressure)
  • 300 bar DIN (7-thread, G5/8) Outlet/Connector #56 to DIN 477 part 5 - these are similar to 5-thread DIN fitting but are rated to 300 bar working pressures. (technically they are specified for cylinders with 450 bar test pressure). The 300 bar pressures are common in European diving and in US cave diving.

Adaptors are available to allow connection of yoke regulators to DIN cylinder valves. These plug adaptors (or inserts) are rated for 200-240 bar, and can only be used with valves which are designed to accept them.

Valve Bursting Disk

Australian standards require that the cylinder valve includes a bursting disk, a pressure relief device that will release the gas before the cylinder fails in the event of over pressurisation. If a bursting disk ruptures during a dive the entire contents of the cylinder will be lost in a very short time. The risk of this happening to a correctly rated disc, in good condition, on a correctly filled cylinder is very low.



Privacy Policy

The Scuba Doctor Privacy Policy

Our Commitment to Your Privacy

Privacy is a valid concern for Internet users, as well as companies doing business on the Internet. We are committed to the privacy rights of our users, and to this end, fully disclose our privacy policy below so our users can understand what kind of information we capture, and how we subsequently use that information. All personally identifiable information is managed with the utmost confidentiality.
 

The Scuba Doctor Privacy Policy

Chaordent Pty Ltd trading as The Scuba Doctor Australia ("The Scuba Doctor"), ABN 88 116 755 170, is bound by the National Privacy Principles ("NPPs") under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) ("Privacy Act") in the way that it handles personal information. This policy explains how The Scuba Doctor handles personal information relating to individuals, whether or not they are customers.

Terminology

In this policy the expressions "we", "us" and "our" are a reference to The Scuba Doctor.

The expression "personal information" is used in this policy to refer to information or an opinion about an individual whose identity is apparent, or can reasonably be ascertained, from the information or opinion.

Information Collection

We only collect personal information to the extent that this is:

  1. necessary for us to carry out our core business as the supplier of scuba diving gear and equipment, the repair and servicing of scuba diving gear and equipment, plus other scuba diving related services and consultancy; or
     
  2. incidental to the carrying out of our core business.

Personal information will generally only be collected for the purpose of enabling us to liaise with individuals who are, or who are associated with, customers, potential customers, contractors or sub-contractors.

The types of personal information which we may collect and hold in these circumstances include, without limitation, an individual's name, address, phone number, email address and other contact details.

We may collect personal information from you in a variety of ways including, without limitation, on forms, questionnaires and surveys, by our web site (including cookie collection), over the telephone, or person to person.

Information Use and Disclosure

We will not use or disclose personal information that we collect for any purpose other than the primary purpose of collection unless:

  1. such use is related to the primary purpose and you would reasonably expect us to use or disclose the information for that other purpose;
     
  2. in the case of direct marketing not related to our activities — we have obtained your prior consent (unless it is not reasonably practicable to seek your consent and we otherwise comply with the requirements of the Privacy Act); or
     
  3. the use or disclosure is otherwise permitted under the Privacy Act.

As a general rule, we do not engage in direct marketing activities. To the extent that we do engage in direct marketing in the future, however, you may at any time request us not to provide you with any further direct marketing communications by contacting us via the details set out below.

By using our web site you will be deemed to consent to us using your personal information collected by our web site for the following purposes:

  1. notifying you about any changes to the information which currently exists on the web site;
     
  2. notifying you in the future about new information relevant to our services; and
     
  3. monitoring your use of our web site.

In providing you with goods or services we may need to disclose your personal information to certain third parties including, without limitation, contractors and suppliers assisting in the provision of the goods or services as part of our core business activities.

Employee Records Exemption

The NPPs and this policy do not apply to our acts and practices directly related to a current or former employment relationship between us and an employee, and any employee record held by us relating to the employee.

Data Security

We will take reasonable steps to protect the personal information which we hold from misuse or loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

Openness

From time to time, we may change our policy on how we handle personal information or the sort of personal information which we hold. Any changes to our policy will be published on our web site. You may obtain further information about any aspect of this privacy policy by contacting us via the details below.

Access, Correction and Further Information

We will provide you with access to your personal information held by us, unless we are permitted under the Privacy Act to refuse to provide you with such access. Please contact us on the details below if you:

  1. wish to have access to the personal information which we hold about you;
     
  2. consider that the personal information which we hold about you is not accurate, complete or up to date; or
     
  3. require further information on our personal information handling practices.

Contact Details

Privacy Officer
The Scuba Doctor Australia
Boon Wurrung Country
1/49 Peninsula Ave
RYE VIC 3941
AUSTRALIA
 
tel. 03 5985 1700
 
email. diveshop@scubadoctor.com.au

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