Manifolds on Twins: It's an open and shut case

[Mark Chase]

[

QUOTE=Bob Cooper]Sorry Mark but this is all a load of bollox.........

You obviously didn’t read my last post I made a mistake I think my crap manifold is a Beaver I thought it was a S-pro but to be honest I am still not sure. It looks similar to your manifold. If you remember we compared them on the boat and I showed you an MDE and how much easier they were to turn and how stiff my one is.

First, there's no such thing as a balanced manifold. The valves may be balanced by equalising the pressure across the seat assembly and I imagine that is what you are referring to.

MDE advertise and sell their manifolds as balanced manifolds so you had better contact trading standards. They have a widget that leads the valve and this is slotted to allow equalization of the pressure on both sides of the valve. Hence here is no difference in turning resistance between full and empty tanks. It makes a VERY noticible diferance on my MDE manifold compaired to my SOS and my unknown one.

Second, it's quite wrong to say that "a balanced manifold has face o-rings" This statement has no meaning and is misleading. Some manifolds (MDE, OMS etc) rely on a facing seal, others (Halcyon, Scubapro etc. rely on a barrel seal). This has nothing to do with them being "balanced" or "unbalanced".Third, the Halcyon manifold isn't a copy of the Scubapro. Far from it.

Unless they have changed recently Halcyon and Spro manifolds look exactly the same. All the castings are the same the barrels are the same but the Halcyon one has an H on the valve heads. If they are different it must be internally because you can’t tell from the outside.

Fourth, the Scubapro and Halcyon manifolds are balanced. If your s'pro is giving you trouble give it to me, I know how to fix these things ;-)
Sorry to be mister picky but people on here might read your stuff about manifolds and actually believe it.

Here is a pic of my manifold. Perhaps you can tell me what it is.. If you could let me know how to loosen up the valves I would be grateful. I was actually going to get them to have a look on DIRF

ATB

Mark Chase

[Woz]

Unless I'm very much mistaken that looks like a Scubatec manifold with some rubber knobs on. I think these have balanced valves, same as MDE. To loosen the buggers up, drain your cyls, pop off the knobs, undo the cap and take the stem out. Unscrew the valve seat and clean it preferably using an ultrasonic cleaner with citrus degreaser or alternatively a weak white vinegar and water mix and a nylon brush (the missus's toothbrush is ideal). Rinse clean and reassemble using O2 compatible grease if you are nitroxxey.

O2 grease: http://www.aquastuff.co.uk/lubet.htm

[Dominic]

It makes a VERY noticible diferance on my MDE manifold compaired to my SOS and my unknown one.

I can confirm that SOS valves are a lot harder to turn when full.
A good clean & O2 lube makes them a lot better, but there's still a noticeable difference.
They're obviously balanced in some way, or they'd be as hard to turn as a pressurised DIN fitting, but they certainly aren't as good as they could be.

[beanie]

Originally Posted by Woz

O2 grease: http://www.aquastuff.co.uk/lubet.htm

phone divex and ask for cyrsotolube loads cheaper for more

[Bob Cooper]

Originally Posted by Finless

Isn't repeatedly playing with your knob increasing the chance of a failure during the dive?

Yes it is!

[Mr T.]

Originally Posted by Finless

Doesn't repeatedly playing with your knob increase the chance of a failure during the dive?

Unless you're in a Hot Tub with three outstanding looking Scando fillies!

I'll get mi coat...

[Bob Cooper]

Mark

It's the valve that's balanced, not the manifold.........

Those pics look like a Scubatec manifold to me. They are the same as the Halcyon manifold but without the "H" on them. I have these on all my tanks.

The Scubatec manifold is VERY different from the Scubapro one.

To make them work properly it's just like Woz said (but don't use the missus's toothbrush!)

Bob

[Mark Chase]

Originally Posted by Bob Cooper

Mark

It's the valve that's balanced, not the manifold.........

Those pics look like a Scubatec manifold to me. They are the same as the Halcyon manifold but without the "H" on them. I have these on all my tanks.

The Scubatec manifold is VERY different from the Scubapro one.

To make them work properly it's just like Woz said (but don't use the missus's toothbrush!)

Bob

Thanks Bob sorry for my earlier mistake.

ATB

Mark CHase

I tried everything to get a Scubapro manifold as smooth and easy as my MDE ones.
Even things that were not mentioned here like cutting grooves in the valve threads to help equalise both sides of the valve.
It got a lot better than stock but was never as good as the MDE straight from the box. Eventually I got fed up with it, punted it on ebay and bought another MDE to replace it.
In saying that I am not a bit fan of scubapoor kit, too much of style over substance in its construction...........

[Janos]

Originally Posted by Digger

If you can find that directly qutoed I'll wear Howard's drysuit for a week.

OK. So I might not be able to quote you where he said that. But he definite said those words. Just not in that order. And several years apart.

Laters,
Janos