M25 tank valve replacement

First a bit of history, I guess...

I recently acquired a pair of 15.1 liter 230 bar steel tanks that were made
by Aqualung / Spiro... They have the M25-2 threads on them... Unfortunately,
FedEx managed to drop one of them on the valve and bent it so much that not
only will the DIN insert no longer come out, a yoke clamp will not seat
properly, thus I need to replace the valve and insert... It has the modular
valve on it, so I would like to find a replacement and the isolation tube
that would allow me to convert the two tanks into a set of manifolded
doubles (I think that you call them "twinsets")... I have not been able to
find *any* M25-2 threaded valves in the US, much less one that would allow
me to connect the two tanks together while reusing the one valve that is
still good... FedEx will pay for a replacement valve and DIN insert, but
probably not enough that I could just buy a new manifold and replace both
valves... Shipping from Europe to the US is rather expensive, but I would
expect them to handle it in-house and as such they wouldn't be paying *me*
for it...

Any suggestions or links to UK (or European) online dive supply sites would
be greatly appreciated...

Aberdeen watersports have 4 makes of M25 valves in stock.
www.aberdeenwatersports.com

Any identifying marks on the valve, or picture to identify the make of
valve, rather than just the base thread to identify the valve manufacture.

I think the aqualung / spiro is a stamp on cylinders identifying a batch of
cylinders bought and sold by spiro, rather than manufactured by them, so
identifying the valve would not be easy by simply the cylinder make and
thread size


"Grumman-581" <grumman581-YYYY-MM@charter.net> wrote in message
news:gIyKd.9630$YX.5488@fe04.lga...
> First a bit of history, I guess...
>
> I recently acquired a pair of 15.1 liter 230 bar steel tanks that were
made
> by Aqualung / Spiro... They have the M25-2 threads on them...
Unfortunately,
> FedEx managed to drop one of them on the valve and bent it so much that
not
> only will the DIN insert no longer come out, a yoke clamp will not seat
> properly, thus I need to replace the valve and insert... It has the
modular
> valve on it, so I would like to find a replacement and the isolation tube
> that would allow me to convert the two tanks into a set of manifolded
> doubles (I think that you call them "twinsets")... I have not been able to
> find *any* M25-2 threaded valves in the US, much less one that would allow
> me to connect the two tanks together while reusing the one valve that is
> still good... FedEx will pay for a replacement valve and DIN insert, but
> probably not enough that I could just buy a new manifold and replace both
> valves... Shipping from Europe to the US is rather expensive, but I would
> expect them to handle it in-house and as such they wouldn't be paying *me*
> for it...
>
> Any suggestions or links to UK (or European) online dive supply sites
would
> be greatly appreciated...
>
>

I think you will find that all of the Spiro / Aqualung steel cylinders are
actually mad by Faber, most of which are supplied without a valve as many
shops buy in their cylinders and fit their own valves, this allows them to
fit standard DIN/A clamp valves or manifoldable vales to the cylinders as
required.

You should have a manufacturers stamp on the valve itself.

The most common brand of valves in the UK are : MDE (Midland Diving
equipment), Apeks, Beaver, and all the others which are mostly made in
Italy, including the Scubapro units.

have you contacted the place you bought them from to see if they carry the
correct valve or at least know what type it was?

Why do you need the exact same type? Uess you're going to twin them up with
a manifold then its not important, in which case I'd recommend the MDE units
which seem as rugged as they get. The one important factor is to buy a
Balanced valve not Unbalanced as otherwise the more pressure in the valve
the stiffer they are to turn.

"Tony Howard" wrote ...
> You should have a manufacturers stamp on the valve itself.

Spiro is stamped on the valve... Actually, it is raised letters... Here's a
photo of an undamaged valve:

http://webpages.charter.net/grumman5...e-shipment.jpg


> have you contacted the place you bought them from to see if
> they carry the correct valve or at least know what type it was?

Not an option... Got the two tanks off ebay and the person selling them
really didn't know what she had... Got them both for a total of $115 (which
included shipping)...

> Why do you need the exact same type? Uess you're going to twin
> them up with a manifold then its not important

If it had turned out that the valves were not the modular valves, I wouldn't
have worried about it, but since they are, then it does give me the option
of converting them to a set of doubles as long as I can find the appropriate
isolator piece... I'm beginning to get of the opinion that this is just
wishful thinking and I should just be satisfied with an undamaged valve as a
replacement and run them as independents instead of manifolded doubles...

I checked around last night on the German and French ebay sites and it looks
like there might be some valves for sale... Of course, I speak neither
German nor French, so understanding the listings is rather sketchy at
best... Luckily, when I sent them a question, they understood English... One
of the individuals quoted 30 euros for shipping to the US, another quoted 9
euros...

Another option would be to have an adapter plug made for the tanks to
convert it from the M25x2 to the 3/4"-14 NPSM threads and then just use the
US valves... I did that so that I could get the tanks hydroed, but I'm
hesitant to put the extra O-ring in the system and add the potential extra
failure point... These adapters also cost $75 each to be made from stainless
steel...

> Any suggestions or links to UK (or European) online dive
> supply sites would be greatly appreciated...

You could try the UKRS Links page:
http://www.ukrecscuba.org.uk/links/links03.html

I would have thought that the best place to start would be somewhere like
Divers Warehouse: www.diverswarehouse.co.uk or Kent Diving:
www.kentdiving.co.uk

I assume you know that European valves do not have burst disks and therefore
(I believe) run foul of the US DOT regulations. In other words, you may have
problems getting fills.

HTH

Iain

On Sat, 29 Jan 2005 08:54:35 +0000, Iain Smith wrote:

> I assume you know that European valves do not have burst disks and
> therefore (I believe) run foul of the US DOT regulations. In other words,
> you may have problems getting fills.

Australian valves are metric and have burst disks.

Jason

--
http://www.scuba-addict.co.uk/ for Aussie diving reports including
Stradbroke Island, Terrigal, Jervis Bay and Portsea

> Another option would be to have an adapter plug made for the tanks to
> convert it from the M25x2 to the 3/4"-14 NPSM threads and then just use
the
> US valves... I did that so that I could get the tanks hydroed, but I'm
> hesitant to put the extra O-ring in the system and add the potential extra
> failure point... These adapters also cost $75 each to be made from
stainless
> steel...
>
I agree that it would be a mistake to put thread converters into these
cylinders.

I think that your best options would either be to simply use then as
independent cylinders, in which case, any good replacement M25 thread valve
with DION conversion, would suffice or you could get a pair of new M25
thread modular valves.

The valves with the best reputation for ruggedness and reliability are
either the Scubapro / Halcyon type with twin barrel O rings on the manifold
/isolator bar (both of which are made in Italy), or the UK made MDE (Midland
Diving Equipment) item which is very rugged and used one facing O ring and a
single barrel O ring on the manifold / isolator bar. In all cases the
manifold / isolator bar is available in different lengths to suit different
cylinder diameters and the spacing from different makes of the twinning
bands. Probably the best and most expensive bands are the Highland Mill
ones, which are made in the US, although over here in the UK we also have
alternative bands which are made are made in the Czech Republic to a similar
pattern but at a much lower cost.

I am sure that a Scubapro or Halcyon dealer in the US should be able to get
you the M25 valves, or you could place an overseas order to one an overseas
dealers which use Metric sizes (UK / Europe, Australia, far East & Asia all
use metric threads, in fact the US is a bit by itself on this matter). I
strongly suspect that their would be no difference of the thread on the
manifold itself between the Imperial and Metric valves, but you might need
to confirm this with the manufacturers, otherwise get the three items as a
kit (which is how they are most commonly sold anyway).

http://www.divebooty.co.uk/dive_equi...sp?cid=39&pg=6

Regards,

TonyH