Vintage Double Hose

J-Valve Noise
- I was testing out my Voit Navy yesterday in the pool and there was a metallic ringing noise when I inhaled vigorously. My first thought was, "What now?". Because I had just re-built the Voit in an attempt to correct a honking noise it was making when inhaling. Now, the honking was gone and replaced with a different noise: Kind of a ringing that was resonating inside the scuba tank.
- Rich suggested it might be the tank valve and not the regulator. So, I tried a different regulator and sure enough I was getting the same sound. So then I tried pulling the J-Rod and sure enough, the sound went away. Pushed up again and the noise returned.
- We found that it got noisier as the tank got closer to empty... Less vigorous breathing brought it on.
- I'm planning to take the valve apart now that the tank is empty. If anyone has experienced this before, I'd appreciate some suggestions as to what needs fixing inside the valve to make the noise go away.

Pretty normal, that's how I knew the J valve was up without having to push on the rod. Nothing needs fixing, it is the nature of the beast. The old J 60 does it more than later ones.

I call those sounds "J-tunes".
Some do it and some don't. Must be caused by the airflow pushing open the spring loaded reserve seat and vibrating the spring and related parts.
Anyone know a good cure for this?

At least on the USD valves, the only ones of mine that do it are the ones with the metal J valve seat with the little metal BB looking seat. All my more modern ones with the teflon seat don't do it. Both my 1/2" USD j valves have metal j valve seats and they both ring loudly. I actually kind of like it. It's like sonar for enemy divers.

- Well, it certainly is the old 1/2" threaded USD J-valve. I may still take it apart so I can see what you guys are talking about. It definitely works just fine as a good reliable reserve mechanism. I have dived it down to hard sucking zero a few times to test it out and a pull on the lever gives me full reserve... I just never noticed the ringing noise before. Maybe I only noticed it because I was listening for noises from the rebuilt Voit NAVY.

If it is a commonly known phenomenon, then there's nothing wrong and I should embrace the authenticity!

Thanks for your help guys!

- Well, I did take it apart to check for any problems. Cripes! It is like brand new inside... Nothing even to clean up. So I just put it all back together again. Filled to 600 psi and test breathed it with the J-Valve on and off. Same sound as before. So, I'm going to do as you all suggest and embrace the authenticity.

The seat was all metal with a BB in the middle, right?

I get the "J-Tune" ring on my 1/2 USD valve. Never had any problems.

Ron wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 21, 2017 4:21 pm

The seat was all metal with a BB in the middle, right?

- No I did not see anything that looked like a BB or ball bearing. It looked like the usual soft seat system.

- Thanks for everyone's input. It fun to learn something different.

I've got a tank that does this too Eben. I call it my dinosaur tank due to the weird screeching noise it makes.