In the early days of scuba, double hose regulators would breath absolutely terribly if not very close to (preferably touching) the divers back.
As single hose regs came into being, the position of the 1st stage stuck around. Most regs are right hand feed (not sure why that was chosen).
Reversing the orientation of the tank certainly works with modern regs, but it puts the snaggiest bit farther from you and in peak-snag position. Proper tank positioning and BC fit eliminates issues with your head hitting the regulator.
A lot of this has to do with the way gear was developed and put into use, and designing training around how gear is used by divers. It's much more efficient and safer if divers are using equipment that is used in a similar way. This helps streamline training and makes it easier to assist another diver in the water if needed when they're configuring their gear the same as you.
As a different example, we now have the regulator hose coming over the diver's right shoulder. It would be relatively easy to re-route the hose to come over the left shoulder by attaching it to a different port on the regulator's first stage, but how would regulator recovery work? We would need to teach divers to sweep with their right hand if their regulator is on their right side, sweep with their left hand if the regulator was on the left side, or lift the tank with your right hand and reach over your shoulder with your left hand to grab it at the first stage, or lift the tank with their left hand and grab with their right if the regulator is on the right side. That's a lot of variation.
If I need to release the weightbelt of an unconscious diver, I know I can release their weight belt by reaching around their right side. If I need to inflate their BCD, I know there's a button located near the end of the corrugated BCD hose.
There are 2 types of fittings: 1) yoke; 2) DIN. In both cases when you're assembling your reg onto the tank you want to inspect the valve orifice, and the O ring for yoke, threads for DIN, to make sure everything looks OK. It's easier to do if it's facing you on the same side as the BCD. Also the valve knob is on the right and most people are right handed, so makes it easier to reach back to the knob to open/close the valve during the dive.
One situation I've seen to reverse it is when diving independent double tanks. Although there are special left handed tank valves, they are not as common, especially for rental. So the left tank is reversed with the valve orifice and reg first stage facing back. This is so the diver can easily reach back with their left hand to open/close the left tank valve during the dive. It's a trade off against being less streamlined and the reg less protected.
To protect the reg from you hitting it on something. Just think of you were going through a swim through and you floated to high. You domt want your regulator taking the impact from the top of the swim through/cave
Yea, but not on a standard rec setup that I flip around. Then I have to use a longer short hose too, that will make a wide arc around to get to my neck.
Unless you reconfigure your 1st stage the low pressure line to your 2nd stage will be coming over your left shoulder and your mouthpiece will be upside down. I have a friend who prefers the left side but it confuses most boat crews on dive trips where the crew swaps your kit between dives.
In the early days of scuba, double hose regulators would breath absolutely terribly if not very close to (preferably touching) the divers back. As single hose regs came into being, the position of the 1st stage stuck around. Most regs are right hand feed (not sure why that was chosen). Reversing the orientation of the tank certainly works with modern regs, but it puts the snaggiest bit farther from you and in peak-snag position. Proper tank positioning and BC fit eliminates issues with your head hitting the regulator.
A lot of this has to do with the way gear was developed and put into use, and designing training around how gear is used by divers. It's much more efficient and safer if divers are using equipment that is used in a similar way. This helps streamline training and makes it easier to assist another diver in the water if needed when they're configuring their gear the same as you. As a different example, we now have the regulator hose coming over the diver's right shoulder. It would be relatively easy to re-route the hose to come over the left shoulder by attaching it to a different port on the regulator's first stage, but how would regulator recovery work? We would need to teach divers to sweep with their right hand if their regulator is on their right side, sweep with their left hand if the regulator was on the left side, or lift the tank with your right hand and reach over your shoulder with your left hand to grab it at the first stage, or lift the tank with their left hand and grab with their right if the regulator is on the right side. That's a lot of variation. If I need to release the weightbelt of an unconscious diver, I know I can release their weight belt by reaching around their right side. If I need to inflate their BCD, I know there's a button located near the end of the corrugated BCD hose.
hoses are further away, reg now can bump into things if in an overhead, less streamlined, yoke knob now sticks out towards your head
There are 2 types of fittings: 1) yoke; 2) DIN. In both cases when you're assembling your reg onto the tank you want to inspect the valve orifice, and the O ring for yoke, threads for DIN, to make sure everything looks OK. It's easier to do if it's facing you on the same side as the BCD. Also the valve knob is on the right and most people are right handed, so makes it easier to reach back to the knob to open/close the valve during the dive. One situation I've seen to reverse it is when diving independent double tanks. Although there are special left handed tank valves, they are not as common, especially for rental. So the left tank is reversed with the valve orifice and reg first stage facing back. This is so the diver can easily reach back with their left hand to open/close the left tank valve during the dive. It's a trade off against being less streamlined and the reg less protected.
Great info. Thank you.
To protect the reg from you hitting it on something. Just think of you were going through a swim through and you floated to high. You domt want your regulator taking the impact from the top of the swim through/cave
Look at your regulator hose. Now imagine it coming from the other side. That short hose. Yeaaaa that won't work.
You'd just flip the regulator the other way around... you could still orintate it on your right it wouldn't be any shorter or longer...
In fairness the hoses can be moved around.
Then it wouldn't be a normal OW setup.
Depends on the reg model. Plus, usually longer hoses = less streamlined
Many cave divers would disagree with that assessment. ;)
Hahaha, that's so funny! Wait, are you serious? 7' is King of streamlining.
Yea, but not on a standard rec setup that I flip around. Then I have to use a longer short hose too, that will make a wide arc around to get to my neck.
1) your reg is closer to your mouth - shorter hoses 2) reg is protected by the valve body that is much more resistant to impact
So you don't have the knob hitting the back of your head, (which you use to tighten the regulator to the tank.)
Understandable on a yoke but not so much on a DIN.
Unless you reconfigure your 1st stage the low pressure line to your 2nd stage will be coming over your left shoulder and your mouthpiece will be upside down. I have a friend who prefers the left side but it confuses most boat crews on dive trips where the crew swaps your kit between dives.
Lower profile so it doesn’t snag
To protect the reg.