Are scuba regulators life-support equipment?

[KD8NPB]

that begs the question.

I don't see anyone on this thread suggesting that regulator maintenance is unnecessary or for that matter, suggesting that calling or not calling regulators life support equipment would have any impact on maintenance schedules.

It completely does!

I can always tell the people who don't view scuba regulators as life support... I never see them for service until there is a total mechanical failure. Usually by then, it is too late, and the regulator is too corroded or damaged to work on.

Is a SCUBA tank life support? It isn't, until you get a batch of bad breathing gas, pass out, and drown. It didn't support your life then.

I always treat my gear the way it needs to be treated and the "life-support" issue does not really enter into it. I suppose anyone who really considers their regulators as life support would not just hand them over to any dive shop for service. After all, where else can a person become a "qualified life support technician" in one day with no testing.

It doesn't take a monkey to follow a manual.

 

[The Chairman]

It doesn't take a monkey to follow a manual.

Dude! Shop monkies don't need no steekeeng manuals.

 

[redacted]

It completely does!

I can always tell the people who don't view scuba regulators as life support... I never see them for service until there is a total mechanical failure. Usually by then, it is too late, and the regulator is too corroded or damaged to work on.

Is a SCUBA tank life support? It isn't, until you get a batch of bad breathing gas, pass out, and drown. It didn't support your life then.



It doesn't take a monkey to follow a manual.

I think the monkey's job includes waving the life support flag.

I have seen many more regulators with problems due to faulty service than due to not being taken in for service.

While some of the manufacturer's manuals do a decent job getting the monkey through a routine service (not special problems) few really provide the level of understanding needed to troubleshoot a difficult problem.

 

[nimoh]

It completely does!

I'm glad you see the fallacy in your claim

I can always tell the people who don't view scuba regulators as life support... I never see them for service until there is a total mechanical failure. Usually by then, it is too late, and the regulator is too corroded or damaged to work on.

Well, I service my regs every two years, and don't choose to define them as life support equipment, so I guess you can't always tell.

Is a SCUBA tank life support? It isn't, until you get a batch of bad breathing gas, pass out, and drown. It didn't support your life then.

How could you claim that a regulator is life support equipment, but a tank isn't (assuming good gas)? Wouldn't you agree that a regulator is useless on a dive without a tank?

Also, I'm sure you didn't intend it this way, but the way you worded the second sentence, suggests that a tank is not life support equipment until you're dead (and then it is).

 

[KD8NPB]

I think the monkey's job includes waving the life support flag.

I have seen many more regulators with problems due to faulty service than due to not being taken in for service.

While some of the manufacturer's manuals do a decent job getting the monkey through a routine service (not special problems) few really provide the level of understanding needed to troubleshoot a difficult problem.

There is no such thing as a difficult problem with a functional regulator that has been serviced properly. Special problems only seem to show up with neglected regulators, badly manufactured regulators, or regulators that were serviced by a lousy tech (specialty tools are not always optional).

The only exception to this is gear that qualifies as vintage. I did see a 1960s Cyklon 300 have a bad spring in it...it no longer had the strength to seat the LP seat.

Well, I service my regs every two years, and don't choose to define them as life support equipment, so I guess you can't always tell.

Let's focus on this : Why do you get your regulators serviced every two years? Why not longer?

 

[halocline]

Just found this...
PADI says it is life support

Oh well, if PADI says it, then it must be true....


I have not read this entire thread so forgive me in advance if I'm repeating something.

Here are two points that I think are central to the issue:

1. What keeps you alive underwater is air, not a scuba regulator. All the regulator does is step pressure down so that it's convenient and easy to breathe. Air can come from a buddy, the surface, or even just the tank. Any diver that does not have access to an alternate source of air is taking a risk. This is dive behavior, NOT GEAR RELATED.

2. The use of the phrase "life support" for scuba regulators is not only wrong, it's specifically used to manipulate sales and service policies. In fact, that's it's only real reason for being. Do you enjoy the idea of perpetuating a fallacy that exists to up-sell gear and control the distribution of parts and service materials?

3. (Okay, a 'bonus' point) If regulators were truly responsible for our lives, there is NO WAY that the scuba service industry could function as is. One would need actual training and government licensing to work on these things, with demanding requirements and peer-reviewed examinations. You know, like doctors and even electricians and plumbers have. Not some BS weekend seminar that nobody fails and anybody who works at a dive shop can take. The hypocrisy is quite something once you get a glimpse at the way the dive gear industry handles this.

 

[nimoh]

Let's focus on this : Why do you get your regulators serviced every two years? Why not longer?

for the same reason I change the oil in my truck every 6 months, to keep it working correctly.

I am pretty sure I can see where you are trying to go with this, and like I said before, nobody here is claiming that you don't need a regulator in good working order to go diving. The reason I choose not to define it as life support equipment is that I can live just fine without it by not going diving. I would choose to define a dialysis machine as life support equipment since those that need it can't live without it.

I of course understand that a regulator is needed for diving, I just think calling it life support equipment is overly dramatic.

 

[DBailey]

Even at 230 feet in a cave?

By that logic, your cave line is then life support.

 

[The Chairman]

By that logic, your cave line is then life support.

damn straight!

 

[rhwestfall]

By that logic, your cave line is then life support.

yep, and because of that, you had better only have a certified technician spool your reels.......