How often does a regulator NEED to be serviced?

[shark_tamer]

I'm a Caribbean diver. I go down in the Caribbean 4 times a year to go diving.

18 months ago, I was due for my 1 year inspection. When I brought my regs to my LDS to be serviced, I spoke directly with the tech who services my gear and told him about a "small" problem I encounter during a dive the week before.

When I went back to pich-up my regs, the tech showed me the Q-tips he used to clean my regs !!!

I had rust debris in my first stage, all the way into both regs.

He told me I was lucky the whole thing didn't seized on me while diving !!!!

Now a days. I have my regs inspected EVERY TIME I'm back from a Caribbean trip .... that's 4 times a year. I gladly spend 25$ on an inspection for a piece of gear that is vital to my survival .

 

[redacted]

I'm a Caribbean diver. I go down in the Caribbean 4 times a year to go diving.

18 months ago, I was due for my 1 year inspection. When I brought my regs to my LDS to be serviced, I spoke directly with the tech who services my gear and told him about a "small" problem I encounter during a dive the week before.

When I went back to pich-up my regs, the tech showed me the Q-tips he used to clean my regs !!!

I had rust debris in my first stage, all the way into both regs.

He told me I was lucky the whole thing didn't seized on me while diving !!!!

Now a days. I have my regs inspected EVERY TIME I'm back from a Caribbean trip .... that's 4 times a year. I gladly spend 25$ on an inspection for a piece of gear that is vital to my survival .

Inspection is a good way of heading off or catching problems before they effect your diving. And $25 is not an unreasonable price for a good inspection. But it must have been a really long Q-tip to clean your 7' hose. And the "He told me I was lucky the whole thing didn't seized on me while diving" sets off my BS alarm. I suspect he is not being entirely honest with you. If you are interested in doing this kind of thing yourself, tools would run about $25 and a great book on maintaining your regs would run another $50. If you would rather pay the tech to do this and are inclined to stay with the same tech, you might want to discuss with him what he found that he could fix with a Q-tip but it could have caused your reg to seize up while diving. I assume compressor maintenance in Cuba may be wanting so crud in the 1st stage filter would be expected. But your reg would progressively become harder breathing rather than suddenly seize up. I suspect he found some crap in the filter which he removed, cleaned the area a bit with a Q-tip, and replaced the filter.

He may be a good tech, but I don't like the intimidating BS.

 

[Nemrod]

I understand that a well used regulator should be serviced yearly. I also understand that it needs to be done to keep the warranty in effect. But what if you buy a used regulator (warranty now void) have it serviced and then use it two or three times a year. Is it really going to require yearly servicing in this case?

Once or twice every couple of decades should be plenty. Just keep it clean and rinsed. Life support equipment should be durable. Learn to service it yourself and you will not need to worry or question.

N

 

[Lightning Fish]

Your regulator is going to fail at some point. Mine failed on the surface on the first dive after servicing.

The failure will likely follow the "bathtub curve":

This is from:
Bathtub curve - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

What this graph is missing are the spikes after servicing. Typical for any piece of equipment, not just regulators.

For those of you who do your own servicing, where do you get the service parts from? ie., Aqualung regs.

Cheers,
Bill.

 

[Couv]

It is best to find a shop that is willing to sell you the parts, if you can not do that, some parts can be found on eBay.

 

[CaptBill]

I'm curious about the claims that most reg problems occur right after they're serviced. I've been servicing scuba regulators professionally for over 10 years now. Some time for a shop and also in my own business. Over the years I've had maybe 5 come back for an adjustment. The owners got so used to breathing from a reg that needed service desperately they weren't comfortable with it breathing easier.
I have also had a few regs come in from traveling divers that did their own servicing. They didn't have their tools with them. I was happy to help out and provide a quick repair, or adjustment if needed. No, nobody but me touches my tools. But, since I work in the open they were more than welcome to some coffee and dive BS.
I've also fixed a few regs that had just been serviced at their home shop. They got the "filter repair". The person doing the work at the shop, I won't call him a technician, just put in a nice shiny filter for the owner to see, and wiped the rest down.
One thing if you're going to do your own servicing. Don't use a product called Salt-X. It's great for outboard motors I understand, but destroys the soft parts of your reg.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

If you are good about cleaning and storing your regulator, you are very careful not to allow water into the first stage (and use a good water tight dust cap), and learn how to inspect and check your regulator (check the IP, how it breaths, etc. look for Couv post on this subject), you can easily go 5 years between service just as Pescador suggested.

With any reasonable Scuba training, even a total regulator malfunction (which is extremely rare) should never be life threatening©Ôo this whole ÅÍife support thing is just a total bunch BS It surely sell a lot of high end regulators and service.

Also be aware that most malfunctions occur right after service so even this is contradictory to the assumption of ÅÍife support equipment.

I am a strong believer on regularly checking, testing and servicing as needed. Ūf it isnÃÕ broke donÃÕ fix it.Æûbr>
On the other hand, if you are not careful with your equipment, then even the suggested yearly service may not be enough©Íearn how to care and test your own gear.


Note: some regulators will hold up better than others between servicing. I can easily go many years without servicing a double hose or a metal second stage regulator, and most first stages.

I have never heard of a regulator failure right after service from the LDS I have work on mine. I would suggest if this is occurring a change of LDS or tech is a good idea! I changed shops for service because of the technician because I would not trust my life to his work.

I want my reg serviced before I have a problem not after I (Hopefully) survive the problem. I go for every year which keeps my warranty up as well.

What Qualifies as taking good care of your gear and who decides. I would suggest some people may have an inaccurate view of that! I know someone who claims they take great care of their gear but compared to how we care for ours they aren't even close! They don't understand why we are so "lucky" with our gear because they don't link their gear problems and failures with anything related to the way they take care of it.

There is going to be some breakdown of rubber and some parts whether you use it or not. Before going on a dive trip or if I have not used it for a month or two (rare occurrence) I check it to make sure it is all breathing and working ok.

 

[Mr Carcharodon]

I have never heard of a regulator failure right after service from the LDS I have work on mine. I would suggest if this is occurring a change of LDS or tech is a good idea! I changed shops for service because of the technician because I would not trust my life to his work.

I want my reg serviced before I have a problem not after I (Hopefully) survive the problem. I go for every year which keeps my warranty up as well.

What Qualifies as taking good care of your gear and who decides. I would suggest some people may have an inaccurate view of that! I know someone who claims they take great care of their gear but compared to how we care for ours they aren't even close! They don't understand why we are so "lucky" with our gear because they don't link their gear problems and failures with anything related to the way they take care of it.

There is going to be some breakdown of rubber and some parts whether you use it or not. Before going on a dive trip or if I have not used it for a month or two (rare occurrence) I check it to make sure it is all breathing and working ok.

I have heard of a failure right after service, in fact it seem to be one of the most common causes for failures. Certainly I have first hand experience with regulators being worse after service than before.

If you want to prevent a problem you might not want to give your regulator to an incompetent shop monkey after all it is "life support equipment". Regrettably they seem to be prevalent in the industry.

As far as breakdown of rubber parts goes the seal manufacturers disagree with you. Take a look for example at the recommend shelf life of seals from Parker Seals. You will find the shelf life is 10 year plus. Elastomer life is not a driver for modern regs maintenance cycle. Corrosion, and general environmental contamination, may be. But the industry seems to be using recommendations for maintenance cycles that were developed forty or more years ago. No doubt that is profitable for them.

 

[texdiveguy]

I only service my regs. when they need it, very simple and not complicated to understand. All the other stuff about time tables and mandatory yearly service is hog wash!

 

[CaptBill]

I'm looking for all the manufacturers to go to the 2 year repair schedule. After one year bring it in for a simple check by the Dive Shop. I don't charge for this, and I don't think a shop should. After 2 years bring it in for a full service replacing typical wear parts. The reason for this is the improvement in the materials used in these "wear" parts over the years.