Never Really Used My Gear- Should it be Serviced?

[mallbritton]

Are you talking about anything in addition to regulators? BCs maybe?
I used to get my reg. serviced yearly until several experienced pros said bi-yearly is fine if there are no problems (possible sand in reg, etc.), it's breathing fine and an average amount of yearly dives (whatever that is).

Nope, just regs and BCs. In the case of Aqua Lung gear, for example, to keep the free parts for life the gear needs to be serviced on a regular schedule or you lose the perks. For myself I'd just like to be conservative with my gear and get it serviced since I'm not diving as much as I used to these days.

 

[spectrum]

Take a look at this checklist;
Regulator Inspection and Checklist (Rev-8)
Also, the reg set won't be "shot" unless it was seriously abused in those hand full of dives (like letting them flood with salt water and putting them away that way).... even then they would probably be repairable! I clean up and rebuild old regs as a hobby... I've bought some that looked like trash and they cleaned up great. Also one that are verified as having last been serviced 25 years before I got them... Rebuilt on principle, not because it needed it! Your gear should be good... get it looked at, like Kelemvor said, and find some dive buddies... I'm a fan of shore dives. Cost me a fill... and that's it. Cheap way to get in the water and build time and experience.
Respectfully,
James

I agree with what James says and cites.

From an air processing standpoint your usage is trivial. Rubber parts don't like to sit still but it's not like your stuff is ancient. Get a cylinder and make sure it all works and perform the checklist. It's possible that from resting one or both second stages may be more prone to free flow but I have had regulators go 2-3 times that period needing no attention and then serviced them just to make sure nothing odd was going on inside. As much as your gear has not been used, when you think about it with very very few exceptions EVERYONE'S get is mostly idle about 99% of the time(based on 100 hours / year) and the seats are closed half of that time!

As for the BC, pressurize it orally and let it sit, it should hold air and sit there. When you test the regulator, exercise the BC inflator valve to be confident it works crisply. If it works good then it is good. There's no real need for professional attention if it passes those questions.

You computer battery may be getting tired since it may have been live on the store shelf or even in in supply chain.For a few local dives just check the status. If you are heading out on a trip replace it and test dive it to make sure the seal is perfect. You don't want to start a dive vacation with a flooded computer. That holds true for all of this. Start with a simple, low risk dive with a buddy.

Now for the wildcard...... Only you know what happened to the gear on those few dives. If it was poorly rinsed or got a good dose of salt water into the inlet get it to a pro.

Pete