Defective o-ring (and reg service kit parts in general) -- how common?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Lorenzoid

ScubaBoard Supporter
Staff member
ScubaBoard Supporter
Messages
13,780
Reaction score
12,038
Location
USA
# of dives
I just don't log dives
Looking over the parts in my HOG D1 service kit, I found this o-ring. What the heck is with the little protuberances?! I have never seen anything like that, in my other service kits or anywhere else. I only service regs about once a year, and I don't deal with o-rings in my daily life, so I have no sense of how common this kind of defect is--or now that I think about it, the broader question of how common defective parts are in reg service kits. This is a question I would like to ask HOG/Edge, but what kind of quality control does this reflect? This defect is clear as can be.

555697-7b3dee2accab77fb41e7d62b578e6b1b.jpg
 
Since they appear to be identical in size, are they tabs for orienting the o-ring correctly in the seat or something? It's certainly easily visible and should have been caught if it's supposed to be normal o-ring....
 
Since they appear to be identical in size, are they tabs for orienting the o-ring correctly in the seat or something? It's certainly easily visible and should have been caught if it's supposed to be normal o-ring....

No, I have used the same kits in the past. And after finding this I looked at three other kits like it, and in every other instance that o-ring looks like you'd expect an o-ring to look.
 
Service kits are generally ok; though I, too, have run into a few punk o-rings, over the years, usually on the seam, for whatever reason; and every brand has experienced some gaffes over the years.

Poseidon had a run of defective seats, a few years back -- some odd molding issue; and they even offered to replace that particular part of the kit; though it seemed a bigger hassle than it was worth.

Thanks to rsingler, the McGyver of regulator repair, and the miracles of Micromesh fine sandpapers, I have been able to correct a few such issues and even salvage some older parts, such as pistons, from older models, which are no longer manufactured . . .
 
they're molding marks, they're not terribly common but they got past QA, it happens.

People often wonder why o-rings for the military are so expensive, and part of it is because every single o-ring is visually inspected by an operator to make sure they don't get in. It's not cost effective to do that and the computers usually don't miss, but every once in a while they will
 
they're molding marks, they're not terribly common but they got past QA, it happens.

People often wonder why o-rings for the military are so expensive, and part of it is because every single o-ring is visually inspected by an operator to make sure they don't get in. It's not cost effective to do that and the computers usually don't miss, but every once in a while they will

I could understand if I had found this in a bin of 100 or 1000 o-rings, but it's disconcerting to find in a kit that contains only one o-ring this size. A person took this o-ring out of a bin and put it in a bag to make the service kit, apparently without looking at it. I had been under the apparently mistaken impression that a large part of the $30 cost of the kits is the quality control, which I would think involves visual inspection. O-rings are pennies in bulk.
 
I could understand if I had found this in a bin of 100 or 1000 o-rings, but it's disconcerting to find in a kit that contains only one o-ring this size.

I totally agree -- and that fault is obvious to the naked eye. There is no valid excuse for it.

I once ran into an issue with a defective o-ring, which fit on a high pressure seat, some years ago, which would have made servicing of that regulator an absolutely useless effort, had I not spares . . .
 
I could understand if I had found this in a bin of 100 or 1000 o-rings, but it's disconcerting to find in a kit that contains only one o-ring this size. A person took this o-ring out of a bin and put it in a bag to make the service kit, apparently without looking at it. I had been under the apparently mistaken impression that a large part of the $30 cost of the kits is the quality control, which I would think involves visual inspection. O-rings are pennies in bulk.

negative, they're not inspecting individual o-rings with a whole lot of sharp eyes. They're making hundreds of these things a day and they just grab one and stick it in the bag. The high cost is from all of the markup, shipping, etc. but also a way for shops to have a high margin-low cost item to make money...
 
The high cost is from all of the markup, shipping, etc. but also a way for shops to have a high margin-low cost item to make money...

I agree to a limit.

Sharp eyes or not, I have seen with the naked eye, my share of shoddy pricey repair kits -- especially within the last five years -- everything from punk o-rings to faulty seats; and the distributors, in some cases, balk at their return; or, are rather slow to offer a replacement.

Recently, I purchased a cache of service kits -- "old stock" -- off of eBay, just to have an abundance of o-rings, and sundry other parts. I am under no illusion that all of them will prove useful; but it was a comparatively cheap insurance policy, to have on hand . . .
 
It is a bold assumption that the kits are packed by humans, and even so, it is an even bolder assumption to that those packing the kits are aware of what they are used for and that molding marks would be an issue. How much do you think someone who stuffs o-rings into plastic bag makes an hour/day/week/month/year? And based on that how much do you think they would or could care? I don't think they would be paid to care...just stuff o-rings in the little bag according to how many of each size needs to be in the bag.

-Z
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

Back
Top Bottom