1990s BC safe to use? been stored away.

[SpiderSense]

My wife and I are new divers and starting to buy most of our equipment. We were planning on renting BCs in Bonaire next month, but buying the regulator. I mentioned it to my brother-in-law who said his parents have a bunch of equipment they havent used but 6-10 times. i think they bought it when living in Singapore, which means mid-late 1990s.

would it be safe to use? they look brand new, and fit both of us perfectly. they've been kept in dive bags (suitcase-like). whats the price range to get BCs serviced if any is needed?

they are both Tusa X-Pert BCs and I can't find any information on them online.

they also have a pair of Tusa Liberator regulators (one 2nd stage is an Aqualung). i believe they were serviced before storage. serving these will probably cost more than they're worth. again, can't find any info online (no model numbers, just 'liberator'). i think if its 100 bucks to redo these, i'll just get new ones.

should we just play it safe and rent BCs in Bonaire? these 'look' fine. what would need servicing? purge valves (only one per BC)? i can see the regs as a strong safety item, but BCs?

 

[Jim Lapenta]

The bladders could have been compromised. easy to check just inflate and let set for 24 hours. The inflators may need to be serviced. springs weaken, buttons stick, pull dump cord rotted or frayed. Checking a bc is no big deal for a shop. Usually to service a bc is 10-15 bucks depending on make and if parts are needed and still available. I would advise trying to inflate and getting them in the pool before taking them anywhere. I'd also check the integrity of all straps, buckles, and clips.

The regs are a different matter. time not used can actually be harder on regs than regular usage. seats get grooved, grease may stiffen up, orings and diaphragms dry out. I'm not sure unless you can find a tusa dealer that these would be covered under any kind of warranty. If not then expect in the neighborhood of 40-50 bucks each plus parts for a full tear down and rebuild. If they have not been used since the mid-late 90's I would do nothing less than that.

 

[Scubastud16]

^^ what he said. have the stuff checked out just to be sure.

 

[Dive-aholic]

All the gear should be fine, even the regs. It is well worth it to have them serviced. A new reg set will cost you much more than the servicing. And new regs need to be serviced annually too. So save yourself the cost of new regs and get the ones you now have serviced. If you don't want to do that, let me know and I'll make you an offer on the gear.

 

[The Chairman]

I would find a pool and test dive them. Have the regs serviced, but I would not touch the BCs unless they have issues.

 

[SpiderSense]

i've inflated the BCs manually (couldn't pop the purge valve with my breath though). so far everything looks good. i'll probably take it to my LDS to see what they have to say about it though.

i think i'll buy new regs unless its under 50 bucks to fix. i've read stuff like 50 labor, 75 parts--i'll just get new ones. its a shame though since these look like they were just serviced (plastic bag with orings, filter and other parts masked taped to the hose). maybe i'll see about that oceanic trade-in promotion.

also, the gauges should be fine right? suunto SPG and compass and depth. ack they're in metric!

 

[rigdiver]

I'd shop around on the price of service on the regs. I know people still using regs much older than yours.

 

[herman]

The BC's should be fine, I have a 84ish one thats still fine to dive, a little worn around the edges but fine to dive. Test the inflators and deflators and if they work great, even if you need them serviced, it's an inexpensive BC.
Don't be too quick to trash the regs. Even "under warrenty" regs only cover the cost of parts, repair labor is still yours. The cost of most repair kits is in the $20-30 range so even if they were new last year you would have the labor bill. Have them serviced and dive them.