Question Anyone ever had an incident because they serviced their own gear?

[Pearlman]

Necklace, would have made that near impossible, and I have since made that change. My regulators are always retained in some way.

Actually the silicone tube necklace comes off too easy while fidgeting with your gear while on land - I’ve had the backup reg fall off a couple of times. Enough to give me anxiety about what would happen in an emergency underwater (if OOA diver thrashes about for example). But I prefer the soft tubing around my neck though so I like to tie a knot over the tubing using bit of line from my DSMB reel for extra safety before every trip.

 

[SlugLife]

Actually the silicone tube necklace comes off too easy while fidgeting with your gear while on land - I’ve had the backup reg fall off a couple of times. Enough to give me anxiety about what would happen in an emergency underwater (if OOA diver thrashes about for example). But I prefer the soft tubing around my neck though so I like to tie a knot over the tubing using bit of line from my DSMB reel for extra safety before every trip.

I don't like those silicone necklaces, and I don't use them myself. However, that's a good idea tying the necklace to the silicone necklace. I do similar with my camera and lights, they're on mounts, but if those mounts break or come loose, I won't lose my camera or light.

I use a bungie-and-zip-tie necklace. The key is to first zip-tie the mouth-piece as usual, and then put the bungie outside that zip-tie, and put another zip-tie on top to hold the necklace. If you put it underneath the mouthpiece zip-tie, you risk pulling off the mouthpiece.

 

[Pearlman]

I use a bungie-and-zip-tie necklace. The key is to first zip-tie the mouth-piece as usual, and then put the bungie outside that zip-tie, and put another zip-tie on top to hold the necklace. If you put it underneath the mouthpiece zip-tie, you risk pulling off the mouthpiece.

Now why didn’t I think of using a zip tie to hold the silicone band in place?? Much easier than tying complicated knots on a line…

Thanks for the tip - I have a whole packet of zip ties lying around…

 

[race890]

I don't think you will have individuals who messed up doing it themselves publicly state so... The usual gripe is that service was payed for and not done correctly. You do it yourself, you take on the risk.

That being said, I am yet to have wrecked or broken my gear servicing it in over 10 years of doing it. That well exceeds experiences I had prior to doing it myself.

You do need to know what you are doing, and you can mess stuff up (like scratch sealing surfaces if you do it incorrectly), but most of it isn't surgery.

I couldn't find a more appropriate Topic OP to ask in; but does anyone know if the "yellowing" of old gauges is due to the Oil or the Plastic screen yellowing?
If it is the oil; how to change it & with what oil ? (Mineral oil from a supermarket?)
It is a vintage but nice depth gauge; not too bad as a backup.

 

[SlugLife]

"yellowing" of old gauges

White plastic frequently ages, especailly if left in the sun. I don't know if that's what's happening here or not.

You can reverse that type of yellowing using hydrogen-peroxide or something like "40 Volume Cream Peroxide Developer" and a UV light or sunlight. That's assuming you can get the peroxide on the yellow plastic surface, which it looks like you'd have to disassemble that.

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

on watches, it is usually the dial that discolors (patination) over time and exposure. Could be the same situation here.

It looks cool. Leave it.

 

[halocline]

I’ve certainly made mistakes servicing my regulators but have always caught the mistake when testing. This might be the biggest difference between self service and shop service; taking the time to carefully test everything. In addition to the obvious vacuum test (suck hard, my friend) I’ll leave regs pressurized for an hour or longer with the tank valve off, to make sure both the IP gauge and the SPG don’t budge. I’ll also submerge the pressurized reg in the bathtub (my wife is not crazy about this part) and look very carefully for slow leaks. Shops don’t have that kind of time.

I’ve also had a few incidents with regulators while diving, most commonly a leaky 2nd stage, usually caused by an exhaust valve leak. It’s an annoyance, but a regulator failure will never be fatal if a diver is diving safely. This is the biggest and most insidious myth propagated by some in the dive gear industry.