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

[BoundForElsewhere]

I've said this before but if you can assemble Ikea after drinking a bottle of wine, you can service your own regulators.

I have screwed up a couple of old motorcycle carburetors, though.

 

[Bigbella]

How on earth are you going to hear from somebody in public admit that they screwed up servicing their regulator and something bad happened to them?

Full disclosure: when I first began working on regulators, years ago, there had been a couple of instances when I didn't quite get the first stage diaphragm correctly seated (some of the older Poseidons involved a bit of folding and wrestling into place) and they fizzed like Alka-Seltzer as soon as I opened the valve; and, on another occasion, I overlooked some barely-visible loose flashing on a new HP seat which caused a Cyklon 300's IP to soar beyond 12 bar and honk like a Canada goose.

But the rigs were all thoroughly tested on a bench prior to any real world use; no one was ever endangered -- and the gear was always submerged in a tub afterwards, so that any potential leaks were easily detected. Everything was thoroughly tested and the IPs rock-solid before they ever hit the water. In fact, I usually left my newly-serviced regulators pressurized hours to even overnight, to ensure a stable IP. No shop would ever (or could ever) do that nowadays, outside of perhaps @rsingler.

Nothing "bad" ever occurred with the regulators in the water, since nothing was ever allowed to proceed that far.

If it works on the bench, it works in the water . . .

 

[cerich]

Most that self service have incidents on the bench when they test them and find out the messed something up. They them fix, or hand to someone that can figure out and fix (or call or whatever).

That is very different than to how people will pick their regs up from service and assume all is good, jump in the wet stuff and ..it's isn't.

That is why I always recommend that people get regs tested before a trip or course instead of what many do is take them in for service, then have problems.

But I am biased, I was the industry guy that broke ranks and advocated for self service as being possible and a good thing for those that wanted to. In return I got to be very, very hated by much of the industry. It was indeed this

Jerry Maguire Moment

 

[L13]

If it's just changing parts and testing, 30-45 minutes for a set.
Sonic bath and drying is what takes most of my time.

I take a lot more time. As much because I enjoy it and want to extend the time as anything.

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

I take a lot more time. As much because I enjoy it and want to extend the time as anything.

I love the process, too. Taking it slowly apart, inspecting the pieces, laying them out on a shop cloth in their nice satisfying order, laying the new pieces adjacent to the old...

Ok, that's admittedly getting a little intimate but I totally get it.

 

[greeniguana]

I love the process, too. Taking it slowly apart, inspecting the pieces, laying them out on a shop cloth in their nice satisfying order, laying the new pieces adjacent to the old...

Ok, that's admittedly getting a little intimate but I totally get it.

I use 2 egg carton bottoms. One says "new" one says "old". As I take the reg apart and put the old stuff in the old egg holes, I take the new parts and put in the corresponding new spot.

 

[formernuke]

I use 2 egg carton bottoms. One says "new" one says "old". As I take the reg apart and put the old stuff in the old egg holes, I take the new parts and put in the corresponding new spot.

That's a good idea for keeping them from getting knocked off

 

[rx7diver]

I take a lot more time. As much because I enjoy it and want to extend the time as anything.

I love the process, too. Taking it slowly apart, inspecting the pieces, laying them out on a shop cloth in their nice satisfying order, laying the new pieces adjacent to the old...

I don't especially love doing it--although I don't hate doing it. I simply want it done carefully and thoroughly. Like cleaning the bathroom once a year.

rx7diver

 

[rhwestfall]

Or cleaning the bathroom once a year.

 

[happy-diver]

I dived for a while with a boat belonging to a Scubapro shop owned by the captain of the boat
that also serviced the Scubapro regs and plenty of other regs too, all to the manufacturers spec

and in conversation the no 1 of the boat, dive master probably the best diver dive masteer, people herder
I've ever seen, told me that he was doing less divemastering and having shorter dives because the captain
of the boat the guy that also owns the shop and does the regs tunes these regs to manufacturer specs in such
a way that all he comes across on the boat he has to spend his time detuning with the captain owner reg tuner
next to him

as every single one of them freeflow

Now the way this boat is run, people spend so much time futzing around, bobbing in water, and on the boat
I think my tuned detuned serviced myself regs would freeflow which they normally don't do out of sympathy

So again the guy detuning the regs to practical operating condition so they work properly without freeflow
does so with the original service guy standing next to him, but he continues to pump out regs that freeflow

Every reg set he does for years, and lots of people take their regs to him, he's the reg guy, the freeflow king

Hey, people don't know as knowone tells them, and some don't know their gear well enough to be diving it


Ok I'm not talking about people diving in Norway or under the ice like these fairdinkum diver dudes



but know your gear get good at diving you'll like it!


It's ok to be a horizontal diver but try diving on your back for a while or upside down, you won't like it