A long-time client recently sent me one of his regulators, along with the complaint that the breathing seemed somehow "wonky." He had an offer -- an actual paper coupon -- from his local dive shop, Back East, to do his annual rebuild, for a price I simply could not match, not even for parts; and was set to travel, in March, to PNG, provided that Covid-19 has not derailed his long-awaited vacation plans.
It arrived with the octopus attached and a loose primary regulator. The IP was a bit low; but other than that, little else seemed off -- that was, until I disassembled the primary. I sent him the "Where's Waldo?" photo below, and asked him, what, if anything was absent?
He even called it; the exhalation diaphragm was actually missing; and, in addition, the "operating device," a little, hinged, fiddly bit (with an admittedly piss-poor name), along with the valve piston, was misaligned and twisted off to one side. The parts were dirty; hadn't seen an ultrasonic cleaning. The base of the valve seat was also stripped and had to be replaced. He didn't trust his first stage either, and wants it rebuiltl.
This was almost a year to the day, when I received a friend's "fully operable," "recently serviced" eBay bargain basement FFM, whose first stage was corrroded inside and out; had antiquated parts, whose upgrade kit was pricey; and whose inner mask had actual rodent damage.
I have yet to see any true bargain, related to responsible, realistic regulator repair, which hasn't cost a client twice of what he or she should have paid, in further repairs. If I could offer any advice to novice divers, it would be to reconsideri that order of 15.00 avocado toast, and drop a little more cash into an equipment maintenance fund . . .
