Cleaning up old BC's

[PvtStash]

Hellohello, I've picked up a couple 2nd hand BC's and tho' they are old, the bladders still hold air and I believe could be made completely serviceable...

My LDS says that the valves are all salt encrusted and want to charge me $50 Apiece to clean them, which I think is excessive (particularly since they List that service as being $20 on their website).

Anyone got any special tricks/products that might be tailor made for my needs here?

 

[Noboundaries]

Hmmm, that seems high. My wife and I took the equipment specialty course and learned that BC's are not what you'd call real high tech. You could easily take them apart yourself and clean the encrusted salt out of it, including the dumps and inflator. If anything needed replaced though, like o-rings or the schrader valve in the inflator assembly, they'd have that. The $20 price seems fine, but not the $50.

 

[PvtStash]

I was comfortable with $20 , but $50 Apiece just seemed to be just trying to sell me a New BC as opposed to servicing one with life still in it (just because its old).

After a lil' online searching I've found I can buy complete power inflators from $15 (ebay) to $35 ... so again to CLEAN one for $50 when a NEW one can be had for rougly half the cost seems totally unreasonable... and not what I was hoping for in a LDS as far as building a long term relationship... he wants to drive me to the net ? force me to do my own servicing? fine... may Very well come back to bite 'im in the @ss one of these days...

As far as BC Parts go... Orings, springs, etc ... I've found some places that sell Regulator parts, but not finding much in the way of BC-specific parts... is that a Scuba Parts Wholesaler out there? who do you DIY'er guys go to out there for parts ?

 

[Gilldiver]

Assembling a new inflator is easy it only takes about 3 or 4 minutes, its cleaning up an old one that takes the labor. I just did 2 and it took about an hour of labor and about 3 hours soaking to clean the metal parts.

All in all, $50 for parts and labor is not out of line. You'd pay about the same to get the oil changed in your car.

An inflator is not rocket science, you need a pair of pliers, a spanner or bent nosed pliers to get the power inflator barrel out, a wrench or two, a socket to get the manual purge out, and an O-ring kit with various sizes.

Disassemble the inflator, take all the O-rings off (keep them to match sizes), soak all the metal parts in a 50% solution of white vinegar to remove the corrosion, then everything gets a bath in a soap solution using rags etc, to clean all the internals, new O-rings, and reassemble.

Dumps usually are a clean only, check for corrosion of the spring and that the rubber seal face is clean and not dried out.

Then use a hot soap solution to clean out the bladder and rinse well.

 

[SDAnderson]

I'll second what I think Gilldiver is trying to say: it's not worth it to service a badly corroded (and old) power inflator. A new cheap one will cost about $15 and a good one will cost about $50, they take a couple of minutes to install and you're done.

If you're a determined DIY type, you'll find Vance Harlow's regulator guide a worthwhile investment. The book is a great general service reference and has a lot of information that applies to your specific situation.

I'd recommend no matter what you decide to do that you pick up a replacement inflator before you start: if the one you're working on crashes and burns you'll have the replacement in hand and if it doesn't you'll have a spare for the save-a-dive kit.

 

[herman]

I'll second what I think Gilldiver is trying to say: it's not worth it to service a badly corroded (and old) power inflator. A new cheap one will cost about $15 and a good one will cost about $50, they take a couple of minutes to install and you're done.

If you're a determined DIY type, you'll find Vance Harlow's regulator guide a worthwhile investment. The book is a great general service reference and has a lot of information that applies to your specific situation.

I'd recommend no matter what you decide to do that you pick up a replacement inflator before you start: if the one you're working on crashes and burns you'll have the replacement in hand and if it doesn't you'll have a spare for the save-a-dive kit.

It's not worth the cost to have some one else service the old inflator however it is well worth it to at least attempt to do it yourself IMO. They are pretty simple devices, a soaking in vinegar will clean them nicely, usually only need an oring or 2 and reguardless of wheather or not it's worth saving....cost or the inflator itself, the experience of doing the work yourself is priceless. By the time your done, you should understand how it works and feel more confident taking on other DIY repairs.
Vance's book is a great investment even if you decide not to do any of your own work, at least for me, I want to know how my stuff works reguardless of wheather I do the work myself or have it done.
If you have a digital camera, you might want to do this as well. Every time I dissamble a new to me piece of equipment I photograph the entire process, starting with before shots, closeups during the process and a final "after" shot. I shoot photos of anything I remove as an assembly and do a parts manual style exploded view before I start to reassemble it. In effect creating my own service manual for that piece of equipment. I shoot in as high of resolution as possible, it can be a big help when your enlarging a shot to try to see which way a part went on......not that I have ever had to do that.

 

[Gilldiver]

If you keep diving for a number of years and get enough equipment that having a shop do the work becomes too high, it may be time to do your own.

My maintenance period is called February.

Every February I go through my BC's and any tank valves and manifolds etc. that need doing.

What I really do is take off the ones that need work, throw them into the rebuild pile, and replace them with units I did last year. When I rebuild a unit, it gets sealed into a Ziploc bag in my parts bin. Then if I need an inflator or a valve starts leaking during the year, I just take it off, and replace it with a rebuilt and ready unit and get back into the water.

Try asking around your LDS and see if they will give you some old valves and inflators from their scrap pile.

 

[Damselfish]

May be worth playing with yourself, but I wouldn't pay $50 to get an inflator cleaned when you should be able to buy a new one for the same or less. Even if $50 is appropriate for the amount of work a really cruddy inflator requires, I'd rather just have the new one rather than one that may have scratches or corrosion that can't be completely cleaned up. The tiniest bit in the wrong place can make them leak.

 

[PCBCaptChris]

Typically a good long soak with take care of salt encrusted valves. Maybe it is severly corroded and needs replacement? That may warrant the $50 price tag...

I take my BCD out diving quite a bit and leave it laying in the sun. I regularly apply a UV coating that keeps my BC from fading too much (you want it a little faded so you look all salty...). It is: Nikwax UV Proof - Spray-On Fabric Care (10oz) - FREE SHIPPING at Altrec.com Just make sure to test it on the inside of you BCD somewhere to make sure it is compatable and won't discolor any of the fabric...

 

[scubafanatic]

I was comfortable with $20 , but $50 Apiece just seemed to be just trying to sell me a New BC as opposed to servicing one with life still in it (just because its old).

After a lil' online searching I've found I can buy complete power inflators from $15 (ebay) to $35 ... so again to CLEAN one for $50 when a NEW one can be had for rougly half the cost seems totally unreasonable... and not what I was hoping for in a LDS as far as building a long term relationship... he wants to drive me to the net ? force me to do my own servicing? fine... may Very well come back to bite 'im in the @ss one of these days...

As far as BC Parts go... Orings, springs, etc ... I've found some places that sell Regulator parts, but not finding much in the way of BC-specific parts... is that a Scuba Parts Wholesaler out there? who do you DIY'er guys go to out there for parts ?

....I buy a fair amount of BC bits and pieces from Diveriteexpress in FL. I just last week bought an $ 80 complete inflator assembly/shoulder dump from them.

...as to whether or not $50 for 'service' is fair....well, if it's a complete cleaning and service (swapping out O-rings-gaskets/de-corroding-replacing various springs and other little critical bits in the power inflator assembly)/bladder flushing/conditioning.... then I'd say $ 50 isn't unreasonable......if it's $ 50 to just throw it in a warm tub of water, soak a while, and drip dry and give it back to you, then I'd say $ 50 was a ripoff.

...if it were you, and you were doing it for someone else...how much would you charge them ???