Dive World Austin says they do not maintain rental equipment until it fails

[BlackKnightDY]

I rent tanks on a regular basis and the O-rings are almost always bad (either that or I'm just unlucky). I almost make a habit of swapping out the O-rings just because I don't trust theirs or there is obvious wear (have had at least two blowouts, both above water). I usually have O-rings with me, but Robert even gave me a couple, heh. Fortunately, I haven't had an SPG O-ring issue yet, but it doesn't sound fun.

 

[driftwood]

Mine seems to have gone through.

 

[Moonglow]

Moral: you are responsible for the equipment that you use when diving. Period.

 

[bluedart]

Ok First post here but as a small business owner if I sell or rent something and it turns out faulty I give a full refund. Now their will always be people that try to take advantage of this but after I start to see a pattern emerge I confront them on it.

Second

Our gear is serviced at the beginning and end of every season.

This doesn't have much logic if you do it when everybody starts using it and again when they stop that means it hasn't been used since it was serviced. Wouldn't it be better to rotate stock and service it after it's seen half of it's service life?

Lastly I'm not wanting to step on toes being a newbie here but if someone can pay overhead and turn a small profit running a LDS in this fashion maybe I can open one too.

 

[ianr33]

I rent tanks on a regular basis and the O-rings are almost always bad (either that or I'm just unlucky). I almost make a habit of swapping out the O-rings just because I don't trust theirs or there is obvious wear (have had at least two blowouts, both above water). I usually have O-rings with me, but Robert even gave me a couple, heh. Fortunately, I haven't had an SPG O-ring issue yet, but it doesn't sound fun.

Carrying a bunch of O rings is a good idea. Yoke O rings especially seem to need replacing pretty often. SPGs also leak rather frequently but normally its only "champagne" type bubbles. Changing the tiny O rings inside the spool is fiddly but not difficult.

I bought enough O rings to last several lifetimes for $70 from O-Rings, Inc. Since 1958 - Buy Online With a bit of research you can also get all the o rings that go inside a reg.

 

[ianr33]

Mine seems to have gone through.

I'm probably on their black/bounceback list.

 

[driftwood]

They just don't know me well enough to dislike me.

BTW, if you need o rings in the Austin Area, drop by Austin Seal.

 

[peterbj7]

Carrying a bunch of O rings is a good idea. Yoke O rings especially seem to need replacing pretty often

Remembering that there are several different sizes in common use.

 

[theduckguru]

Granted I have not rented much gear, but the gear I have rented from my LDS and at destination shops has been in really good condition.

If the shop can't take the minimal time and expense to replace mouth pieces as required, that might be a good indication not to rent gear from them.

 

[Chris Hipp]

I rented gear from them several times this summer without any issues. Granted, I mostly rented tanks, but they would check the tank pressure in front of me when they brought the tanks out and inspect/replace O-rings before I even got a chance to check them.

As for the 7mm suit...back when I rented wetsuits, the usual problem was getting stuck with a suit that was too thin. Travis gets cold pretty fast, even in August.