Equipment repair tech?

[EricM.]

I have been looking into some classes that offer a certification, not quite sure how legit they are. There is one in Va. that looks promising. I am thinking of using a week of vacation, and taking the course. I have an extensive mechanical, and technical backgound and am really looking forward to learning something new. My goal isn't to make a living at it though. If I get a little part time work here and there, I'll be content. I just like to be self sufficient when at all possible.

 

[herman]

I have been looking into some classes that offer a certification, not quite sure how legit they are. There is one in Va. that looks promising. I am thinking of using a week of vacation, and taking the course. I have an extensive mechanical, and technical backgound and am really looking forward to learning something new. My goal isn't to make a living at it though. If I get a little part time work here and there, I'll be content. I just like to be self sufficient when at all possible.

Just understand there are NO one stop places that can certify you to work on scuba equipment. They can teach general practices and may (or may not) give you a good backgound in how regs work and may even give you a nice certificate that says you are a regulator tech but only manufactures classes "certify" you to work on their brand. Save your money, buy the books Jim recommends and study them cover to cover. Buy a couple of junkers off ebay (a MK-5, a Conshelf and a MK-2 would be good choices) and rebuild them. Do that and you will know more than 90% of the techs working on the bench. If still interested in some pay for working on regs, find a shop that will let you work for them part time and take manuf classes through them.

 

[geoff w]

My OW, AOW and DM instructor runs a scuba repair business, and probably services more regulators as an individual than any other person on the planet (or is in the top 3 otherwise). I've watched him service gear, and have talked to him a lot about it. He also teaches the manufacturer service clinics for several brands of regulators, as well as periodically takes the refresher training for other brands (although he usually gives the instructors tips on how to properly service their regulators). He has a state of the art facility that automatically tests each regulator after servicing for 15 minutes of simulated diving and provides a complete printout back with every regulator.

Some comments from him over the years: It's more cost effective for dive shops to have him service gear than for them to have an in house tech do it. Who would you rather have service your gear - someone who specializes in regulator service and is up on all the manufacturers, or someone who does it along side everything else they do? A lot of manufacturers won't sell service kits to shops without techs not certified by the manufacturer; the trend is probably more in this direction because of liability issues. If you want to be a qualified regulator service tech, Regulator Savvy is the basic required reading, followed by at least a 6 month apprenticeship servicing regulators on a daily basis.

I've seen some of the gear he's gotten in that was supposedly just serviced but not working right, and it's appalling how shoddy a lot of service is. If you're going to service regulators, keep in mind it's life support equipment for someone using it, not just a hobby. A lot of the major scuba shows, including DEMA, offer manufacturer service clinics to participants and will certify you to work on their regulators, but you usually need a basic understanding of regulators and hands-on experience to get any value out of it

 

[Lead_carrier]

Phil, the first thing you need to work on regs is a thick skin. Read a large number of the post here on Scubaboard and you'll find out how dumb most of us that work on regs or at dive shops in general, really are. It's amazing that we know enough to button our britches every day.

Like Jim said, it isn't rocket science. By the same token, you can mess up easily enough and have to redo what you just done. Just find a shop that you enjoy, get to know the owner/manager well enough and hit them up about a parttime position. You'd be surprised how many might enjoy having some extra part time help. Get the books that Jim talked about, and have fun with it. Working at a dive shop without having to depend on it for a living can be a fantastic experience and you will always meet more characters there than you can imagine.

 

[Colliam7]

I have been looking into some classes that offer a certification, not quite sure how legit they are. There is one in Va. that looks promising. . . . am really looking forward to learning something new. My goal isn't to make a living at it though. If I get a little part time work here and there, I'll be content. I just like to be self sufficient when at all possible.

You are probably looking at the technician training through Virginia Scuba, in Manassas. Decent program. But, they will be the first to tell you, as Herman points out, that their course does not certify you to work on any specific brand of gear. Nonetheless, it is a reasonable investment.

Another option for general regulator technician training would be Air Tech in Raleigh (http://www.airtechscubaservices.com/) - they periodically run regulator service courses. That is how I got started servicing regulators.

After that, to service your own gear, or to service customers' gear, you will want to complete one of the manufacturer service courses. Zeagle periodically offers a 1-day course, at the Zephyr Hills facility (it seems like it is usually in May), and a number of manufacturers offer service tech classes at DEMA (I did Apeks and Zeagle courses at DEMA). You need to be somehow affiliated with a shop to participate in those, however.

 

[randy88k5]

You are probably looking at the technician training through Virginia Scuba, in Manassas. Decent program. But, they will be the first to tell you, as Herman points out, that their course does not certify you to work on any specific brand of gear.

VA Scuba will certify you through SDI or IANTD for working on Aeris or Dive Rite equipment, according to their website.

 

[Colliam7]

VA Scuba will certify you through SDI or IANTD for working on Aeris or Dive Rite equipment, according to their website.

Thanks for pointing that out. That is new since I spoke with them several years back, and it is an important update.

 

[Peter69_56]

What about DITC Course Schedule anyone used them?

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Thanks for pointing that out. That is new since I spoke with them several years back, and it is an important update.

One of the things you better check on is if this will allow you to do your own regs AND give you access to parts.

It has to be a distinctive specialty under SDI anyway since there is no regular SDI regulator tech cert. Only under TDI for HOG regs.

In addition while you may be able to get parts for Dive Rite regs from a few sources Aeris is AUP. Aeris, Oceanic, and Hollis.

They require techs to be affiliated and working for a shop. They do not officially allow parts sales to individuals. In fact if you service an Aeris reg outside of shop affiliation the last I was told was any warranty is void. Unless that is another change. I am an Oceanic factory trained tech on paper. But the minute I stopped working for a shop my ability to officially get parts dried up as well.

I would also make sure that you can still do this since Aeris is being phased out by AUP and Oceanic is absorbing it. The Aeris cert will be moot since Aeris will no longer exist. they also seem to be charging a premium for that course.

My HOG course is about the same time wise and it's 275 tuition.

 

[Compressor]

Do scubapro techs have to travel to get training or is it done online?
Thanks