Frequency and cost of regulator service

[dpaustex]

The issue on service is how it is stored.

If you look what is "inside" the first and second stage, it's a lot of o-rings and springs. The o-rings deteriorate in heat (and ozone), so a lot of it has to do with how they are stored. My Atomic regs only require service every 2 years, or 300 dives, and has more to do with the valve seats that anything else (this is the big issue on air-flow). If you look at the diaphragm on your second stage, it's a piece of neoprene. When this fails, you've got a wet-breahter and/or a free flower. Both not good.

Some manufacturers offer lifetime parts warranty (Aqualung and Atomic, for sure), if you service per their recommendations. This drops the service charge down to around $50-60.

The issue on neoprene, is that when it loses it's elasticity, the tear tends to be all at once. Most regs fail at the diaphragm. They almost never fail at the 1st stage (unless they have gotten saltwater there, which should be visible during your pre-assembly of the scuba unit, prior to the dive).

The main thing you need to ask yourself: should you properly maintain your life-support equipment, or not?

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

The first category - users - don't have the means to know if their tech is competent or not. Many divers getting gear serviced never see the actual tech or even know their name. Most reg problems I've seen on boats are regs that "just got serviced".

My favorite story is when I sent in my son's regs to get serviced. They did have some of those stupid IST octo 2nds. Anyway both sets came back and on the predive checkout neither would breath at all on the octo. I popped them open and saw the tech had inserted a part backwards. The mistake was silly, the fact that he never checked to see of the octo's worked at all was unforgivable.

 

[rhwestfall]

Regrettably, I think we all have "Technician" horror stories..... be it lack of skills or financial fleecing...

 

[dpaustex]

Very true on the service!!! When you get them serviced, you need to test dive them before your trip!!!! Your LDS should let you jump in the pool for a couple of mins.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

Some manufacturers offer lifetime parts warranty (Aqualung and Atomic, for sure), if you service per their recommendations. This drops the service charge down to around $50-60.

What's that you think Atomic offers?

 

[tom041959]

I have Zeagle regs free parts $40.00 labor for both primary and octo . In central Florida

 

[Fishpie]

Dunno that the 2nd stage diaphragm is the most common failure.......if you are talking inhalation diaphragm they are not even part of the service kit and the exhaust diaphragm is only included in a small minority of manufacturers kits.
What fails first really depends on the manufacturer....for example Mares 2nd stage seats tend to be fairly soft and need adjusting and quite frequent replacement, Sherwood had a batch of HP seats that wouldn't go 4 months a few years ago.
Personally I'd like to see every diver have their own IP gauge and a little instruction on what it is telling them.

 

[herman]

The issue on service is how it is stored.

If you look what is "inside" the first and second stage, it's a lot of o-rings and springs. The o-rings deteriorate in heat (and ozone), so a lot of it has to do with how they are stored. My Atomic regs only require service every 2 years, or 300 dives, and has more to do with the valve seats that anything else (this is the big issue on air-flow). If you look at the diaphragm on your second stage, it's a piece of neoprene. When this fails, you've got a wet-breahter and/or a free flower. Both not good.Some manufacturers offer lifetime parts warranty (Aqualung and Atomic, for sure), if you service per their recommendations. This drops the service charge down to around $50-60.

The issue on neoprene, is that when it loses it's elasticity, the tear tends to be all at once. Most regs fail at the diaphragm. They almost never fail at the 1st stage (unless they have gotten saltwater there, which should be visible during your pre-assembly of the scuba unit, prior to the dive).

The main thing you need to ask yourself: should you properly maintain your life-support equipment, or not?

Neoprene and rubber diaphgrams have not been use in regs since the late 60s to early 70s. Since then they are made of silicone and are very stable.

 

[elan]

O-rings are replaces as per the mfg recomendation, what ever that is. Are the o-rings being replaced too soon? Maybe, but they are cheap.

No they are not. Im not taking into account DIY guys. For a regular diver a kit costs at least $20-$30 here. If you have even 5 regs its 200-300 yearly only in kits. And that is very optimistic price. Plus labour.
Does changing your breaks every few month help you to ensure they are ok? Sure, but you also kill the lugs, calipers hardware etc with no benefit. There should be a balance like everywhere.
In many regs say piston firsts there is nothing wearing out when the reg is not used. The piston is moved away from the seat. O rings deteriorate but it takes way more than 1 year.
There can be extremes. on one side one can screw up a reg in few days- dunk it with no cap into salt water then let it dry. On the other hand regs used in fresh water only and then kept on a shelve in good environment will likely work in 10 years with sole adjustments. The balance must be somewhere in the middle.

 

[James R]

Most reg problems I've seen on boats are regs that "just got serviced".

Sure seems like it, doesn't it? One thing that can reduce these post-service defects is simple attention to detail

However, we need to remember that people lie. A few months back a diver on a local charter boat had a freeflow when he opened the valve on his tank. He said it was just serviced and he had no idea how this could be happening. It was blatantly obvious that the regs had not been serviced recently just by their appearance. Also he later told us that he had switched that 2nd stage from another 1st stage without ever bothering to check to ensure it would work OK before coming out. Took me about 30 sec to fix him up and save his dives. DM's (me) tip that day from him = 0. Next time maybe I'll let him sit out and then he can pay the LDS he uses to tune his regs for him.