How long can my regs go without rebuilding?

[M_Bipartitus]

Allenwrench, my fiancee uses her sherwood at about the rate you mention. Hers has been serviced about every other year on average. Currently she needs documentation of a full service every year for work. Before that our LDS would offer to inspect the regulator then advise how important a rebuild was. For this specific reg, it was out of warrantee long ago as I refused to get a first annual service after the reg didn't leave the box during it's first year and a half. Anyway, if you are on good terms with your LDS or instructor they may offer just an inspection.

That said the sherwood parts aren't that expensive, so you may want to get a rebuild if they are taking it apart anyway. It's a little insurance against a major problem underwater.



Also, I'd like to thank PhilEllis for his informative post.

 

[RJP]

You sound like you work for a dive shop.

Um, not exactly.

Up until a few weeks ago I headed up a marketing group for a Fortune 500 company. Prior to that I held senior level positions at two of the largest ad agencies in the world, and one of the smallest.

 

[1_T_Submariner]

I get mine serviced every year and then take them to a local quarry start shallow and then go deeper to test them. The reason I use a local quarry is the expense to get there is low and I would not be happy if I spent a lot of $$$ to get somewhere then have to spend a day getting a reg serviced.

I also sent my Reg to Zeagle directly they did a good job.

 

[dpaustex]

This is an interesting post, with some people diving years without a rebuild.

I have my regulators for my family serviced every year, whether used or not. For "life" issues, store your equipment indoors. Make sure to properly clean it after every dive. Salt crystals dry very hard, and will cut your seals if you let the salt dry on your equipment.

I had a horror story last year, when I took my wife's reg to a shop that serviced that particular brand. The owner was more concerned with building his new facility in Central America than running the shop. He gave me the willies, but assured me he would get the regulator rebuilt the following week, for a trip three weeks hence. Yep, a week later, it's not done. I come back the next week, and he says he's living the next morning, but will "getter done". So I pick it up.

We're in Bonaire. Second dive at 45 feet, her serviced reg (it was barely a year old) free flows. The clown bent the horseshoe pin while re-assembling.

Three lessons: (1) If the shop seems cavalier, don't do business with them.; (2) thoroughly test dive your rebuilt unit before going on an extended trip. (3) carry a back-up if you've got one.

But for me, I'll get my stuff done at least every 2 (I have an Atomic). It's cheap insurance for a trip you're paying thousands of dollars for. I also know parts stick, rot, get less pliable, etc.

 

[themagni]

Your regs will last this long:

This is the "bathtub curve", from the wikipedia entry of the same name:
Bathtub curve - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Good luck.

 

[bluebubble1995]

I never get my regs serviced unless they are broke. It's cheaper to run them for 10 years and then toss them and buy new. I have just replaced my 10 year old Tekkna regs recently...the tekknas never broke. There are always 3 redundant regs within 10 feet of me so the bogus fear that "it's your life" isn't justified.

 

[slackercruster]

Your 1 in 1000 statistic is quite different than my personal experience of 4 in 5. On the bright side, all of my bad experiences were relatively minor inconveniences rather than anything that could reasonably be considered hazardous.

I guess you continue to practice your profile occupation even though you are semi-retired. You sound like you work for a dive shop.

EDIT so you don't have to look at RJPs profile:

Occupation
Making consumers buy stuff they didn't even know they wanted. (Currently "semi" retired.)

Here is the thing. Having 4 regs service every year whether they need it or not runs up into some bucks and wasted time. Same with getting my 4 tanks tanks VIP's and hydro's.

If I was rolling in money and the question of poor servicing wasn't an issue. Then it would only be a question of wasting time and energy to do unneeded servicing.

But nowadays it is very expensive to just live....a burned out light in my dashboard a hundred and fifty bucks...a pair of jogging shoes a hundred bucks...a new tire a hundred bucks...take the family to a movie...well, not quite hundred bucks, but you get the picture. And scuba sucks down the money very easily if your not careful. So yes, I am careful about wasting money.

Getting back to regs. I understand when they fail they just free flow. What signs are they heading to free flow?

I have noticed one peculiarity with my regs after they are stored away for a year. When they get taken out of mothballs they hard to breath for one breath and make a sort of light pop as something inside gets freed up, like a rubber un-sticking momentarily.

I don't have any mehtod to store regs with the purge button dperessed as one responder recomended. But do regs last longer if I would work them on air, but not in water, every 4 or 5 months?

 

[slackercruster]

Allenwrench, my fiancee uses her sherwood at about the rate you mention. Hers has been serviced about every other year on average. Currently she needs documentation of a full service every year for work. Before that our LDS would offer to inspect the regulator then advise how important a rebuild was. For this specific reg, it was out of warrantee long ago as I refused to get a first annual service after the reg didn't leave the box during it's first year and a half. Anyway, if you are on good terms with your LDS or instructor they may offer just an inspection.

That said the sherwood parts aren't that expensive, so you may want to get a rebuild if they are taking it apart anyway. It's a little insurance against a major problem underwater.



Also, I'd like to thank PhilEllis for his informative post.

Thanks,

There is only one local shop here for many hours drive and they are money suckers and do not trust them to rebuild anyway.

 

[slackercruster]

I never get my regs serviced unless they are broke. It's cheaper to run them for 10 years and then toss them and buy new. I have just replaced my 10 year old Tekkna regs recently...the tekknas never broke. There are always 3 redundant regs within 10 feet of me so the bogus fear that "it's your life" isn't justified.

Well, do your regs generally last 10 years before they break? What happened with the reg that broke? Was it in the water or a pre-dive let down?

 

[redacted]

Here is the thing. Having 4 regs service every year whether they need it or not runs up into some bucks and wasted time. Same with getting my 4 tanks tanks VIP's and hydro's.

If I was rolling in money and the question of poor servicing wasn't an issue. Then it would only be a question of wasting time and energy to do unneeded servicing.

But nowadays it is very expensive to just live....a burned out light in my dashboard a hundred and fifty bucks...a pair of jogging shoes a hundred bucks...a new tire a hundred bucks...take the family to a movie...well, not quite hundred bucks, but you get the picture. And scuba sucks down the money very easily if your not careful. So yes, I am careful about wasting money.

Getting back to regs. I understand when they fail they just free flow. What signs are they heading to free flow?

I have noticed one peculiarity with my regs after they are stored away for a year. When they get taken out of mothballs they hard to breath for one breath and make a sort of light pop as something inside gets freed up, like a rubber un-sticking momentarily.

I don't have any mehtod to store regs with the purge button dperessed as one responder recomended. But do regs last longer if I would work them on air, but not in water, every 4 or 5 months?

I understand. I'm supporting about a dozen regs right now so unnecessary annual service at $25 per stage is out of the question.

Use this checklist to inspect your reg: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/regulators/260452-regulator-checklist-inspection.html This will help you verify proper operation and detect incipient problems. A freeflow is just one of a number of gas leaks that may occur. It's a good idea to do bubble checks often. But a regulator also has to hold water out so a vacuum check is also necessary. Gas leaks tend to develop rather slowly and are not usually as much of a problem as a water leak. Inhaling a mix of gas and water is a good candidate for immediate dive termination.

I use a plastic bottle cap and a loop of bungee to keep the purge depressed on my newer R190s. With my R380, I carefully insert a loop of bungee between the rubber cover and the diaphragm. It looks like one of those techniques could work with your sherwoods.