How long do 1st stages last?

[Chugwhump]

"I got the regulator bench checked and they replaced the mouth piece and exhaust valve on the 2nd stage."
"..how long do you think I can go before getting it overhauled since they didn't touch the 1st stage?"
Any suggestions, comments?

OK I guess I need to jump back on this thread and offer a few of what I regard as common sense comments.

First off:
If you buy a reg from a garage sale you need to get it thoroughly checked out with a qualified individual/shop/NASA/CIA, or other qualified service facility.
Ultimately you are most certainly responsible for your gear.
It seems that as you had the sucker bench tested and serviced you are good to go for the time being.
If is starts doing strange things...or even not so strange things...or things in general, get it looked at by you, if you know how, or them if you do not know how.

As far as getting your regs serviced every year, if you want to/need to/feel better, then by all means DO IT.



I have 4 regs in the garage. 1 15 year old Cressi Sub, 1 8 year old Oceanic, 1 nearly 20 year old USD, and a 20 year old Dacor 960 that I just cannot part with, even though Dacor parts are pretty much unavailable. The Dacor is retired, but still works when I fill up tires with it.
None of these regs have been through the "LDS full service" for over 5 years.
You do not want to even know which one has the exhaust manifold held in place by "Gorilla Tape" because some guy on a boat accidentally landed a tank on the second stage and snapped off two of the retaining clips.
I will not advise anyone that taping your regs back together is a great idea, but it works for me.

I have have no issues with my regular reg and just keep using it.
It gets used a lot.
It will get serviced someday, maybe tomorrow, maybe not.
You do not have to dive with me, you do not have to be my buddy.
Heck you might think I am careless, reckless, foolhardy, and suicidal.
That is cool by me and the 6 or 8 regular people I dive with pretty often here in SE Florida where we dive all year on the weekends, after work, and pretty much whenever we want to in safety compared to a lot of the world because our water rarely gets below 68 degrees.

We dive a lot compared to some folks, we dive a lot less than some other folks.

Chug

 

[krakilin]

Thanks for all the comments and the warm welcome! I'll dive it for now and see how it goes. I will be working at Sport Chalet pretty soon so maybe there's an overhaul discount :]

 

[Zung]

My 1st reg I bought 20 years ago is a La Spirotechnique Supra XL, last known name is Aqua Lung Cousteau. Last service was in 1995. Last time I "used" was hanging off a deco tank in Baja in 95. Last time I checked was last summer, still working great. I've long switched over to SP by order of my LDS, but I still carry this guy around as a backup. I'm thinking about doing a service... maybe next year.

Btw, the lowest service charge I heard is in Egypt: 10 US$ a piece!