How often do you get your regs serviced?

[ams511]

How often do you get your regs serviced?

Regulators need to be serviced? Really?

 

[flots am]

Hey, where are the "life-support" guys this morning?

IT'S LIFE SUPPORT!!!!! YER GONNA DIE!!!!!!!

There. Feel better?

I get mine serviced on the well define schedule below:

• "Hey, it's leaking. I should have someone to look at that."
• "Wow, I can't believe that asshat dive op gave me a tank with crap in it. I should get my reg serviced"

However I do dive with redundant gear any time there's a chance that I might not be comfy with an out of air ascent, so it's not actually as reckless as it sounds. I also never dive with two regs or two tanks that have been serviced/filled at the same time.


flots.

 

[Chugwhump]

To me a service means testing the IP and cracking pressures, then a complete strip down, cleaning and degreasing, of the first and second stages followed by a rebuild and lube using the OEM service kits. In addition, all hoses are checked and inflator connections tested.

Anything not in the standard service kit gets checked as the strip down progresses and is only replaced if it needs to be. For instance, a perfectly intact mouthpiece can be cleaned and re-installed and a new one isn't included in most service kits.

Once rebuilt the IP and cracking pressures are adjusted to spec. and compared with those noted prior to service and the whole regulator is leak-tested.

Anything less than the above isn't really a service IMO. How often you need to do this is dependent on your own tolerance for poor regulator performance and annoying leaks or your need to demonstrate correct and regular maintenance in a professional setting.

One thing to be aware of is that new HP and LP seats need time to bed in with their respective orifices. So it is not at all uncommon for a freshly-serviced reg that left the workshop perfect to develop slight creeps and leaks as everything settles down and grooves are worn in new sealing surfaces when the regulator is dived.

Your service technician should remind you of this when you pick the regulator up and offer to do any tweaks that might be required. So try to get a dive or two in with your regulator before heading off on a dive trip.

If your service centre is particularly well equipped then it might have a machine that cycles the regulator through many simulated breaths to break in new seats and allow the technician to adjust things as necessary before returning the regulator to you.

AFAIK the only "qualification" many manufacturers require before allowing someone to attend their technicians course is being employed by a LDS. Some manufacturers don't even have an attendance course any more and allow you to do an online course instead.

Also AFAIK there is only one organisation that actually teaches people how to be scuba regulator technicians and that is ASSET.

I could not have said it better myself.


Chug
Thinks Hickdive positively NAILED IT on the subject of leaky-weakies after service work.

 

[redacted]

An annual service is not just checking it. They have to change the parts. It's part of the service, or is it not? And furthermore some parts, like the valve seat, have to be replaced once the reg is opened, even if they are ok, because they get dented with normal use and when reassembled there is a chance they won't be exactly in the same place and it will leak.

It should not be but such levels of underhaul are not unheard of.

I have pretty good luck reusing seat if I avoid disturbing them in their carrier.. But, sometimes it is just time for a new seat.

---------- Post added March 1st, 2014 at 03:46 PM ----------

One thing to be aware of is that new HP and LP seats need time to bed in with their respective orifices. So it is not at all uncommon for a freshly-serviced reg that left the workshop perfect to develop slight creeps and leaks as everything settles down and grooves are worn in new sealing surfaces when the regulator is dived.

In a good service, the reg will be operated enough to "bed" all soft parts before final adjustment and return to customer. So, such problems should be UNCOMMON.

 

[ams511]

Hey, where are the "life-support" guys this morning?

Oh I don't know where to begin. Your regulators are life-support, they keep you alive underwater. Kind of like the life support system on Star Trek. Don't you notice how they all look bummed on the show when their life-support is failing? The is because they are going to die, well until Spock and Scotty saves the day and fixes it. Spock would be a good dive buddy. Scotty I am not sure of, he is too excitable. But I digress.

The owners manual of your car says to change the oil every 7,500 miles or so, but we all know it is BS and change it sooner. It is the same with regulators. The manufacturers say once a year but to be really sure you should do it every six months. Not just a check but a full rebuild. Maybe even quarterly, to be really really sure.

Some people will grumble about the cost, hey whats your life worth? Think about it, your cruising along when suddenly your regulator explodes from lack of service and your insta-buddy is nowhere in sight. Wouldn't you wish you spent the $90 on the service? Also there have been some reports that sharks are both attracted and excited by the vibrations given off by a soon to be toast regulator. These reports have not been scientifically validated because there is little left of the diver or the regulator after the attack. The guys and girls at the local dive shop are great people, they need your support. Also if you don't support your local dive shop, where will you get air?

Finally you are being selfish by not having your regs serviced regularly and professionally. First, If your reg problems after service cause your death then your loved ones have someone to sue. With money your wife will be able to find a new husband and your children a new daddy. In addition, if you die due to lack of regulator service someone needs to retrieve your bloated corpse. You put the recovery divers at risk too.

So do yourself, your family, your LDS, and your country a favor and get your regs services at least once a year.

 

[redacted]

Oh I don't know where to begin. Your regulators are life-support, they keep you alive underwater. Kind of like the life support system on Star Trek. Don't you notice how they all look bummed on the show when their life-support is failing? The is because they are going to die, well until Spock and Scotty saves the day and fixes it. Spock would be a good dive buddy. Scotty I am not sure of, he is too excitable. But I digress.

The owners manual of your car says to change the oil every 7,500 miles or so, but we all know it is BS and change it sooner. It is the same with regulators. The manufacturers say once a year but to be really sure you should do it every six months. Not just a check but a full rebuild. Maybe even quarterly, to be really really sure.

Some people will grumble about the cost, hey whats your life worth? Think about it, your cruising along when suddenly your regulator explodes from lack of service and your insta-buddy is nowhere in sight. Wouldn't you wish you spent the $90 on the service? Also there have been some reports that sharks are both attracted and excited by the vibrations given off by a soon to be toast regulator. These reports have not been scientifically validated because there is little left of the diver or the regulator after the attack. The guys and girls at the local dive shop are great people, they need your support. Also if you don't support your local dive shop, where will you get air?

Finally you are being selfish by not having your regs serviced regularly and professionally. First, If your reg problems after service cause your death then your loved ones have someone to sue. With money your wife will be able to find a new husband and your children a new daddy. In addition, if you die due to lack of regulator service someone needs to retrieve your bloated corpse. You put the recovery divers at risk to.

So do yourself, your family, your LDS, and your country a favor and get your regs services at least once a year.

Is the commercial power grid "life support" for a hospital patient? That is why the hospital has a backup plan.

If my regulator becomes life support for me, then I have screwed up. As long as I am diving with a good plan, the failure of my primary breathing gas system is an major inconvenience but hardly life threatening. I always (plan) have a backup breathing gas system reasonably available.

The only one receiving a favor from your scheme is the LDS.

 

[ams511]

I could not have said it better myself.


Chug
Thinks Hickdive positively NAILED IT on the subject of leaky-weakies after service work.

It is a good post but does not explain another poster's environmental seal falling off after a service.

---------- Post added March 1st, 2014 at 01:56 PM ----------

Is the commercial power grid "life support" for a hospital patient? That is why the hospital has a backup plan.

If my regulator becomes life support for me, then I have screwed up. As long as I am diving with a good plan, the failure of my primary breathing gas system is an major inconvenience but hardly life threatening. I always (plan) have a backup breathing gas system reasonably available.

My post was a joke, I thought it was obvious with the Star Trek reference. You are a bit too serious sometimes.

 

[Peter69_56]

Oh I don't know where to begin. Your regulators are life-support, they keep you alive underwater. Kind of like the life support system on Star Trek. Don't you notice how they all look bummed on the show when their life-support is failing? The is because they are going to die, well until Spock and Scotty saves the day and fixes it. Spock would be a good dive buddy. Scotty I am not sure of, he is too excitable. But I digress.

The owners manual of your car says to change the oil every 7,500 miles or so, but we all know it is BS and change it sooner. It is the same with regulators. The manufacturers say once a year but to be really sure you should do it every six months. Not just a check but a full rebuild. Maybe even quarterly, to be really really sure.

Some people will grumble about the cost, hey whats your life worth? Think about it, your cruising along when suddenly your regulator explodes from lack of service and your insta-buddy is nowhere in sight. Wouldn't you wish you spent the $90 on the service? Also there have been some reports that sharks are both attracted and excited by the vibrations given off by a soon to be toast regulator. These reports have not been scientifically validated because there is little left of the diver or the regulator after the attack. The guys and girls at the local dive shop are great people, they need your support. Also if you don't support your local dive shop, where will you get air?

Finally you are being selfish by not having your regs serviced regularly and professionally. First, If your reg problems after service cause your death then your loved ones have someone to sue. With money your wife will be able to find a new husband and your children a new daddy. In addition, if you die due to lack of regulator service someone needs to retrieve your bloated corpse. You put the recovery divers at risk too.

So do yourself, your family, your LDS, and your country a favor and get your regs services at least once a year.

I was going to respond with "You have to be joking", until I read further and realised your tongue was firmly jammed in your cheek.

You sucked me in, best sarcasm I have seen for a while, and you so neatly lead me into it as well. Well done!

 

[Hickdive]

In a good service, the reg will be operated enough to "bed" all soft parts before final adjustment and return to customer. So, such problems should be UNCOMMON.

You can achieve this one of two ways; either get someone to breath off the regulator for an hour or so or use a machine like the Scubatools one. Neither solution is cheap nor are they perfect as they do not replicate the effects of pressure on the piston or diaphragm.

 

[redacted]

You can achieve this one of two ways; either get someone to breath off the regulator for an hour or so or use a machine like the Scubatools one. Neither solution is cheap nor are they perfect as they do not replicate the effects of pressure on the piston or diaphragm.

I use a 3rd way. I tap the purge rapidly with my finger getting about 50 cycles per minute of the HP seat. It does take a couple minutes to do the job. And it is cheap.