How often does a regulator NEED to be serviced?

[redacted]

I am just curious where the 30 degrees comes from? I always heard 1/4 turn but I was working on rental so... (On my own gear I wait for the leak to detune.)

I oriiginally got it out of Harlow's book but Wolfinger says the same thing in the Scubapro Tech Service Manual and Reg Savey. As a DIYer with adjustable regs, I tend to do little or no detuning as it is easy to correct any such leak problem with my regs with the user control temporarily or with a quick adjustment of the orifice before or between dives.

 

[martzak]

...Mind the second stage before storage. Insert a diaphragm depressor.

What do you mean by that?...What's the proper regulator storage technique? I never thought there was more to regulator storage other than throwing on the dust cap.

 

[Spearo]

Fact: After diving since 1967 with way over 3,000+ dives NOT ones have my regulators been serviced in a years time, now, if you're in the water and using the equipment every day why not do it. A five year service period is good enough for me and what I dive with but also not all regulators are the same quality and NOT all shops do "the right job" but that's another story. In most cases, good newer regulators used by recreational diving (around 3 to 5 dives per year) don't need service but more use.

 

[captain]

What do you mean by that?...What's the proper regulator storage technique? I never thought there was more to regulator storage other than throwing on the dust cap.

It is a device that holds the purge button depressed to take pressure off of the 2nd stage seat. The Scubapro R109 I have came with such a plastic key like device. On my other regulators I made my own device to keep the purge button depressed during storage.

 

[redacted]

It is a device that holds the purge button depressed to take pressure off of the 2nd stage seat. The Scubapro R109 I have came with such a plastic key like device. On my other regulators I made my own device to keep the purge button depressed during storage.

Regulators with a seat saver feature do not engrave the LP seat during storage. Others do to one degree or another as there is upstream spring pressure forcing the LP seat into the orifice that is not being countered by downstream pressure. Many older regs were designed to relieve this pressure. Newer regs have dropped such designs. I'm not sure to what degree that change has been made because it is unnecessary due to newer materials or undesirable due to the potential for reduced service business. If you are going to service every year, it may not be worthwhile to store in this manner. If you want an LP seat to last 3 to 5 years or more, it is probably a good idea. But you may have to be a bit innovative in finding a way to depress the purge as many of these newer "rubber" front covers will take a set if depressed in storage. On my older Scubapro metals, I insert a something between the metal cover and the rubber cover to lightly depress the purge lever. On regs like the Scubapro R190 and G250 (if they do are not old enough to have a purge button designed to be pressed and turned for storage, I use a loop of bungee around the reg to press a plastic bottle cap into the purge button. On newer Scubapro regs with the rubber face covers, I push a loop of thin bungee into one of the cover vent holes to depress the purge lever. Some of the R-series like my R380 have a built in "DIVE" switch on the cover that will depress the lever but I find it too difficult to operate (hard to grip and turn).

 

[riverdiver]

I dive my regs till they start to act up, that mat be 200 + dives or 3-5 years. To get your regs serviced every year that is bull from a dive shop so they get more business out of you. Then you get the so called dive shop tech that is a pimple faced kid working on my gear, no thanks. That is just like the oil change places tell you to change your oil every 3000 miles or 6 months, but in the warranty manual it says every 5,000 miles and they make the motors.

 

[beanojones]

I have seen a product recently that is like the bottle cap and rubber band to depress purge buttons.

The reason it was taken out is the reason for everything: liability , they say. Reasoning being dive gear's function to be dove not stored. So something that helps storage, that can interfere with in water function is dropped.

(And I have seen the Sherwood purge button rod interfere with reg function when the reg is nice and corroded)

 

[Darol]

I would be very curious to know how often dive resorts service there rental gear? I've seen some
really scary looking regs, rented out.

 

[beanojones]

I would be very curious to know how often dive resorts service there rental gear? I've seen some
really scary looking regs, rented out.

Can only speak for the places I worked (and worked on the regs), but if you have American customers, or you are in America or its colonial possesions, you'd better have a log with the regs, their serial numbers and proof that you have overhauled them at least annually (per manufacturer's stated service interval). The liability is too great if you do not. Even though gear failure should never be the cause of an accident if you are actually 'following the rules' of recreational diving, insurance is expensive, and the umbrella policy writers usually come out and see what you are doing, and demand that sort of policy. (Or at least they should.)

Since we had no way to keep track of how many dives a given set did, that was the minimum: annually. Any gear that got sent back by the guides (for whatever reason) also got a thorough inspection, and often had the annual done right then and there.

Rental gear plastic looks bad because plastic does not wear well, and the gear tends to get dragged around, especially the octopus and console. And the chrome bits corrode. At least in the tropics, the air itself is salty enough to corrode the gear even if it is never used. And it's too expensive to keep gear stored in air-conditioned environments to prevent that.

There are tricks to keeping gear looking good that might actually make it less reliable, like soaking gear overnight in a very weak vinegar solution. It makes it sparkly, but probably eats on the o-rings. From the appearance, it looks better maintained than gear that is not soaked in vinegar nightly.

(The bit you really do not want to know about is the stuff you don't see: the vomit in the second stages. The real reason why instructors/guides use their own equipment: because that way they know no one puked in it yesterday. There is almost no way around that one. You cannot take apart every second stage every day to check for chunks, but if you don't.... At least masks are easier because they have no internal spaces so they can just soak them in bleach overnight. Soaking serves a second function in that it keeps the cockroches from nibbling on the silicone.