how often to service your reg?

[laserdoc]

Have not been diving since spring of 2008 (little cayman) Going to Grand Turk in May.
Should I get my reg serviced or not. How often do most get it done. Is it necessary if you only do one or two trips a year.

 

[dave4868]

If regs are rinsed well, I think most would tolerate service intervals of several years without any issues.

I service mine every 3 or 4 years, sometimes longer, but they're Sherwoods with a sealed ambient chamber (dry air bleed design). I'm comfortable with a longer interval because degraded performance usually occurs gradually and it's easy to recognize. With my Sherwoods, degraded performance begins with occasional slight free flows.

To avoid being inconvenienced on a trip by a poorly performing regulator, you might want to test them with a pool dive.

Or you could just pressurize them and see how they breathe or do a sink test for cracking pressure. Checking IP (intermediate pressure) would be even better, if you have a gauge and know what to look for.

Personally, I'd just see how they breathe and then go....

Dave C

 

[NAUIwowee]

Personally, I'd take them in to a LDS to have them at least examined and bench tested. Sometimes not using a reg for a long time is worse than one that is used regularly. Things dry-out, get stuck, seats get engraved, etc. It would suck to haul a reg all the way to Grand Turk, only to have it crap out and have to rent one. I had this happen to me on a trip to the Bahamas when I went too long between servicing on my US Divers rig.
Depending on the manufacturer, regs should be serviced every one or two years; but it's not uncommon for a reg to go a couple of years between servicing and work just fine. As for me, I'd have them examined and probably overhauled before I'd make a trip.

 

[scubafanatic]

1) are you pretty good about cleaning/soaking regs well after your prior trips ?

2) do you store your regs in climate controlled (cool) conditions ?

3) are you religious about keeping the 1st-stage dust cap tightly closed whenever the reg is not being used ?

4) have you inspected the condition of the 1st-stage inlet filter for any signs of corrosion/discoloration (indicating exposure to seawater/compressor oils/rust flakes) ?

5) have you hooked the regs to a full tank, and made sure they are operating properly ? (breathe fine/no air leaks) Or better yet, have a chance to do a test pool dive with them soon? (one little trick is to attach your reg to a tank, pressurize the system, record the pressure per your SPG/computer, leave the unit for a while, come back and see if/how much the pressure has dropped, which will help spot 'leaks'.)

6) have to double checked all the hose connections/fittings to make sure nothing is/has worked itself loose?

7) how many dives do the regs have since last service, less than 100 ? (generally a properly cared for reg should easily go 100 dives between 'annuals')

8) do you have access to on-site rental regs if yours fails ?

...if you answer 'yes' to everything above, servicing probably is not needed. If you do service them, make sure to test them before your trip!

 

[paddler3d]

My regs get used enough that you know when it is time. I regularly put my regs on an ip guage which goes inline between the 1st and the 2nd. Since I know were the ip was set an can see how much that has changed. I can breath the reg and see how much it creeps up. If I set it for 125 and it is above 130, I start sourcing parts. I would say it is close to two seasons between rebuilds. What I have replaced in between services ate the filters on my 1st.

 

[tbone1004]

It's more necessary when they aren't used for a while since the O-ring lube can wear out... I service mine every 4-6 months which is relube and adjust and rebuild whenever the seats are bad. Usually 2-3 years ish. I put new O-rings in as needed and just have stacks of those instead of new parts kits.
After 2 years I would service them. Even if all the parts are still good *which they should be* it will more than likely need adjusting and lube

 

[redacted]

It's more necessary when they aren't used for a while since the O-ring lube can wear out... I service mine every 4-6 months which is relube and adjust and rebuild whenever the seats are bad. Usually 2-3 years ish. I put new O-rings in as needed and just have stacks of those instead of new parts kits.
After 2 years I would service them. Even if all the parts are still good *which they should be* it will more than likely need adjusting and lube

Perhaps that is appropriate for a tech diver in overhead conditions but not necessary for the recreational diver unless you are the nervous type. Sure, the newer lube can experience some separation over time (is that what you mean by "wear out") But I have not had any problems with either christolube or tribolube even when I let them go for 3 or 4 years or more even in the more difficult application like BP HP piston o-rings.

I still believe the best insurance against a regulator problem interrupting a dive trip is good care & cleaning, frequent inspection (get an IP gauge), and a spare regulator in your save-a-dive kit. Then dive your rig until there is some indication of an incipient problem or until you just need to fiddle with something (or spend some $$).

 

[tbone1004]

If I were using them regularly for rec diving I would really have no problem letting them go 3-4 years or until something happened.

It's not so much the overall time-frame as it is how long they've gone without use. I would let rec regs go a few years without service if they were used regularly. The pool sets we have haven't been serviced in 6 and that's 5 hours a day 4 days a week in chlorine. They're fine, but they're used every day. I wouldn't trust them if they had sat around for more than a few months. We're servicing them shortly since the diaphragms are having some wicked IP creep now.
2 yrs is a long time to sit for a lot of stuff that should be looked at before use. Most things that move... power tools, cars, anything with valves that can get stiff and slow etc etc

 

[drbill]

As often as I can afford it, which is usually every 2-3 years. Of course I own several. I dive with equipment I trust with my life... the tried and true Scubapro HP10/G250.

 

[h90]

5-6 years