Lifetime Warranties on Regs

[Teamcasa]

...No one should feel bad if based on a real knowledge of what it takes they decine to do their own regs and take them to someone else. I'm quite capable of doing my own automobile brakes, but I tend to take them to someone else.
They key is not to be scared into doing so by folks who want to take your money. Hire others to do it if you don't want to, or if yoiu fell you can't, and do not be ashamed of doing so. But don't do it because you've been scared you into services that really are not needed done by people who are likely not much more capable than you are....

People hire other people for a combination of one or two reasons.
They prefer and can afford (both the time and the money) to have something done by someone else.
They have no idea how to do it themselves and prefer to trust a professional.

I do my own servicing, on most everything I own. However, I don't do my own surgeries or mix my own pharmaceuticals. Regulator service is very easy for me but may not be to someone else. For those, like DivingPrincessE, she is smart enough to know that having it serviced by a professional is the right choice for her, despite her dive vs post ratio.

 

[redacted]

They have no idea how to do it themselves and prefer to trust a professional.

A small modification that I believe is closer to the truth: They have no interest or ability to do it themselves so have little choice but to find someone else to do the job.

 

[Slonda828]

If you want to learn how your regulator works, go to Scuba Tools and buy regulator savvy. Read it cover to cover. You'll know more than most authorized regulator techs if you do that.

Do not view your shop's regulator repair tech as the magic bullet. I took a very well-known brand's in house course to repair regs, and it took 4 hours start to finish. We never once used a magnahelic either. There is a reason that most rebuild kits come with a little paper chart telling you which o-rings are which. Your reg tech at your shop may only actually rebuild your model of regulator 3-4 times a year total.

I understand where new people are coming from on the reg service thing. I only started servicing my regs this year, and I've been diving since 2002. You should still know how it works if you are going to breathe underwater through it. I know how my clutch works in my car, but I still let the VW guy fix it for me. If he screwed it up and it was chattering and slipping when I got it back, you bet your rear-end I'd be back in that shop. If you know nothing about IP, cracking pressure, creep, etc. how do you know if the tech set your reg to the factory settings, or even used the right tools?

Keep in mind that I used to get paid 10 dollars per hour to fix regulators, before I went rogue. Are you willing to trust your entire life to someone who makes 10 bucks an hour?

 

[herman]

Looks like I kicked a hornets nest on this one, not the first time and likely not the last

I disagree. I think the lifetime warranty with free parts is great. I recently had my oceanic Delta 4/FDX-10 reg serviced (bought it new from a shop about a year ago). For whatever reason, it basically had to be gutted. I don't know the technical side of things but there was a seal broken (or something) and water had gotten into the first stage. When I got the bill it showed all the new parts and how much each cost (bill was around $280), however I was only charged for the labor $75.

To the OP, if you are buying a new reg from an authorized dealer don't dink around with servicing. Get it serviced every year, that way you'll have someone experienced making sure it's in working order and you'll get free parts for life to boot.

Lifetime warranty is not a sales gimmick for those responsible enough to mark a day on their calendar once a year to bring it in for servicing...it really is NOT that tricky...

From your perspective I see your point however I am hard pressed to understand how they replaced $280 worth of parts in a first stage, there simply is not that many in there unless they had to replace the main body of the reg and the only reason that should be done is a manuf defect, something that would likely be done under warranty reguardless of age or warranty status. A simple flooding should not require more than a normal overhaul with a little extra cleaning as long as the reg had not been stored for a long period after the flood. Having torn down a bunch of regs, many 20 to 50 years old, I so far have not found one that required that much work. I would find it interesting to know what was actually done.

So you can actually service yourself? How - without the proper tools? What do you need?

Contrary to what some would have you believe, scuba regs are not rocket science. If you have the mechanical ability to rebuild small engine carburetors and the desire to learn it's not a big deal. You would be surprised at the lack of the real "need" for special tools. True some special tools make the job easier or if you are doing it professionally a lot quicker but rare few are actually required. The few required tools you do need can be purchased or you can build them yourself....I have a shop full of them, to me it's as much fun as doing my own maintenance.
Parts and service manuals can be found if you take the time to hunt them down. As for Zeagle regs and BC, they are both first rate and their customer service is second to none- I dive a Zeagle BC and reg quite often along with a wide range of other brands. Truth is most any of the regs and BCs out today are plenty good for most divers. Aqualung, Sherwood and Scubapro have a good and IMO deserved reputation for making a quality and long lasting product and supporting them for a long time. Zeagle is a relatively new company compared to them but I suspect in the years to come they will also be in that group.

 

[redacted]

I recently had my oceanic Delta 4/FDX-10 reg serviced (bought it new from a shop about a year ago). For whatever reason, it basically had to be gutted. I don't know the technical side of things but there was a seal broken (or something) and water had gotten into the first stage. When I got the bill it showed all the new parts and how much each cost (bill was around $280), however I was only charged for the labor $75.

Princess - Would you mind scanning that bill in and posting it? It might be real interesting. I'm not sure why they even prepared a bill since it was all under the warranty so the manufacturer was providing the free parts. $280 worth of parts retail is probably in the range of $100 to $140 wholesale and well under $50 manufacturing cost.

 

[Teamcasa]

Princess - Would you mind scanning that bill in and posting it? It might be real interesting.

Not to me. Who cares? Why would she take the time to scan and post something you clearly would just ridicule her for, I'd end up deleting and everyone gets pissed.

BTW she said

(bill was around $280), however I was only charged for the labor $75.

That means the parts were less than $205.00 incl tax.

 

[DivingPrincessE]

Princess - Would you mind scanning that bill in and posting it? It might be real interesting. I'm not sure why they even prepared a bill since it was all under the warranty so the manufacturer was providing the free parts. $280 worth of parts retail is probably in the range of $100 to $140 wholesale and well under $50 manufacturing cost.

I'll see if I can find the bill ("recently" was two months ago), and if I can find it, I will post it.

 

[redacted]

Not to me. Who cares? Why would she take the time to scan and post something you clearly would just ridicule her for, I'd end up deleting and everyone gets pissed.

BTW she said

That means the parts were less than $205.00 incl tax.

So, you have decided you can participate and moderate

I don't see where this is likely to cause the princess any ridicule. Definately, not by me. I see it as a way to understand exactly what damage was done and what her shop says is the "cost" of repair parts. I've dealt with some pretty ugly regs as many of mine are from ebay via someone's garage/estate sale. I suspect this is one where the shop replaced many parts that could have been restored but that may not be the best way to do warranty work.

 

[Thalassamania]

I'm kinda curious too, that seems like a lot of parts.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

.... I suspect this is one where the shop replaced many parts that could have been restored but that may not be the best way to do warranty work.

That sounds like what happened, when I stopped to think about it.

Rather than restore a part with some corrosion, they replaced it. Which is actually what I would want them to do it it was my reg in for a warranty repair.... A flood followed by months of storage could have resulted in some pretty nasty "green" stuff :shocked2: