It just seems that If I don't service my gear at all. It will begin to mess up but slowly and gradually. In the sense that I would be able to catch it and would still be able to dive with it. It might freeflow or something small. Then I can service it when actaully needed. So bascily service gear based on its performance and not based soley on the date it was manufactured. Logically, I don't see my reg to be working perfectly on a morning dive then on a night dive that same day to completly fail at the exact moment that I hit the deck of the uscgc duane.
This is not directed at you copter53, just the ideas you expressed. You are right about catastrophic failure being unlikely, but I want to make sure you understand that the DIY guys (me included) who are saying "service only when needed" are keeping a VERY close eye on their equipment. We don't wait for problems to occur, we try to head them off....
If you pay attention to what the DIY guys are saying, you will
NEVER be diving with equipment that is malfunctioning in even the most minor fashion. While we may not be overhauling our gear on an annual basis, we are
inspecting and testing very frequently. This results in you knowing far more about the "state" of your gear than you would if you simply did the annual servicing, and this will normally allow you to detect problems very early, before there are any symptoms like freeflows.
I service my own regs, I do strongly advocate against
un-needed service,
but I will NOT dive with any piece of gear that is not performing 100%!
But sometimes, things still happen, even when you are inspecting and testing carefully. Small problems can still crop up. A couple dives ago, my wife had an octo freeflow ever so slightly at the dive site when she pressurized the reg. I'd tested it the night before, and it was 100% fine. I could only hear the "hiss" if I put the reg right next to my ear (which I do every time I pressurize a reg). I quickly swapped out the octo from my backup set, and we dove. I certainly
could have done a quick "field repair" (detuned the octo slightly) and had her use it, but that would have been silly. I knew it was not a simple "tuning" problem... the seat was worn, and detuning would have stopped the leak, but would also reduce the performance of my wifes backup reg, which is not the right or safe solution.
A general "mechanical rule" is that mechanical problems usually don't just "go away on their own", and "small problems become BIG problems at the worst possible moment".
Personally, I would define "needing service" as any deviation from normal performance and function. The
level of service needed just depends on what "deviation" is occuring. Maybe a "touch-up" tuning or adjustment is all that is needed, maybe a good cleaning and relube, but maybe a complete overhaul is needed.
As a footnote: The octo I mentioned above had gone 3 1/2 years since it's last "service". I obviously goofed with that octo; I waited a bit too long before servicing it
Best wishes.
