old scubapro

[redacted]

You can buy the service kits on e-bay and do it yourself, it's not much more difficult than changing o-rings in your kitchen faucet.

You probably can disassemble the regs, slap in the new parts, and stick all the parts back together. Maybe just a couple leftovers! But that does not make a regulator perform well or reliably. It may just leak and not work at all. And if you have damaged anything or scratched the wrong part, it may never work again. It is not as simple as repairing a faucet, especially with an older reg that has not seen much recent service, is probably leaking in a few places and in need of a good cleaning, and will probably require some knowledgable troubleshooting before it is "as good as new".

The few shops that I have found that will sell parts (most, if not all, can but won't) do a pretty good business correcting the amature DIYtechs errors.

 

[Kwbyron]

Thanks for the tips guys, I'll try to find out the specific model... I was given the impression that it would be more economical to just replace them.

 

[redacted]

Thanks for the tips guys, I'll try to find out the specific model... I was given the impression that it would be more economical to just replace them.

More econmical for who? You or the guy who wants to sell new regs? The downside of doing your own servicing is it becomes pretty hard to pass up an older usable reg that is only $35 on ebay. My wife took me on a tour of our Scuba room last week. I had to promise not to buy another one (for at least a week).

 

[superstar]

O.K fellow divers. The faucet seemed to be a good comparison, If the faucet fails it leaks water, giving you too much water, if the reg fails it leaks air, giving you too much air. They are both valves, they both depend on o-rings to work, If you mung either one up with a pipe wrench they are both junk. Should I have used something a bit more technical to express my point, maybe a Mikuni RS series smooth bore.

 

[redacted]

O.K fellow divers. The faucet seemed to be a good comparison, If the faucet fails it leaks water, giving you too much water, if the reg fails it leaks air, giving you too much air. They are both valves, they both depend on o-rings to work, If you mung either one up with a pipe wrench they are both junk. Should I have used something a bit more technical to express my point, maybe a Mikuni RS series smooth bore.

How about a brake job including the master cylinder, or maybe a carberator rebuild.

 

[Damselfish]

O.K fellow divers. The faucet seemed to be a good comparison, If the faucet fails it leaks water, giving you too much water, if the reg fails it leaks air, giving you too much air.

But your air supply is more limited than your water supply.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Thanks for the tips guys, I'll try to find out the specific model... I was given the impression that it would be more economical to just replace them.

Some LDS's love to give you that impression, since they make very little on service compared to a 100-120% markup on a new regulator. And as inidcated above, if you have a nice Mk 10, Mk 15, Mk 20 etc with a good second stage, you will gain nothing in performance if you "upgrade" to a new reg.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

O.K fellow divers. The faucet seemed to be a good comparison, If the faucet fails it leaks water, giving you too much water, if the reg fails it leaks air, giving you too much air. They are both valves, they both depend on o-rings to work, If you mung either one up with a pipe wrench they are both junk. Should I have used something a bit more technical to express my point, maybe a Mikuni RS series smooth bore.

There are other possible failures as well. If you over shim or compress the mainspring in a piston or diaphragm reg, it can break during the dive - a failure that can leave you with no air at all. Knowing the specs on the reg you are working on is vital. More so than a faucet or a Mikuni carb. (although in my case I own two Mikuni carbs and they are both mounted on an aircraft engine, so screwing them up can be very problematic as well.)

 

[Luis H]

However a Mk 7, or early Mk 5 is a lot less desireable and a lot less useful to a modern diver.

What objection do you have to the MK 5?
I have several and they all work great!!
Most of them are using adjustable second stages and some of those second stages I have converted to balanced second stages.
A couple of them have D400 and again they work great.
Granted a few have the smaller yoke and only two LP ports, but that is only a minor inconvenience. I do have some of the newer ones with the heavier yoke and 4 or 5 LP ports (and even one with 2 HP ports, 7/16"). I even have a couple of DIN conversion kits.
I haven't had any problems getting parts for them either; as in seats and o-rings are readily available. If a metal part got damaged, well that is why I have a bunch of them.
What is the advantage of any of the newer Scubapro piston regulators?

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I was referring to the early models with one 3/8" HP port and only 2 LP ports. They are ok on pony bottles etc, but do not work all that well as a primary regulator due to the odd HP hose size or adapter needed and the limited number of LP ports. If it also has a low pressure 2250 psi yoke that is another problem, although that one that can be rectified with a new yoke.

I do agree with you that the later MK 5's with heavy 3300 psi yokes, two 7/16" HP ports and the 4 or 5 LP port turrets are still excellent regulators. I own 3 or 4 of those.

A Mk 5 with the newer concave seat performs well enough at high tank pressures with 125-150ish SCFM flow rates which are more than adequate for any recreational purpose. However performance falls off at lower tank pressures and that is probably the only practical thing they give up to a Mk 10 or newer regulator.

Personally, if someone goes with a newer Scubapro regulator, I almost always recommend the Mk 17 as it does offer significant advantages over the older and newer piston designs.