Question about equipment course?
- Thread starter turner895
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
Check your PMs
shark_tamer
Contributor
Hi turner895,
I am Padi Equipment Specialist certified and I really enjoyed this course.
Don't think that with this certification you will be employed at your LDS as an equipment technician !!! The course shows you the basics on regs, tank valves, o'rings, wet and dry suits repairs ..... and they show you how to prepare a basic tool kit.
I personally took the course to be able to disassemble my own regs in case of a minor malfunction before or during a dive, and prevent the cancellation of a dive just because I have sand in my regs ( !!!! ) and the LDS charges me 25,00$ just to open and clean it ???
And one piece of advise : This course does not entitle you to work on other divers equipment. If a diver drowns because you openned his or her regulator, you could be taken to court !!!!
I highly recommend this course for every diver
I am Padi Equipment Specialist certified and I really enjoyed this course.
Don't think that with this certification you will be employed at your LDS as an equipment technician !!! The course shows you the basics on regs, tank valves, o'rings, wet and dry suits repairs ..... and they show you how to prepare a basic tool kit.
I personally took the course to be able to disassemble my own regs in case of a minor malfunction before or during a dive, and prevent the cancellation of a dive just because I have sand in my regs ( !!!! ) and the LDS charges me 25,00$ just to open and clean it ???
And one piece of advise : This course does not entitle you to work on other divers equipment. If a diver drowns because you openned his or her regulator, you could be taken to court !!!!
I highly recommend this course for every diver
Tigerman
Contributor
Due to it being a long way to the nearest LDS this is actually a topic id like to know more about as well. What courses is there for example if I wish to maintain my own gear (as in beyond basic mainetance) and what kind of equipment would it require and how much would such equipment cost?
Tigerman,
Check these out. Regs are not the rocket science some would have you believe.
SCUBA REGULATOR MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR by Vance Harlow
Regulator Savvy
Check these out. Regs are not the rocket science some would have you believe.
SCUBA REGULATOR MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR by Vance Harlow
Regulator Savvy
shark_tamer
Contributor
ChrisA
Contributor
It is a very cursory overview of diving equipment. It might be good for some one who knows zero about how everything works and how to maintain it. If you do not know what makes the needle move in an SPG and a piston from a diaphram regulator then the class might help. But it does not get more technical than that. They do not teach you how to service gear, just what needs servicing and when.
ChrisA
Contributor
The problem with doing your own serving is that you may only own one or two regs so you do not get to do many reg overhauls and doing them so infrequently it is hard to keep yur skills up. It's like the guy who only dives once a year on vacation, he remains a new diver forever and never gets good at it. The second problem is parts. They d not like to sell parts unless you are a factory authorizd retailer with a trained tech. Some companies will sell parts, diverite will
northen diver
Contributor
]
It doesnt really take skill to rebuild a regulator. You just need to have a decent mechanical aptitude, be able to read and you can rebuild a 1st and 2nd stage regulator. The parts are acutally quite easy to get. I so far had found four places that sells me part. If you service your regulators, it becomes eaiser and easier due to the repetetion. Aqualung and Sherwoods even have thier service and parts manuals on line as do many of the other brands do. I had taken a YMCA equipment service course and the class had a chance to tear down our own regs and rebuilt them. The instructor tested out the regs afterwards. We leaned about ultra sonic cleaning ( I bought one after the class for 125 bucks) how to use a ventri, mano meter, IP guage. We also rebuilt a K vavle, disassmebled dump vavles, VIP a tank with an eddy, along with the basic care of your equipement. The instructor was careful in stating that this was a "fimalarization" only class. Not a OE certification class.
And as far as rebuilding other peoples regualtors (friends) and IF they die from a falulty reg, YOU WLL BE SUED is bunk. Anybody can sue anyone now a days. I do a lot of brake jobs on friends cars. Some I charge and some I dont. Is the lawsuit "scare" going to stop me. Nope not yet. Same with the regualtors.
lmorin
Contributor
I'd say that "cursory overview" is being generous. At least for the course I had. Pretty much useless, with one exception. I learned that wetsuits can be repaired pretty easily with the proper cement. What I want (and still want) is someone to show me how to take everything apart, check it out and clean particulates, if present, then reassemble. I don't want to do my own servicing, per se, but would like to know what to look for in the way of problems and how to fix simple things like valves jammed by detritus. Scuba Toys has started running courses like this, I believe.
Similar threads
