Regulator Savvy

[Teller]

I have heard a few people on SB recommend Regulator Savvy for someone who may want to sevice their own regs. How user friendly is the book? Is there alot of pictures or just alot of reading. Is it worth it? I dont know very much about regs but I want to learn. Any opinions? Thanks

 

[knotical]

Three sources to consider:
Wolfinger's Regulator Savvy
Harlow's Regulator Maintenance and Repair, and
the service manual for your specific regulator.

Wolfinger's has lots of excellent pictures and great explanations of how all types of regs work. In my opinion, this is the best for understanding theory. It is not geared toward specific regulator models.

Harlow's has fewer pictures, but more tricks of the trade. It also has schematics for several regulators (but certainly not all).

Individual service manuals provide a schematic, manufacturer's part numbers, and step-by-step directions for servicing particular regulator models. Of the three, I think this is the most useful if you just want to service your own regs.

ymmv

 

[Scared Silly]

Knotical is spot on. Pete's book for the theoretic knowledge and Vance's book for the practical matters. Then combine it with the mfg. info and you are well on your way.

Of course having a quiver of tools specific to your reg also helps. Not mandatory but help ensure the jobs gets done correctly.

 

[Couv]

Both service manuals usually discussed here are great; Vance Harlow's "SCUBA Regulator Maintenance and Repair" <http://www.airspeedpress.com/newregbook.html>
and the Scuba Tools book, "Regulator Savvy" <http://www.scubatools.com/> are well worth the money.

I own both and recommend getting one of each. If you are dead set on getting only one, then Vance's is a little more suitable for the DIY guy while the ScubaTools book is more suitable for the shop worker. ScubaTools has some pretty handy tools too, so if you order from there pay a few extra bucks and get the bullets, spanners, and regulator specific tools that you need with your first order and save on shipping. Get a few old regulators like the ones you will be servicing from eBay or Craig's list and practice. After just one or two seasons of servicing your own gear, you will have recovered your investment.

Here are a couple of websites with tons of regulator specific manuals:
Regulator manuals <http://www.juhahaanpera.com/regulatormanual.htm>
<http://www.frogkick.dk/manuals/>
http://www.atlantisdiveclub.com/mainmovies/gb_manuals.html

Good luck,

c

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

I also recommend buying both Harlow's and Wolfinger's books, along with the "official" repair manual for your reg (if you can get it).

I'd recommend the following reading order:

1.) Harlow. Gets you started, a good overview. For some this might be enough.... but I wanted/needed more theory. This is a DIY guide.... if I could only own one book, this would be it; but I'm glad I could also get Wolfinger's book to fill in the gaps in my understanding...

2.) Wolfinger. Get's into the nitty-gritty of HOW regs work. I feel this is really important, because this allows you to understand the WHY rather than just learning WHAT to do... but unlike Harlow's book, it is not a DIY-guide. Think of it more as a regulator text book.

3.) Manufacturer's Repair Manual: After reading the above books, you'll have a better idea of what the manual is describing. Some official repair manuals are excellent and have drawings and photos.... others just a written description of the overhaul procedure.

Best wishes.

 

[halocline]

I would definitely choose Harlow's book as a guide to DIY. The Wolfinger book is interesting and has a lot of theoretical material, but it is not as DIY-friendly a book. One thing that kind of bugs me about it is it's reliance on specialized tools for adjusting. Regulators can be easily tuned with a minimum of specialized tools like in-line adjusting tools and magnahelic gauges. Still, for those who want to better understand the concepts of regulator design and function, the Wolfinger book is pretty thorough.

 

[herman]

I have both books and think both are well worth the money, every tech should have and UNDERSTAND both. I may be reading between the lines too much and if so I apoligize but if you are looking for a step by step photo essay to hold your hand through a reg rebuild, neither of these books will do that. What they will do is teach you the hows and whys of the internal workings of a regulator, the things a good tech must know to be effective. It is up to you to put that information to use along with the indivigual regs service manual for the finer details particular to each reg.

 

[Tortuga68]

I wish he'd put Reg Savvy out in a metric version; great book but it gets tedious doing the conversions

 

[ams511]

I second Lead-Turn's advice. The reg savvy book made little sense to me before I read Harlow's book. Now it makes perfect sense. Like another poster pointed out the reg savvy book relies a lot on specialized tools, maybe because they sell them. If you could only get one I would recommend the Harlow book.

 

[Zung]

That's some unanimous decision!
My vote is also:

1. Vance
2. Pete

In between the 2, you may want to download the "Technical Service Reference & Repair Guide" for the MK10 and the MK20 (in several pieces). I think Pete wrote them, and they're great because of all the cutaway drawings that really help me understand how all the bits work together.