Regulator Service Interval

[h90]

I would like to hear about a single documented case of death due to failure to keep annual service on a reg. This whole argument about servicing your reg annually, because "your life is worth it" is just ridiculous.

99% of reg "failure" results in freeflows or leaks. Regs don't exactly deliver air, they regulate it's flow from the tank. While something like a sudden HP seat failure (very rare!) can be pretty scary, especially to a new diver, if it's life threatening, something is seriously wrong with the way that diver is handling the situation. A sudden uncontrolled free flow is no fun, but hardly life threatening, as long as the basic fundamentals of OW diving are being followed. Those include the buddy system, staying out of overhead and mandatory deco situations, and having unimpeded access to the surface at all times during an OW dive.

This is even true if you make the incorrect assumption that annual service will prevent reg problems. Just as often as a good service will prevent a problem, a poor one will cause one. Don't forget, some of these guardians that "keep us alive" through their professional servicing of our regs have gone through an exhausting 2 days of training.

If reg failure was truly life threatening, don;t you think the qualifications for professional service would be a bit higher than simply working at a dealer and attending a 2 day 'no-fail' seminar?

I have seen a broken exhaust valve on an Octopus (for an instructor teaching an OW student).....

 

[fnfalman]

Send the regs back to the manufacturers for services instead of using the LDS if quality of technician is to be suspected.

 

[Hatul]

I've been using my regulator doing about 5 years but I've only used it for about 6 dives a year (during vacation). Does it need to be serviced now?

Being a frugal guy, some say cheap, I used to try to extend the maintenance interval as much as possible with my two Oceanic Delta 2 regs: one piston and one diaphragm. I found both of them would leak from the first stage if not maintained at close to the one year interval, and a couple of times I had to rent a regulator in my dive travel.

It may be just my regulators but now I have it serviced at or within the year interval as it's not worth the hassle of canceling my dives. Also in the future I'll avoid Oceanic regulator, thanks-- I think they should be over engineered enough not to have this problem.

Adam

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Personally, if I do not service my regs for awhile, I check them very carefully prior to a trip. But then again, when you are 2500' back in a cave, a CESA is not really an option and a leak can be a much more serious problem than in open water. I'd rather not have to rely on only a backup reg.

Ideally, a diver would get there reg servcied, then do a coupel quarry dives to ensure they are 100% prior to leaving on a trip. Having a reg fail mid week on your weeklong trip usually ends up costing more than an annual service.

 

[ShakaZulu]

My regs worked perfectly until I had them serviced....

 

[hudson]

I think you should adopt one of two approaches based on whether you competently follow the stickied inspection checklist(s). If yes, you can probably wait until the inspection shows a problem. I still wouldn't recommend diving without a competent buddy or a fully redundant backup (e.g pony) If not, you should probably get it serviced before 100 dives are out as DA_Aquamaster recommends, especially before any big trip.