Regulator set to overhaul or not to overhaul?

[Escualo]

Hello,
Novice poster here, but would like to draw on the wisdom of this community, this is my situation:

I was a regular diver till 2019 and back then decided to acquire a regulator set (Apeks XTX200 and XTX50 Octo) and managed to do about 10 dives with it. Then many things happened in my life and stopped diving, now that I am ready to go back I am in the process of getting my skills and equipment back to speed. I preserved my regulator the best I could ( sealed in a bag, not extreme temperatures and in the dark).

I took the regulator set to the local DS asking whether it needed to be serviced or not. They did a quick test (it took them no more than 10 minutes) and the guy came back to me saying that the it is ok to dive with it that all the pressures are within limits and there is nothing wrong with it.

So the question is, shall I thrust this advice and start diving with it or should I just service it?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Still Kicking]

Does it breathe well? No bubbles when you submerge it? Holds a vacuum when you suck on second stage with valve off? I would dive it.

 

[davehicks]

Dive it. You did the right thing getting it tested.

 

[chrisch]

A "service" is mostly a thorough clean to get rid of salt and other contaminants. I agree with the shop - this almost certainly does not need a service. The industry generally says a one year period but that is OK if you dive a lot and don't much look after your gear. The industry makes a good profit selling service kits...

Getting the salt out is the key to extending service intervals in my opinion. If you lick a dry reg and it tastes of salt then you are not looking after it. Best way to keep it salt free is a good long freshwater dive after a sea dive.

 

[DiveLikeAMuppet]

You will be fine as long as the o-rings and hoses look OK.

Your local dive shop are good people, they could’ve taken your money by saying that the service interval is 50 dives or 2 years (reality is different …)

 

[davehicks]

You will be fine as long as the o-rings and hoses look OK.

Let's not get carried away. There is a bit more to it than that as you can't see the condition of internal parts.

The dive shop that did the inspection did some or all of the things detailed in this article. You can do them all yourself in the future (with the purchase of a $15 IP gauge) and determine when that next service is really needed.

Thread 'Regulator Inspection and Checklist (Rev-8)'

Aug 6, 2010

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Discussion of this thread can be found here: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/regulators/260452-regulator-checklist-inspection.html

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First off, I would like to acknowledge my friends who have done more than their share in developing this checklist. Due to my laziness and resistance to answering the same questions time and time again, I created the first checklist. But the Usual Suspects (Awap, @Luis H, @herman, and @halocline) and a gaggle of others I stole ideas from deserve most of the credit.

Those of you who are already familiar with this checklist will...

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[rick00001967]

i hope it was not sealed in a plastic bag?

i would say that if you do not trust the local dive shop, then why bring it to them? find another repair option that you trust.

 

[BoltSnap]

I took the regulator set to the local DS asking whether it needed to be serviced or not. They did a quick test (it took them no more than 10 minutes) and the guy came back to me saying that the it is ok to dive with it that all the pressures are within limits and there is nothing wrong with it.

So the question is, shall I thrust this advice and start diving with it or should I just service it?

If that's Al-Boom and Stevie is still their service manager, I'll have no issues with their opinion.

 

[emoreira]

Try to use it in a controlled environment like a pool. Do a 45 minutes dive in the pool and see if there's any bubbles coming out from any point of the reg set, in all parts of it (hoses, seconds, first, console). If every thing is fine, go ahead and dive it, but been quite cautious of the working during the firsts dives.
Also (you mentioned that the dive shop tested for pressures) do a WOB (Work Of Breathing) test in the pool to be sure that it breathes fine.
A WOB test is submerge both main second and octopus, with the mouth piece facing up and it should start free flowing almost when the mouth piece starts to sink.

 

[Umuntu]

Hello,
Novice poster here, but would like to draw on the wisdom of this community, this is my situation:

I was a regular diver till 2019 and back then decided to acquire a regulator set (Apeks XTX200 and XTX50 Octo) and managed to do about 10 dives with it. Then many things happened in my life and stopped diving, now that I am ready to go back I am in the process of getting my skills and equipment back to speed. I preserved my regulator the best I could ( sealed in a bag, not extreme temperatures and in the dark).

I took the regulator set to the local DS asking whether it needed to be serviced or not. They did a quick test (it took them no more than 10 minutes) and the guy came back to me saying that the it is ok to dive with it that all the pressures are within limits and there is nothing wrong with it.

So the question is, shall I thrust this advice and start diving with it or should I just service it?

Thanks in advance.

If you cannot trust the advice of a professional technician who physically inspected and tested your regulator and told you that “it is ok to dive with it”, then why would you trust the opinions of a bunch of random amateurs on a discussion board who haven’t seen, handled or tested your regulator ?