Service older Regs or purchase new?

[LeadTurn_SD]

You already have a regulator that you can service yourself. There's no safety issue involved because you always dive in such a way that regulator failure is not life threatening, correct? If not, time to re-think how you dive. Any regulator can fail unexpectedly, whether it's 50 years old and cost $10 or brand new and cost $1000. If you are reasonably mechanically inclined and reasonably careful, you can easily learn to work on your own regulator, and often the older regs are simpler to work on and require far fewer specialized tools and unique parts.

That said, I have never tried to get Mares parts, and I'm sure the official story, like virtually all other brands, is that they are not for sale to customers. However, as with many oppressive official policies, there are back-door channels to get what you need. I have enough scubapro parts to keep my stable of regulators rebuilt for many years, and I suspect that common models of Mares regs are similarly easy to find parts for.

1+.

I service my own Mares regs. They are not difficult to service (actually quite simple), but I do recommend proceeding with due caution and doing your homework first if you do decide to go the DIY route. The "usual suspects" who lurk on this board are great folks who are extremely generous with their time an knowledge, so please ask if you need help.

Here is my "current" parts source, and a link to the service kit for your first stage (you should also be able to find the 2nd stage service kits there too):

Mares First Stage Rebuild Kit - MR22/MR16/V16 - Northeast Scuba Supply Stor

But first, an "is the right regulator for my intended use" question: If you plan to dive in 8 - 20 degree F water, you need a cold water rated regulator. I am assuming F, but maybe you meant Celsius?

If you are truly doing cold water diving, you'll want the Proton metal , and an environmentally sealed 1st stage. The Mares first stage you have is a diaphragm 1st, but I'm not sure if it has an environmental seal (Mares may call this a cold water kit, I cannot remember).

If you are actually not diving cold water, then 1,000 apologies and disregard the above

Best wishes.

 

[JamesDownUnder]

I own a stable of Apeks XTX200,50,40 regs and they are simple to work on. However, as others have pointed out, getting maintenance kits directly is nearly impossible, but there are plenty of "back channels". As good proportion of my diving is technically inclined, I have a good stock of spare parts and keep my regs serviced. It's not difficult and if you understood your open water explanation of how a 1st/2nd stage work, it's not difficult to figure out the mechanics of regulators.

Provided you can get parts at reasonable cost, there's no reason not service your regulators are opposed to replace them.

Caveat: your regs are essentially a life support system for the underwater environment. If you aren't 100% confident in your ability to service them, don't. I learnt by riding shotgun with the service techs, and they were very generous with their time and knowledge - not all are so inclined.


Posting from my iPad, please excuse unfortunate iCorrects.

 

[tech3324]

Local shops are charging $150 to service a reg and octo, just routine service nothing extra. Rather than pay that, another strategy would be to buy a HOG D1 (or similar) for around $230 and just replace it every two years. Maybe keep one of the old HOG's and learn to service it yourself.

 

[KevinNM]

Or you could mail them to a shop that won't try to cover their Porsche payment based on your reg. I though $100 for 1st and 2nd stage was a bit high...

 

[rocketjacket]

Here in Australia some of the prices are outrageous. One tech told me it may cost several hundreds, that if he opens the regs he is bound by law to fix them, no matter what the problem. The best quote I have to run a service kit through the regs is $280

 

[OtherHalf]

Just order the kit and service it yourself. The manuals are available free online and the actual servicing is pretty simple. Its not intimidating afyer the first time. And its not hard if you take your time and follow the manual.

 

[Peter69_56]

Here in Australia some of the prices are outrageous. One tech told me it may cost several hundreds, that if he opens the regs he is bound by law to fix them, no matter what the problem. The best quote I have to run a service kit through the regs is $280

Where do you live in OZ. If you live close to Melb, give me a call via PM here and maybe I can help you further.

 

[kwinter]

You already have a regulator that you can service yourself. There's no safety issue involved because you always dive in such a way that regulator failure is not life threatening, correct? If not, time to re-think how you dive. Any regulator can fail unexpectedly, whether it's 50 years old and cost $10 or brand new and cost $1000. If you are reasonably mechanically inclined and reasonably careful, you can easily learn to work on your own regulator, and often the older regs are simpler to work on and require far fewer specialized tools and unique parts.

That said, I have never tried to get Mares parts, and I'm sure the official story, like virtually all other brands, is that they are not for sale to customers. However, as with many oppressive official policies, there are back-door channels to get what you need. I have enough scubapro parts to keep my stable of regulators rebuilt for many years, and I suspect that common models of Mares regs are similarly easy to find parts for.

Ken, my thinking was based on replacing with the same regs.

OP, there is no limitation on how old regs are. Think about it, they are just machined chunks of metal and bits of plastic. As long as they are taken care of, all of the consumables can be replaced assuming the MFG still supports them. If you don't want to service them yourself, then I'd still recommend paying to get them serviced. It's about $25/stage+parts which are usually about the same. As far as servicing them yourself, it's not for everybody, but if you want to do it, I highly recommend doing it. In that case the Hogs are about as good of a deal as it gets as you can take a course to train you how to repair them.

Yes, my comment was based primarily on parts accessibility. Back channels exist, but I've gotten some sketchy parts that way at times. And places like NESS usually sell third party stuff that is mostly good, but sometimes just doesn't fit. Then again, quality of OEM parts has been iffy at times. I do like the HOGs because they are easy to work on, you can get technical assistance when needed (if you take their class), and you can pick up a used one to practice on for very low cost. I wasn't aware that a nitrox class qualified as tech training for taking the class. Thanks for that addition, Tom.

 

[halocline]

But first, an "is the right regulator for my intended use" question: If you plan to dive in 8 - 20 degree F water, you need a cold water rated regulator. I am assuming F, but maybe you meant Celsius?

I'm sure he meant Celsius. You'd need an ice pick to dive in 8-20F water. I think the coldest seawater can get before freezing is about 28-29F.

 

[scubafanatic]

Here in Australia some of the prices are outrageous. One tech told me it may cost several hundreds, that if he opens the regs he is bound by law to fix them, no matter what the problem. The best quote I have to run a service kit through the regs is $280

WOW !!! That's insane !!! Scubatoys in Dallas/Texas advertises $ 60 labor + $ 10 - $ 30 for parts (if not under warranty) so it would total in the $ 70 - $ 90 range.