Ultrasonic Cleaning?

[bl6394]

This is why I don't service anyone's regs but my own (unless I'm doing it under the employ of a dive shop). But who is going to sue me if my regulators malfunction at an inconvenient moment?

Probably your students or their estate - if you are teaching when it happens and they are injured during the incident.

 

[Wayward Son]

I doubt I will ever sell my Mk5/R109, as dad gave it to me new for my 17th birthday in 1978 & I've been diving it ever since. But that's not a hard reg to service.

The others, dunno. If I do sell them I'll almost certainly replace them with hogs.

 

[Wayward Son]

right now, none of this is urgent. I have time to read up, watch videos & learn before doing anything. These regs were all serviced & then either not used or only lightly used after. The 2 main ones got 1 dive in FW. About the only thing I see being an issue with those are the diaphrams & it doesn't take a total tear down to replace those. I feel sure that I could pick any one of the sets up & go diving & be just fine. I don't think any of them even have any real need of the US cleaning yet.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

The last time I had 2 reg sets serviced it cost me $400 at the LDS & I actually considered maybe just not servicing them again & buying new regs every 2 or 3 years.

That's a problem.

Service charges per stage average $25-$30 at most shops, so for a first, second and octo you're looking at $75-$90 per set, plus parts. As an example, not to many years ago, an R190 kit used to cost about $4, a G250 kit was around $12 and the average first stage kit was around $10-15 depending on whether it was piston or diaphragm, making the parts tab around $30-$35. That left the total for a complete annual service around $100-$125.

Labor costs have been fairly static, only creeping up a few bucks. It's the charge for parts costs that have increased to rather insane levels.

What has driven that increase are a) manufacturers charging shops a lot more for parts kits that are no more expansive or expensive to produce than they used to be, and b) shops marking parts up 100% (or more) as they continue to try to make service work generate more and more revenue for the shop.

As the price of a new reg package continues to increase, some shops feel they can get customers to spend more on an annual service. However, when you can buy a Hog D1 set on line for $230 and get another second stage for $130 ($360 total), it's hard to justify paying $200 for an annual service, when you could probably run the Hog set a couple years before it needs work.

At some point shops that want to stay in business are going to have to consider the value of keeping the customer around, add value to the sale, and keep the customer loyal to hopefully get service work and future sales.

For example, Scubapro has become increasingly dickish with the free parts for life program and getting it now requires buying a reg, BC and computer (and their computers are crap), so that's a non starter for most people. They've also upped the cost of service kits, apparently to add value to the free parts for life program, - or maybe penalize people for not going that route. Either way, the FPFL program isn't adding any real value anymore the way Scubapro runs it and it's not much of a selling point.

However, Scubapro regs still have a very good margin and shops make good money off the sale of a reg, so they could afford to offer free parts for life for their customers - just on the reg purchase. They'd have to cover the wholesale parts costs for service, either annually for heavily used regs or bi-annually for lightly used regs, but they'd reduce the customers service tab to labor only - about $75 to $90 every year for very active divers, or every other year for less active divers.

Over the 10 year average life of a regulator that will save the diver the price of a new regulator, and it makes an in store purchase much more attractive relative to an on-line purchase.

 

[Wayward Son]

that was 2 years ago, after the SP bunga bunga. I'm sure that played a part in the costs. I can only image it costs more now.

there aren't any other shops here, so if I want to have a shop to the work I can use this one, drive farther each way than I really want to, or pack them up & ship them off.

or I can learn to do them myself.

I'll take door #4

 

[lowviz]

...//... I'll take door #4

OK, I'll open door #2. Now do you want to change your pick?

I know where you are going with this, stop it! Too many levels as it is.

For the casual observer: http://www.scubaboard.com/community/threads/probability-primer-for-scuba-divers.439763/

 

[oya]

Probably your students or their estate - if you are teaching when it happens and they are injured during the incident.

Of all the regs I've got, I don't have a single one set up like a "standard" recreational. Use shop regs to teach.

You do raise an interesting (and, frankly, terrifying)point, though. Goddamn every ambulance-chasing prick lawyer. #schoolsink

 

[Centrals]

Trick: put an asparagus can full of isopropanol into the buzzing solution. Put your part into that can for really hard to clean items. Dark secret: pyridine. (BEWARE! it kills any elastomer)

Just curious: Where is the "pyridine" comes from?

 

[lowviz]

Pyridine and dimethylsulfoxide are two of the most amazing solvents out there. Both are smelly liquids, very hard for the public to obtain.

 

[Centrals]

Pyridine and dimethylsulfoxide are two of the most amazing solvents out there. Both are smelly liquids, very hard for the public to obtain.

They are far worst than smelly!

DMSO-d6 is a great solvent in NMR.