vacation rentals

[poko21]

hi all, as a vacation diver I generally rent all equipment. what do people think about renting regulators from a safety standpoint. hard to imagine some of these dive shops in 3rd world countries keeping up with proper regulator maintenance. do you travel with your own reg if you're only diving a couple times a year?

 

[old frogman]

hi all, as a vacation diver I generally rent all equipment. what do people think about renting regulators from a safety standpoint. hard to imagine some of these dive shops in 3rd world countries keeping up with proper regulator maintenance. do you travel with your own reg if you're only diving a couple times a year?

It depends. I have rented a regulator in Bali from the hotel dive store. It was in excellent condition and breathed well. However, if I was to rent from a shack near a beach which looked run down and the equipment looked like it had been through the wars, I would probably avoid it.

In any case, before leaving the shop, I would do the following risk reduction checks:
Conduct an external visual inspection to make sure no damage or corrosion and all the regulator ancillary bits are there.
Attach the regulator to the tank and test for tank valve operability.
Check the regulator for breathing resistance (possible clogged filter).
Make sure the contents gauge is working.
Make sure there is no free flow (listen for hissing noise).
Make sure there are no leaks (shut tank valve and see if contents gauge needle moves, if it moves there is a leak in the system).
Make sure the BC line fits the BC and power inflator works.

If you can do a dip test in water at the shop to test further for leaks, it would be good.

 

[Allen-1]

I’m currently diving four times a year. Two “resort” based travel vacations with my non-diving wife and two “dive as much as I can” shorter semi-local trips to Florida without her.

I have my own gear except for tanks. Of that gear, I consider mask, dive computer and regulator essential - I’d rent anything else if need be.

 

[jtsma]

In the end the only way to know for sure is to bring your own gear, regularly serviced by someone you trust.

Depending on your budget it might be worth investing in a set of travel regulators, as they are the thing keeping you alive. You can probably buy some basic balanced new set for less than 500 or even something second hand that you can have checked out by your LDS.

You will have the overhead of yearly (or bi-yearly depending on the brand) maintenance but at least you know it's safe.

 

[gamon]

You will have the overhead of yearly (or bi-yearly depending on the brand) maintenance but at least you know it's safe.

Yearly maintanance? I don't service my regulators until and unless there's a problem. Treat them properly, clean them well after diving and they'll last for many years. Serviced regs are more prone to failure than those that are left alone.

 

[happy-diver]

hard to imagine some of these dive shops in 3rd world countries keeping up with proper regulator maintenance.

You know we're all people give us a machine and we can make stuff, some instructions we can fix it
much like all the third world people earning the money to buy and set up the stuff in the first place
much like all the third world people keeping LA in play

 

[jtsma]

Yearly maintanance? I don't service my regulators until and unless there's a problem. Treat them properly, clean them well after diving and they'll last for many years. Serviced regs are more prone to failure than those that are left alone.

I get what you're saying, a bad service can cause failure. But telling someone who's buying their first reg set to not bother having them serviced is a wild statement. Yeah if you skip a year it probably won't kill you but diaphragms, o-rings,... do fail and you don't want that happening when you're down deep.

If you want to be cheap, learn how to inspect and service your own gear but just 'leaving it alone' is not great advice.