What is "servicing" a regulator?

[WetSEAL]

Careful what you "learn" how to do on a regulator. Remember it is what keeps you alive. Perhaps someone trained to service them is a better choice. IMO.

With all due respect, if I'm going to be trusting my life to something, I want to know exactly how it works myself and be able to diagnose any issues instantly and then fix them myself if it's a simple fix. The attitude that I should just not think about it, throw money around at other people and not try to understand how it works, is simply not my attitude. Thanks.

@tbone1004 thanks, that's exactly what I wanted to know

 

[TrimixToo]

Wow, that was not helpful at all. I know the definition of the word. I was asking what things they would look for during a regular maintenance, and if you don't know or want to explain any, you don't have to reply.

I say, I say, that was a *joke*, son. But below the joke was what I thought was sound advice. Get someone who knows what they are doing to show you, either formally (a class) or informally. Vance Harlow's book is pretty good too, but I don't know whether Airspeed Press is back online, and even with the book in hand, I would not recommend diving into this yourself without anyone to help you. For some things, being talked through a couple of them makes a huge difference. This is one of those things.

Edit: Ah, he's back up! Airspeed Press Homepage - Books For Serious Divers Get someone to show you anyway. Or not. It's not my dog...

 

[caruso]

With all due respect, if I'm going to be trusting my life to something, I want to know exactly how it works myself and be able to diagnose any issues instantly and then fix them myself if it's a simple fix.

Are you an auto mechanic too?

 

[KeithG]

With all due respect, if I'm going to be trusting my life to something, I want to know exactly how it works myself and be able to diagnose any issues instantly and then fix them myself if it's a simple fix. The attitude that I should just not think about it, throw money around at other people and not try to understand how it works, is simply not my attitude. Thanks.

@tbone1004 thanks, that's exactly what I wanted to know

After you watch the videos linked above it may be useful to download and study a service manual. If you google frogkick scuba you will find a pile of manuals. Maybe the one for your regs?

 

[KeithG]

...and what aspects are easy to service yourself to reduce the frequency of having to take it in

Almost everyone can do 1 level below servicing: inspect / clean your regs. But beware, you may find you never have to take them in for service...

As noted above get an IP gauge so you can inspect the function of your first stage. Look at the inlet screen. Clean & brite? Good. Green & moldy? Bad.

You can also do some simple cleaning of your second stages. If you silt dive then there will be some amount of sand in your octo. There may be other grundge in there as well since the mouthpiece is open to the water. Your primary mouthpiece may have some left over lunch bits stuck to it. Learn to take your second stages apart (my cover screws off by hand) and clean out any debris. Note that this does not involve "dissasembly" of anything that requires adjustment / tuning.

Inspect the hoses (underpressure) looking for bulges or cracks.

 

[herman]

I know tbone1004 just missed it, during a service ,the reg is it disassembled, cleaned and reassembled. The tech will also replace the internal soft parts like orings, soft seats and diaphragms.....which is the reason you should get a small bag of parts back when you have a reg serviced. This is evidence that it really was dissembled and the internal parts were replaced.

Careful what you "learn" how to do on a regulator. Remember it is what keeps you alive. Perhaps someone trained to service them is a better choice. IMO.

If you had seen some of these "trained" people in the training class I was in, you wouldn't be so confident in them. There are some great techs in the business but there are a lot more that aren't so good.

 

[Norwegian Cave Diver]

I agree. My Apex sets that I use for cave diving go to a guy who is the shop owner, IDC, and a fellow cave diver. He understands the need for quality gear and quality service. I own a construction company. We can build you a beautiful kitchen, bathroom, basement, but I don't service regulators too.

 

[Fibonacci]

I was quoted $300 for a full service on an Atomic Aquatics B2 enviro sealed first and second stage with Z2 octo...!!!
If it was a T2-T3 they wanted another $150... apparently just because everyone expects a Ferrari service to cost more than a Ford
This was a major instigator in learning how to service my own gear (bought all the correct tools including the lube repacking tool and I'm STILL in front)... my family has three sets of Atomic gear!

 

[Caveeagle]

Are you an auto mechanic too?

I'm not sure what that has to do with anything. Apples vs oranges, although knowing the difference between a torque wrench and an Allen key, if probably helpful.

I am a very experienced auto mechanic, and also do my own regulator rebuilding and tuning. Being good at one does not really guarantee any success at the other. I would contend that a total reg set rebuild is far simpler than doing an engine swap on a late model efi vehicle. However, the efi vehicle should fire right up and run fine as long as you swapped correct parts and plugged everything properly.

Getting your regs rebuilt is a little more that just R&R parts. There is set up and tuning to a specs. There are also some "tricks of the trade" for some regs that are not covered in the manuals. This is where instruction and good mentoring is far better than trial and error.

 

[caruso]

I'm not sure what that has to do with anything. Apples vs oranges,

It's not really apples vs oranges unless you'd trust your life to an apple but not to an orange.