What's an Average cost for Annual reg service?

[DA Aquamaster]

next question on this.

How "long" does it take to service a regulator set? (1st, 2nd stages, gauges, etc).

I would imagine it would take an hour or two easy if you do it right and run "test" on it.

It depends to some degree on the reg and on the tech. I like SP regs and do a lot of them so I can whip out a simple SP reg like a Mk 2 R190 complete with ultrasound cleaning and pre and post bench testing in under an hour if it is in good general condition.

Other more complex regs take longer and regs that I do not work on as frequently take longer still as a greater level of care and more reference to the service manual is required.

O2 cleaning for use with mixes over 40% usually will add an hour on top of the annual service.

If the reg is badly encrusted, hard to get apart etc, an overhaul can be a very long half day process with perhaps a week to ten days in the middle waiting for new parts to arrive to replace the corroded ones removed. Those services are never cheap.

 

[MarkH]

The shops I go to put all the old parts in a bag and staple them to the service ticket; that way you can see what service has been performed.

That's a good point. It's not unheard of for a shop to hook up a gauge to your first stage, check the pressures, and if the first stage "breathes" fine and the second stage isn't freeflowing, they just give it back to you (charging you full price for the "maintenance") without even opening it up. The shop I do it at puts all the parts/o-rings they replaced in a little bag and give it back to me as proof that they bothered to actually do the work (suprisingly few dive shops do this). Even if the o-rings look decent, they might as well change them while the reg is open and the service kit should only cost a few dollars. I think at least they should replace the filter on the first stage. It doesn't take much to restrict the airflow through these. For the record, up here I pay around $60-80 Canadian to service my old Conshelf 14, including parts. The official turnaround time is 1 week, but they will have it ready in 2-3 days if I ask.

 

[diversteve]

$60 to replace all the parts and tune my Atomics B1/Z1 at my LDS in Phoenix. Although they mentioned that none of the parts really needed it, they replaced everything anyway since it was apart and gave me the old parts in a bag.
Took 2 days.

 

[Hoosier]

Thanks again. It is a great info. from the expert.

The dealer cost on a D400 annual service kit is $8.25, a Mk 15 kit is $10.25, and an R190 kit is $3.25. So dealer cost for the parts is $21.75.

Charging you $55 for parts was basically a 250% markup. SP has no price controls on parts so dealers are free to sell them as low as they want, right down to selling them at cost, so your dealer made $33.25 profit off you on parts.

On the other hand labor is normally $25.00 per stage. So $75 for labor, $21.75 for parts and 7% sales tax would bring it to about $103 and by that standard, $105.00 could still be considered "fair". I suspect your LDS may be putting a bit of spin on the cost of parts to encourage you to buy a new reg with a warranty without actually ripping you off. Saying you'll save $55.00 per year on parts rather than $21.75 is a lot more enticing.

Being a long way from salt water, having a much less lucrative market, and not being afflicted with the god like ego that seems to afflict salt water dive shops, we charge $30 for service and usually sell the parts to regular customers at or near the SP plus shipping cost. So a MK 15/D400/R190 would run about $55.00 with tax. We do have people ship regs to us on occasion as paying shipping both ways is still cheaper than paying higher parts and labor costs.

 

[Tavi]

The shop I work with in Buffalo NY charges
$15 per stage + parts if you bought it from them.
$25 per stage + parts if you bought it elsewhere

Mine are all Apeks so they are free parts for life

 

[yknot]

How does a free parts for life warranty work for a LDS? Do you do a service and then "invoice" your distributor/manufacturer for a replacement service kit for the one you just used?