Why Service the regs?? (when new ones are so cheap)

[herman]

Dang, my turn to thank Leadturn.
I would add this to his post, if you want to learn to repair regs, the first $100 you should spend should be spent on these 2 books. "Regulator Savvy" by Peter Wolfinger (Scuba Tools ) and "Scuba Regulator Maintenance and Repair" by Vance Harlowe (Airspeed Press Homepage - Books For Serious Divers ) With these 2 books and some basic mechanical skills you can learn to repair regs. These things are not rocket science. I do suggest you read both books. RS is heaver into theory and a little short on DIY where SRM&R is a little lighter on theory and heaver on DIY. I find the 2 books together do a very good job of covering all the bases and the double dose of theory they both provide give you a good understanding of how regs actually work......and I hate plumbing.

 

[mksmith713]

LeadTurn SD...that's awesome that you've learned to rebuild for your family....but I wouldn't recommend that for the average Joe who might go in half cocked and not get the job done right.
It could be more costly than they imagined.
Imagine a failure at depth.
If anyone plans on doing rebuilds on their own, please learn to do them properly

 

[CalgaryDF]

Where do you get parts to service regs by yourself? I was under the impression that only dealers and authorized repair centers could get the parts kits from the manufacturers.

FYI I have a Sherwood Maximus set.

 

[Web Monkey]

I have used my Aeris A1 reg for last 2 years for about 60 dives. I took it for servicing today and it is going to cost me about $85 (both stages + octo + parts). I do about 40 dives a year and if I follow the recommended yearly service interval, then it would cost me about $170 for 2 years (for about 80 dives total).

I saw the same reg selling for about $170 new online.

If you can buy a new reg for $170, you should probably just sell it and keep buying new.

However, my Atomic M1's are about $700 each, and have a 2 year service interval, so that would be a different story.

Terry

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

Scubapro and Aqualung make it difficult to get parts, you need to "know someone" (in an LDS), or watch ebay.

On the other end of the spectrum, Zeagle, Dive Rite, and Mares parts can be openly purchased online from dealers. The repair manuals are easily available for these brands.

The regs I own are two Zeagle Flathead VI's, two Mares MR22 Abyss, four Mares MR12 (3 Protons, 1 Voltrex)... because they are well-designed and easy to work on, parts are available without a "secret handshake", and they preform very well when tuned properly.

I'm not sure about availability of Sherwood parts. My guess is that Sherwood owners on the board could answer that.

Best wishes.

 

[herman]

From what I hear Sherwood is on the good guy list as well but I have not tried to get SW parts except for a few I got off Ebay- they were too cheap to pass up. You can get the hard to find ones from these guys. They are in Spain but the will ship to the US reasonably. I have gotten Scubapro, AL and Apex parts from them before I managed to find a closer source. Online Dive Store, Online Dive Store

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

Thanks for that link Herman! I owned and loved Scubapro and Aqualung regs in the distant past, and may need to reconsider my reluctance to buy & rebuild used Scubapro & Aqualung regs (and I even have some Scubapro tools lying around .... ).

Best wishes.

 

[Stu S.]

A maintenance-induced failure is probably a greater risk than not servicing a reg that is operable. Until mine give some indication that service is needed, I don't mess with them. I just keep them clean.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

LeadTurn SD...that's awesome that you've learned to rebuild for your family....but I wouldn't recommend that for the average Joe who might go in half cocked and not get the job done right.
It could be more costly than they imagined.
Imagine a failure at depth.
If anyone plans on doing rebuilds on their own, please learn to do them properly

Hi mksmith713,

Too late, I am as about as "average" a Joe as you could ever find; heck, I'm well below-average in any group of divers or mechanics I can think of

I do agree that you need to be very careful and do your homework, and pay strict attention to detail.

That said, I do think most "average Joe's" (and "average Jill's"!!) are fully capable of servicing their own equipment if they want to put in the effort into learning how. It does not take an extraordinary amount of skill. I'm certainly proof of that

Quick Example: Just stop and think for a moment about how many "average Joe's" are taking hard steel tools to soft brass regulators in the back of dive shops around the world each day, with minimal training & experience, and it will inspire you to do your own regulator servicing

Apologies to all the excellent & experienced professional reg techs who may read this; but you guys (the good techs) DO know that the "average Joe" techs are out there in greater numbers than they really should be. <Rant off>

Once the mystery and "black art" is removed from the topic of regulator design, function and service, then a lot of the irrational fear goes away too.

Herman referenced two great books (Regulator Savvy and Scuba Regulator Maintenance and Repair) that are just fantastic.... I've actually stated in other threads that these books are so valuable that every diver should read them, even if they never intend to service their own regs. Buy these books just so the authors will be inspired to update them in a few years!

Finally: "Imagine a failure at depth" is the ugly cousin of "It's Life Support Equipment".

I think it is actually more important to be able to fully understand the possible failure modes of both the 1st and 2nd stage, then "imagination" will not be required

It is important to understand what parts would need to fail to render the regulator totally inoperable (regs are generally pretty forgiving, and the most common hamfisted, tech-induced failure is a freeflow).

I do agree 100% that you need to have a pretty good handle on all of this before you break out the pin spanners and hex wrenches and start fiddling around.

Best wishes.

 

[rockjock3]

When paying $200-400+ for dive-rite and/or apex regs buying a new one is not an option. I have 7 first stages and 8 second stages so getting them services is also very expensive. I bought a book from Airspeedpress and learned about self-service. I built an IP gauge for about $12 from Home Depot components and use the sink method for breaking pressure. I take my regs apart about every 10-14 months and replace actually worn parts. I have used all my regs down to over 200fsw and had no problems.

I honestly don't know more than 2-4 people that have paid to have their regs serviced and didn't have them come back with problems. Parts were still loose, regs free-flowed, etc. I have never had a maintenance induced problem with my regs.

It is important to note that if you choose this method of self-service that you do need to realize this is life-sustaining equipment and as such cannot be done haphazardly. You also need to do as you should with LDS serviced gear - test it post service before taking on a really challenging or deep dive.