Yearly Reg servicing can damage them?

[Rimp]

I was at a local dive shop yesterday asking about the Apeks regs. They have lifetime on the parts if the units are serviced annually.

The saleman owned one but said he didn't service his yearly (it had been 5 years since his last service). The reason he gave was that the techs hired to do the servicing are often young kids and they use dental tools to scrape crud off the insides and to get the o-rings out. This could cause damage to the inside of the regs, especially if it occured every year the way the warranty required.

Was he spinning a line there? or is there some truth to this? The odd thing is, he only sold Apeks regs, so makes me wonder why he would want to promote people to NOT service their regs every year.. puzzling.

 

[sharkdiver00]

Rather weird comment... I spend a lot of time at my LDS and have seen the techs working on equipment. Regardless of their age, they all have been certified as techs for the particular brand of equipment and they get rid of the 'crud' by soaking them in different solutions for one to several days depending on the amount of 'crud'. I have not seen them using dental equipment or anything similar for that task.

Usually, if you don't follow the instructions for a yearly service, that great warranty will be voided.

maria

 

[RIDIVER501]

Not the case at the LDS I work for. If that is how he runs business then I wouldn't get my reg serviced there either. Find a reputable LDS with a good service staff and have them work on your gear.

 

[Ontario Diver]

"Hey, don't service your life support equipment here because we don't know how to do it properly.l"

So this is what you heard, why are you still there. Get the durn thing serviced on a regular basis compared to time/use and learn to check it to make sure that it is workig right.

 

[mer]

When I went through the Apeks seminar in this spring, this was the policy:

For the parts warranty for Seaquest (include Apeks now) regs, you must have the reg inspected every year. Typically this is just an external performance inspection and a tune of things like cracking pressure and intermediate pressure. If the tech finds something wrong at this point, then an overhaul (when everything is taken apart and some parts replaced) may be needed. If this is done every year, you get free replacement parts (from participating dealers..yada yada) every OTHER year.

The service schedule would be:
0 year - purchased
1 year - inspection
2 year - overhaul (replace parts)
3 year - inspection
4 year - overhaul.....
On even years (if you have proof of the yearly inspection), the parts are included. If you need an overhaul/replacement part on an odd year, that's out of pocket for you. Of course, you pay labor for each service.

As for this store owner, his "suggestion" seems a little weird. What he might be speaking of is that most Apeks regs (except the very top of the line) have the HP crown machined right into the body of the first stage. This means that if the HP crown is marred during service, you do have to get a (preferrably brass) pick in there to service it, you have you replace the entire first stage body. Therefore going in there every year might not be adventageous.

I dive my regs hard and only overhaul the Apeks ones every other. YMMV, Hope this helped.

 

[rescuediver009]

I would have to say that I take great offence to that. Because someone is not an old fossil, been around since the advent of scuba doesn't mean they can't do it. In fact Ithink that the younger guys are more in tune with safety and the reason to service things without the "back in my day..." comments. Warranted there are bad techs all over the place. And like Ontario Diver so accurately decribed, go elsewhere. If you notice tooling marks on the reg it means the job was not done properly. There are some o-rings that you would need half an hour to take out without a pick, so why not use one. Just do it without marking the crap out of the reg. And if you got o a place that is an authorized service centre, you shouldn't have any problems.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

At manufacturer seminars, I have seen bad techs with years of experiece and bad techs who just fell off the turnip wagon. In both cases the common denominator was a limited understanding of mechanical principles involved coupled with an unwillingness to learn (for whatever reason). Age or years of experience does not always have a lot to do with it.

I have also seen experienced techs who are superb at dissasembling and assembling and are in general good with tools but who lack the spatial skills and the other things that are needed to understand what is going on. They are great at routine overhauls but less skilled at solving problems or getting the occasisonal problem reg with an odd problem to work correctly. They are not what you could call a bad tech, but they will never be great techs.

 

[mikswi]

Its been my experience that shops use an ultrasonic cleaner to remove any "Crud".

 

[Tekdiver10]

Basically the process for cleaning a reg is:
Disassembly
Ultra sonic cleaning (45 seconds max)
Drying with compressed air
Wipe down with paper towels and Q-Tips
Any "Crud" remaining is then gently taken off with a soft wire brush
All new o-rings installed, piston wiped down and re-lubed
Reassembly
Test of intermediate pressure
And same basic process for hoses and 2nd stages, just a little different for plastic ect..
The only time I use a pick is to get small o-rings out in small places, never for scrapping.
If I have to push parts out I use chop-sticks
Of corse theres many other things involved but these are some of the basics.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Ultrasound can be bad for teflon coated springs, so I normally leave them out of the ultrasound. Plastic parts get 45-60 seconds in the ultrasonic cleaner and for metal parts I will go up to 3 min on the ultrasound and tend to prefer that over a wire brush to remove stubborn crud.

The back of an o-ring picks works well for pushing out small parts, but I like the chopstick idea. Brass o-ring picks rather than stainless steel should also be used in sensitive areas like removing HP o-rings in balanced piston regs.