"disposable regulators" vs servicing?

[Thunder Struck]

Are you saying you saw the Virgin Mary in the diaphragm?

I was gonna go with Yoda.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

After paying for recent (and a couple in the past) service cycles on my 12 year old Atomic Z2x regulators...

Well, after the parts and labor costs (~$450 for my wife's and mine's), I am considering just buying brand new DGX Gears XTRA Streamlines OW reg packages (that include new hoses for $549) every 3 years and selling the old regs every 3 years on EBay . Anyone else taken this approach rather than paying for servicing? I'm having a hard time seeing how this isn't a better route honestly.

Why are you buying new hoses for your regulator every time it's serviced? I have hoses that are 50+ years old, and still working fine. The new braided hoses probably are the ones being replaced, so replace them with the older style nylon-coated hoses that will last as long as the regulator.

SeaRat

 

[lowwall]

Why are you buying new hoses for your regulator every time it's serviced? I have hoses that are 50+ years old, and still working fine. The new braided hoses probably are the ones being replaced, so replace them with the older style nylon-coated hoses that will last as long as the regulator.

SeaRat

Read the whole sentence. The OP was asking about servicing his regs versus buying an entire new set. The new hoses came with the new regs, not with the serviced regs.

 

[Pressurehead]

It astounds me how many folks will express they are too frightened to service their own life-safety gear yet blindly trust someone, often an anonymous someone, to service that gear.

It is more astounding that a guy I know can pull down and put back together a Chev 350 long Block, it is a work or art.
The a four-barrel carburetor alone would have me buggered.

And sends his scuba piston regulator off to someone he does not know to service.

 

[Alex Ouroboros]

Someone on another thread made the point that if you can assemble ikea furniture after a bottle of wine, you can service regs.

Maybe half a bottle.

Also, there’s an element of care in removing o rings without scratching the metal. We saw some horror stories of the hamhandedness of professional servicers (I.e., took a seminar at DEMA). I’d rather service my own and know that I was meticulous about pick technique and torque specs.

heard these stories I’ve lived them! I have a few sets of Poseidon xstreams and have had them serviced by 3!! Different dive centres,, over the last 5-6years and at no point after the initial servicing have all sets worked correctly until this year when I did them myself, when I also discovered internal parts missing in more than 1 first stage and lack of evidence of any form of full service,
The cruelest part of all of it was how easy they were to do by myself…after hearing all the bleating of how difficult it was by approved service technicians..

 

[mcohen1021]

After paying for recent (and a couple in the past) service cycles on my 12 year old Atomic Z2x regulators...

Well, after the parts and labor costs (~$450 for my wife's and mine's), I am considering just buying brand new DGX Gears XTRA Streamlines OW reg packages (that include new hoses for $549) every 3 years and selling the old regs every 3 years on EBay . Anyone else taken this approach rather than paying for servicing? I'm having a hard time seeing how this isn't a better route honestly.

I've thought l about this for years... if I got 50% back on the regular to be used ona new one, saved the $150 on the servicing it always sends to cost, id consider it a win

 

[Bigbella]

heard these stories I’ve lived them! I have a few sets of Poseidon xstreams and have had them serviced by 3!! Different dive centres,, over the last 5-6years and at no point after the initial servicing have all sets worked correctly until this year when I did them myself, when I also discovered internal parts missing in more than 1 first stage and lack of evidence of any form of full service,
The cruelest part of all of it was how easy they were to do by myself…after hearing all the bleating of how difficult it was by approved service technicians..

Yeah, and you haven't looked back.

Congratulations!

For whatever reason, Poseidon gets absolute scheiß treatment by many techs, which I still cannot understand. I have always found them straightforward.

Last year alone, I "re-serviced" two Cyklon 5000s (whose earlier rebuilds, through the post, ran a client about US 175.00!), both of which were missing parts, including an exhalation diaphragm on one; another, with a missing o-ring on the second stage valve seat; an improperly installed diaphragm; and even a missing o-ring on one of the LP hoses, where it connected to the second stage.

The IP wasn't even in the ballpark -- couldn't have been with those obvious problems. No one bothered to actually test them on a bench; they couldn't have, in the state they were in; and the leaks were obvious within seconds.

I wrote up a detailed invoice, listing the various missing parts, along with photographs of filthy components that had obviously not been cleaned, though were claimed to have been; and the client was, at least, partially refunded, I was later told.

It wasn't enough that they were poorly-serviced; the regulators were absolutely useless in that state and a hazard, for want of about 12.00 in parts . . .

 

[Fibonacci]

The alternative mindset here with Poseidon is due to all the horror stories of the expense and difficulty in getting them serviced people simply never do!
Dive them till they stop working and sell on eBay wanting top dollar because of the Poseidon cachet.
4 out of 5 regs with the first stage integral OPV had the plunger and spring locked into a solid mass of verdigris and salt deposits.
Hammering in a Torx bit got them out OK and these parts are readily available as spares but it’s one of the best indicators of how well a Poseidon reg has been looked after!

 

[Bigbella]

The alternative mindset here with Poseidon is due to all the horror stories of the expense and difficulty in getting them serviced people simply never do!

As an experiment, I have one of my Cyklon 300s that I use as a pony and as part of my bare bones diving kit, that I purposely haven’t serviced since 2016.

Its IP remains spot-on and solid at the current 11.5 bar (still can’t believe that the 300 series was once set at 13); it breathes beautifully, and I religiously soak the pressurized regulators, for hours after every dive.

We’ll see if I can reach a lazy decade without cracking it open . . .

 

[Thunder Struck]

It is more astounding that a guy I know can pull down and put back together a Chev 350 long Block, it is a work or art.
The a four-barrel carburetor alone would have me buggered.

And sends his scuba piston regulator off to someone he does not know to service.

Because regulator parts are too small for the ugga-dugga gun?