Why you should, or should not, service your own regulator

[Rich Keller]

One of the reasons I am told that non-certified folks should not be allowed to work on their set is because it is life support equipment.

It is not just life support equipment, it is MY LIFE support equipment and as I am ultimately responsible for my own safety I choose not to delegate that responsibility to someone else. Another reason to know how to service your own equipment is to save a dive. A second stage free flow would prevent most from making a dive even though it only requires a minor adjustment to fix.

 

[AfterDark]

You sure can, and you sure can get the sued out of you for doing so negligently and thereby proximately causing accidents/deaths. Next ill-considered comparison, please.

Not in the no fault states they can't. No fault is just that.

 

[letterboy]

So what I am seeing here is that dive shop guys just do not know what they are doing, it is all a money scam, no one does it like I do it, etc, etc etc....

On behalf of the entire dive industry - I apologize if you have had a bad experience inside of a dive shop at some point in your life.

Again,
If you want to service your own set, then more power to you (insert slow clap here). I think it is very unfair to classify all of the dive shop technicians as being bad at their jobs. I would venture to say that if all of us knew absolutely nothing then there would be a few more deaths and incidents caused by gear malfunction. Regarding every regulator being same, it is true that some of the 1st stage systems are similar. There are pistons out there as well and the second stages can vary widely. Most important - please understand your set before taking it apart.

I know that I am not the best technician in the world, and do not claim / want to be. The minute I think I am, I will stop caring and then bad things happen. What I find most interesting is that certain people speak ill of dive shops, can fix any problem, blame manufacturers for defective gear and then seem to be surprised when no one wants to help them out because no matter what they do, they will have made a mistake somehow. In the words of Sweet Brown, "aint no body got time for that"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFEoMO0pc7k

Not all Scuba shops are a scam, just like not every car repair shop is a scam. But they are out there.

When I moved to FL I had bad experiences with EVERY shop I went into to have my regulators serviced.

Granted this is South Florida and divers are a dime a dozen.

Those bad experiences have, for lack of a better wording, driven me underground.

The lack of customer service from the LDS' and the lack of going even an extra inch. Calling when regulator service is going to take longer than promised etc. (not by a day or two but weeks)

When I lived in MD I worked part time at my LDS. While they were not the straightest arrows. they didn't blatantly rip anyone off.

 

[redacted]

I don't buy the a vacation divers gear that is used a few times a year is not life support equipment(LSE). Anytime you are submerged and breathing what you are breathing from is LSE. Both a snorkel and regulator are LSE.

If I know my life depends on something, I will take more care when tinkering with it. The hungover diveshop monkey, not so much.

Granted there are some reg techs that might be worth it. I have not found any.

So, I guess when driving down the interstate, a car must be LSE?

---------- Post added January 18th, 2015 at 08:49 AM ----------

On behalf of the entire dive industry - I apologize if you have had a bad experience inside of a dive shop at some point in your life.

The real shame is that if somebody has not had a bad experience in a dive shop, they are probably not certified.

 

[Bigd2722]

On behalf of the entire dive industry - I apologize if you have had a bad experience inside of a dive shop at some point in your life.

It would be one thing if it was a bad experience. I had 7 bad experiences in 8 years with 3 different shops. I service my own gear now

 

[NC Air Hog]

It would be one thing if it was a bad experience. I had 7 bad experiences in 8 years with 3 different shops. I service my own gear now

Geez.... what in the world happened?

 

[letterboy]

Could be shops feel entitled to your business, would be my guess ;-)

 

[Aqua-Andy]

One of the reasons I am told that non-certified folks should not be allowed to work on their set is because it is life support equipment. At the same time, I can change out the brakes on my car and go right out to cause a series of accidents and deaths. What makes a bag of orings life support equipment when car parts are not?

Marketing, And the fact that they can get away with it.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

Not in the no fault states they can't. No fault is just that.

Actually, no, it's not. Generally speaking, serious injury or wrongful death actions based on another driver's negligence are usually not barred (e.g., Michigan, Hawaii, etc.). And if the negligence occurred at home in the garage rather than out on the public road, so much the better for arguing against the law's application. I'm aware of one NJ case where an uninsured motorist lost out on a wrongful death claim because as an incentive to purchase insurance they've gutted tort availability for uninsured motorists...guess you can hope your muddled brake job only takes out an uninsured driver in a state like NJ?

 

[NC Air Hog]

I don't worry about muddling a brake job because I take my car in to have that done for me.

So.... servicing our own gear. If you know what to do, then do it. If you question yourself then study more prior to servicing.