In prep for a trip I found a reg that was free flowing in a pool dive. It was an Oceanic Delta 3 with octo. I am mechanically inclined and have serviced my regs in the past although not this one. Since this was my sons reg and he was lending it to a buddy I wanted it to be handled by a professional. I took it in to the LDS two months prior our Florida dive trip. After a month I inquired as to the status. It wasnt ready. They asked when I absolutely needed it. They then had it for 2 more weeks and just before my trip I picked it up.
On the first drift dive in West Palm Beach Florida the reg was still free flowing. I had the LDS in Florida check it out that night. He detuned the second stage and the octo began free flowing. He checked the IP and found it was at 180 psi. He tried adjusting it to the normal operating range of 125-135 psi but it kept creeping up. The reg was taken out of service and dropped off the next day to the shop in the Keys (next leg of our trip). They replaced the high pressure seat in four hours. Everything worked fine.
I went back to my LDS in Maryland and asked them to reimburse me the labor $28 to have the HP seat replaced. They said they did not replace that part and could not stand behind it.
I was astonished to be told that the $64 that I paid to have a first, second, octo and battery service to the computer only includes replacing o-rings, battery and cleaning as the normal part of service. I was told by the owner that I could not afford to have the soft parts replaced as it was to expensive. This was an obvious lie as I buy and carry spare kits when I travel to remote locations. The tech and the owner only replace parts that cause it to fail their bench test. The fact that a deep irregular oval grove in the seat was dismissed as they all have that. Further I was told that I probably turned on my tank to fast causing the high pressure seat to leak.
The owner then took me into his service area and said he had a $4000 air bench and told me his tech never had a problem in 14 years. I was not impressed.
If my car tires get down to 1/16 of an inch I buy new tires. I guess, According to the LDSs way of thinking I should not replace the tires until after a blowout, or the HP seat until after it fails, possibly while Im in a wreck at 100 ft.
I looked up on the Oceanic web site and found the regulator service consisted of replacing replaceable parts and cleaning and inspection of non-replaceable parts (sounds like a lawyer wrote it rather than a tech). Needless to say replaceable parts to me includes the soft seats of all the valves, filters as well as o-rings.
My sense is to avoid this dive shop. This seems to me to be a pretty bad policy for a LDS. Is this what the manufacturers recommend? I am assuming something is in error? LDS professional? Proficient? Soft parts only if they fail? Is this typical? Are my expectations to high?
On the first drift dive in West Palm Beach Florida the reg was still free flowing. I had the LDS in Florida check it out that night. He detuned the second stage and the octo began free flowing. He checked the IP and found it was at 180 psi. He tried adjusting it to the normal operating range of 125-135 psi but it kept creeping up. The reg was taken out of service and dropped off the next day to the shop in the Keys (next leg of our trip). They replaced the high pressure seat in four hours. Everything worked fine.
I went back to my LDS in Maryland and asked them to reimburse me the labor $28 to have the HP seat replaced. They said they did not replace that part and could not stand behind it.
I was astonished to be told that the $64 that I paid to have a first, second, octo and battery service to the computer only includes replacing o-rings, battery and cleaning as the normal part of service. I was told by the owner that I could not afford to have the soft parts replaced as it was to expensive. This was an obvious lie as I buy and carry spare kits when I travel to remote locations. The tech and the owner only replace parts that cause it to fail their bench test. The fact that a deep irregular oval grove in the seat was dismissed as they all have that. Further I was told that I probably turned on my tank to fast causing the high pressure seat to leak.
The owner then took me into his service area and said he had a $4000 air bench and told me his tech never had a problem in 14 years. I was not impressed.
If my car tires get down to 1/16 of an inch I buy new tires. I guess, According to the LDSs way of thinking I should not replace the tires until after a blowout, or the HP seat until after it fails, possibly while Im in a wreck at 100 ft.
I looked up on the Oceanic web site and found the regulator service consisted of replacing replaceable parts and cleaning and inspection of non-replaceable parts (sounds like a lawyer wrote it rather than a tech). Needless to say replaceable parts to me includes the soft seats of all the valves, filters as well as o-rings.
My sense is to avoid this dive shop. This seems to me to be a pretty bad policy for a LDS. Is this what the manufacturers recommend? I am assuming something is in error? LDS professional? Proficient? Soft parts only if they fail? Is this typical? Are my expectations to high?
