9 months since last dive, get reg. serviced or not?

Hey everyone. It's been a while since my last dive, last October actually. I know, bad diver (slap on the wrist). It's relatively new equipment, maybe a year and a half old, a dozen dives on them. Should I get the reg. serviced prior to diving again? The last dive I did was in fresh water. Thanks for your help.

Mel

I would do my own test and service only if it revealed a problem. If you have an IP guage, I'd start with that. Then I would fill the sink and check cracking pressure. Then off to a conservative dive in a pool before a more serious open water dive. If you can't do the IP & cracking pressure checks yourself, you probably should pay a visit to your LDS. But have them do the simple checks which should be less than $20.00 (some might do it for free) before you commit to a full service.

But the DI (dive industry) solution is: service annually.

To service a reg yearly in NZ. Not that it is always done, but when a reg hasn't been used in a while, it is worthwhile, just for peace of mind, to get it serviced, or at least checked out. It is amazing how often irregularly used gear fails when used again. I have seen it in regs, BC's and o'rings on tanks, which can dry out and lose integrity. It may fail and not be life threatening, but it can be dive ending, which can be real inconvenient and expensive if you are on a dive adventure and have no spare parts. Your choice, but I would get it checked. Small cost for large peace of mind.
The better you look after your gear, the longer it will last.
Cheer Big Ears,
The Gasman

....But I would at least have it inspected.

I was given a 10 year old USDivers 1st and 2nd stage reg that had never been under water! I planned to use it for pony/stage bottle. Since it had never been used, the LDS owner said he would do the basic checks (included taking it apart and inspecting it) for $20 and if all the seals were good, he wouldn't automatically do a rebuild. As far as I'm concerned - the $20 was cheap assurance that I had a good reg.

It was just a few months ago that I read a sad tale in a dive magazine (DAN I think or maybe SCUBA) about just this situation. It went like this.

Diver had his equipment serviced, dove maybe once or twice after that, then no diving for a while (about a year). Friend recommend annual service before diving again. He said no need, had it done and only did one or two dives. Note the word annual is a fancy way of saying 12 months not number of dives.

Recommed every 12 months or 50 dives which ever comes FIRST.

But I digress from the story. A drop of water had entered the first stage causing rust. Have you looked at the hole in a first stage? it is a pin hole. So during the dive the buddy noticed some bubbles from the first stage not many at first, and diver acting funny. Got deeper and first stage started to really give off bubbles. Diver when crazy and shoved his buddy who was trying to give him ari away and swam for the bottom. He DIED of course. Post mortom, rust was partially blocking the hole in the first stage so he was not getting enough air. Overbreathed his regulator as a result and went nuts with lack of oxeygen. Rubber gasket in first stage was also being destroyed by working against the rust and it broke giving off all the bubbles.

So it is up to you. After all, what is the worst that can happen? Death comes to us all eventually anyway and you will save yourself a few bucks. But man are funerals expensive.;-0

I am yet to see a regulator made out of any type of metal that can rust.
What probably happened is a flake of rust from a poorly maintained steel tank worked its way into the regulator.
I fill my own tanks. I have seen too many shops take a driping wet tank and hook up a filler hose and blow any water that may be in the valve orfice into the tank. Do this enough times and you end up with enough water to cause a pile of rust particles in the tank.

Captain

Regardless of whether or not a drop of water could cause rust or not, the point here is that there are risks associated with not having your gear serviced regularly.

Every time you go underwater, you are going into an alien environment, and you are, whether or not you realize it, on life support equipment. Given that a human being cannot survive for more than a couple of minutes in this environment, isn't it wise to take the safe route, even if it means spending a few extra bucks?