The pros and cons of rebuilding your own regulators...

[Genesis]

Once again a no-nonsense approach to Reg servicing. He's right on all accounts, there's NO LDS tech that would spend that much time, they couldn't. No that that is neccessarily a bad thing, but the bottom line is, you do more.

Because its my butt at 100'.

While a tech may be very qualified and very good, the simple fact of the matter is that no tech is going to take my place at 100' and die for me if he screws up.

Since I know the price of a mistake, I also am able to calibrate the amount of effort I will undertake to avoid that mistake, and the amount of verification that I believe is reasonable in pursuit of not making a mistake.

For instance, I am willing to tolerate some IP creep in the first stage that feeds my O2 analyzer. Why? Its never dove. It has a metering orifice on it that means it is never operated into a "dead head" - that is, a closed second stage - because the metering orifice is always bleeding gas for the analyzer to analyze. As such the "creep" never actually happens, because the stage is never called upon to actually lock up gas-tight against primary pressure.

Also, if it fails, it will do so in my garage while analyzing gas. That is hardly catastrophic and is certainly not dangerous to anyone's health. If it locks up I simply need to fix it. If it freeflows radically it could blow up the LP hose, which will be very annoying, but its unlikely to do any real damage other than cause me to need to launder my underwear.

This calibration of risk and care in execution is particularly important if you're going to do things that are not quite "by the book", although I will note that an awful lot of the book seems to get changed without prior notice even by the so-called "pros" - witness how many different seats SP has come out with for the same reg over time, or their nearly-constant tinkering with O-ring compounds and such in their rebuild kits and service info.

How many of those regs are out there with a "superseded" part or three in them? I bet that the number is awfully high....

One of the problems with "generic shop work" is that an awfully large number of people take really poor care of their gear. It gets abused, not to put too fine a point on it. Its not rinsed well after use, is put away wet, is not overhauled when it should be, people don't pay attention to the fact that there's "just a little leak" coming from their first stage somewhere, etc.

The "manufacturers official way" has to deal with this, and still make something that if it fails will do so in a way that won't completely hose the user.

The "personal responsibility" way has none of those problems. If my first stage is leaking, I fix it. If its breathing funny or making funny noises, I fix it. If I get salt water in it by accident, I tear it down and fix it. It always gets rinsed in fresh water. I don't blow water up the second-stage and back into the first. I tear it down on more frequent intervals than "officially" recommended - after all, the O-rings to do a "quick service" cost me a whole fifty cents or so - so why not? In short, I take care of it.

All of this conspires to make me an uncommon user, and therefore not subject to the "severe service" that the ordinary recommendations must tolerate.

 

[Dyno Bill]

OK gang, I give. I am now a believer that everyone should in fact do all of their own maintenance and repairs. I was in error to believe that having some type of organized training or experiance was perhaps at least a good idea but I was incorrect. Sorry for any inconvenience.
Bill

 

[RichLockyer]

Genesis once bubbled...
unlikely to do any real damage other than cause me to need to launder my underwear.

I know that feeling.
I lost an HP hose the very first time I connected my R17 to the flow restrictor.

I thought I'd blown the $70 sensor.

Sounded like a .22 firing.

 

[RichLockyer]

Dyno Bill once bubbled...
I was in error to believe that having some type of organized training or experiance was perhaps at least a good idea but I was incorrect.

It is an excellent idea, but the problem is that very few techs take as much care as they are trained to do... same as many divers do not follow their training.
Out of the maybe 20 techs that I've chatted with, there are two (besides myself) that I trust with my gear.

As far as experience, who would be better suited to work on my Apeks regs... the guy who works on ONLY Apeks regs and services 8 per year plus monthly tuneups, or the guy who services all makes of regs and services 8 Apeks regs per year, but dives Mares?

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I think training is a neccesary ingredient for doing your own regs. I just don't happen to think that this always has to involve a full fledged training course from the manufactuer. (not that I would not love to attend a training if Scubapro would let ...) The other thing to consider that most tech training is very short, cursory and fast paced. It is not comprehensive and much of it still ends up being on the job training.

I work on Scubapro Mk3, Mk 10, Mk 10 Plus, MK 15, Mk20, and Mk25 first stages and on High Performance, Adjustable, Balanced Adjustable, G250 and D400 second stages. This is because these are what I have owned and acquired over the years and with each new addition I have sought the information and techniques needed to work on them properly. This has not always been easy as Scubapro is not exactly open with tech manuals and tech bulletins and very few techs are interested in imparting any wisdom to assist a diver in maintaining their own equipment.

But at this point, I am very good at working on the equipment I own and am very familiar with the subtle techniques and adjustments that make them perform better while diving.

In contrast, many techs work on several brands and models and really know very little about an individual reg other than the basics in the tech manual. The tech I know and dive with works on Dacor, Seaquest, Sherwood/Genesis, Tusa, US Divers/Aqualung and Scubapro regs. He sees relatively few Scubapro regs a year and readily admits I know them better than he does and am able to do better service work on my own regs than he would be capable of providing. I also know exactly who will be breathing the reg and who will be dealing with the cosequences if the work is not done properly. It's a hell of an incentive to do quality work.

I think knowing and understanding exactly how your regs work gives you a better understanding of what is going on, what could fail and what can aggravate a particular diving situation to the point of precipitating a failure. I think that level of knowledge makes you a safer diver.

 

[Knavey]

Just found manuals for my primary regs (Sherwood Oasis) and now I just have to find them for my octo+.

Then I will find a good used set to rip into to get some experience with rebuilding them before I tear into the ones I dive with.

 

[mrducks]

i dive and re-build my posiedon odins myself because:
1) been trained
2) have my own manuals , test bench, parts kits, and tools.
3) do not trust dive shops
4) not willing 2 pay over 100 bucks 4 a rebuild.
5) cave dive every so often and do not want to rely on half-azzed repair work.

 

[tinoty]

Dear Joens

Jolly good show. I have enjoyed every word and argument that you have posted so far. Also read those who answered you.
Your logic is sound.

So (rekindle an old flame), torque not important as it is not taught while at tech school. Does this indicate that these courses lack some detail, or that they are just too short for all the information needed. Like learning to dive in 2 days - as the trend are these days.

Why does someone need to get hurt before the lack of education is addressed. As for me and my gear, due to every "local" dive shop (100 mile radius) messing up service, I will do it myself and know it works.

 

[bertiebasset]

Hi I agree with you completely I torque bolts from m6 right up to m36 every day I fix light rail vehicles we have to sign every bolt and date with paperwork I also service my regs now because the cost is 100 euros for a few orings ? I try to remove over torqued bolts on a daily basis and its a pain and a shame and yes all my torque keys are calibrated every year with papers thanks again to putting this its life support bull to bed regards Robert

 

[Kharon]

I do stress WITH PROPER TRAINING. I don't advocate just tearing one down to see how it works but if you have someone to show you how to do it or you take the class then go for it but test it throughly before you depend on it.

Chad

Need to have someone show me????? Nahh. I've got the service manuals for my (very simple Cressi) regs. It just ain't rocket science. I'm not saying everyone is capable of doing it (there are also tons of people diving that have no business underwater) or that it's a good idea on every reg (some are possibly too complex). But for someone reasonably handy it's pretty straight forward if you have the manual. It's usually much harder finding where you can get the service kit than it is to do the work.