How long have you gone without servicing?

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

So I am wondering how long have you taken your regulator without servicing? What happened? I’d like to dedicate a dive rite regulator to this experiment and take it for test diving once a month. Has anyone done such test before?

 

[Mark IV]

I'm sketchy on the details (been a lot of years), but I know I went several years and somewhere around 1500 dives on a Sherwood Oasis 2. It was still running fine when I finally dropped it off with Javier at Cozumel Scuba Repair.

 

[shurite7]

When I lived in the tropics I went 600 dives, in less than a year, without servicing my reg. After it was serviced (I didn't know how to service at them time) I noticed a significant difference in the performance. When I left the island I went 8 years without serving it, averaging around 50 dives a year with it. By this time I had learned how to service regs. There was one significant issue this time, there was a grain of sand inside the DIN retainer which scraped the inside of the reg. The retainer had to be replaced.

The above is simply one example and is not indicative to all regulators. Now that I have been on both ends (non-servicing with lots of diving and servicing regs) I highly recommend good maintenance and regular servicing.

 

[Bob DBF]

My best guess, I went a lot of years without a logbook, is 15 years and over 1000 dives on a 1980 Sherwood Magnum. It stopped its trail of bubbles, although it still ran perfectly, so I had it rebuilt, since I was told the parts were no longer being made to solve that issue, I used it for a few more years and got a new Sherwood. I put it back in service when I bought a pony bottle.

To be fair, I always did my own work on second stages, so technically the second was cleaned, serviced, and adjusted as I found necessary. But the first ran, and runs now, flawlessly without intervention. Their environmental sealing technique is great.

 

[tbone1004]

So I am wondering how long have you taken your regulator without servicing? What happened? I’d like to dedicate a dive rite regulator to this experiment and take it for test diving once a month. Has anyone done such test before?

no point. There are several HOG prototype regulators at Cave Adventurers that have several thousand dives on them and haven't been touched since the factory built them...
You'll be waiting for a long time to get any meaningful data on it. The data also only applies to that specific regulator with that specific lot of HP seat.

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

So what type of experimentation goes into brands stating requirements like 2 years, 300 dives or you lose free parts for life etc. what have they done to their regs to come up with those requirements?

 

[Aloha Joe]

Probably not much. It’s what they ask you to do to guarantee performance. It’s more likely based on o-ring material property specifications than testing. In other words, o-rings typically start to lose elasticity at some point in time so 2 years is a conservative estimate of how long you can go until that happens (or until corrosion builds up or whatever.)

This is based on my experience as a mechanical design engineer (including pressure sealing components) and not based on my own personal scuba experience.

I went 2.5 years and maybe 200 dives before finally servicing first stage. Second stages are fun to mess around with so they’re cleaned more often.

 

[RyanT]

what have they done to their regs to come up with those requirements?

Marketing. Back in the day it was a yearly requirement, but I think folks started getting wise to the lack of necessity of yearly service, so the manufactures went to two years.

 

[txgoose]

Lawyers say some number of years. (They really do have to pick some service interval. They can't sit in a court and tell a judge that they didn't think regs needed any maintenance.) Dive shops say every year. As RyanT said, marketing tells them customers are getting leary of every year. Hey look, two years it is. I have a Deep6 DGX model first that is a couple of years old now. I have one conshelf first and one conshelf second that I rebuilt almost three years ago. My other regs have been rebuilt more often, mainly because I simply want more practice. None of them because a performance issue arose.

 

[tbone1004]

So what type of experimentation goes into brands stating requirements like 2 years, 300 dives or you lose free parts for life etc. what have they done to their regs to come up with those requirements?

2 years isn't much to check, but likely nothing. If you're trying to find out when they would age to failure, you'll be waiting a LOT longer than that. Hell, one of my parents Dacor regs that they purchased in the 80's and haven't serviced since 1993, is still locking up just fine... I'm sure guys like @herman @Luis H @couv and @Bryan@Vintage Double Hose have opened up regs that are 30+yrs old that still worked fine on their last service since they're big into vintage regs.