I cannot believe this
I help out at a LDS getting them caught up on thier reg service work. In comes a diver who drops his reg off and asks if he could get it back by a certain date as he is heading out to a tropical local for Christmas. No problem I say, the other regs in for service are caught up and waiting for customer pick up so this should not be long.
So I take the reg bag and head off into the back room to perform annual service. This guy tells me that he is good about rinsing his reg and has no problems to report on its perfromance and this is its first servicing since he owned it. I tell him I'll have it for him by day's end. Great he says and out he goes.
Once in the back room I open the reg bag and all I see is this large coiled up green ball of encrustation, even the mouth piece if you can believe that. I wish I had a picture to show you. The first stage was the size of a baseball with hoses coming out of it, I believe it's a Sherwood, can't tell what model though?
After wrestling to remove the piston and hoses, I drop the entire reg first stage into the ultrasonic cleaner and let it cook. After about 45 minutes (that's a Long time) I remove it and still spend another 30 minutes knocking and picking off more green stuff..and still to come, the two second stages.
Long story short... I finally get finished on what appears to be a Sherwood Maximus Reg first stage shiny and clean, working fine. I tested it using different second stages as release valves as the actual second stages were in the bath.
I do not think that as a service tech, it is my responsibility to clean your reg beyond general maintenance and service, not to this degree. Cleaning is a part of service work to get the reg back to original like appearance, service and performance. I should not be there beating off encrustation
Now here is the good part.
When the guy comes back he can see that I added a extra fee for the extra cleaning required to service his reg. He did not like this extra cost and argued about it. I gently explain that regs need to be rinsed after use. He claimed he does this everytime. Now when he opened the reg bag, the bag itself had green on it around the zipper and we lubed that for him right in front of his eyes, this is common. He looked down at the reg in the bag and stated that was not his reg, his reg was green in colour. I choked down my laughter and said "Yes sir that is why the extra cleaning fee was added". The shop owner collected some of the green encrustation and placed it into a plastic bag and handed it to the owner to show what came off the reg.
The guy test breathed the reg, paid the service fees and left.
During the servicing I replaced two hoses (HP and a LP). Both mouth pieces and the standard service kit parts, including the HP spindle. I was able to clean the piston as there was green on it as well, otherwise that would have been replaced. You get the idea.
Please properly rinse your equipment or be willing to pay the price. Total time of service 3.5 hours, long time for any reg set up.
I help out at a LDS getting them caught up on thier reg service work. In comes a diver who drops his reg off and asks if he could get it back by a certain date as he is heading out to a tropical local for Christmas. No problem I say, the other regs in for service are caught up and waiting for customer pick up so this should not be long.
So I take the reg bag and head off into the back room to perform annual service. This guy tells me that he is good about rinsing his reg and has no problems to report on its perfromance and this is its first servicing since he owned it. I tell him I'll have it for him by day's end. Great he says and out he goes.
Once in the back room I open the reg bag and all I see is this large coiled up green ball of encrustation, even the mouth piece if you can believe that. I wish I had a picture to show you. The first stage was the size of a baseball with hoses coming out of it, I believe it's a Sherwood, can't tell what model though?
After wrestling to remove the piston and hoses, I drop the entire reg first stage into the ultrasonic cleaner and let it cook. After about 45 minutes (that's a Long time) I remove it and still spend another 30 minutes knocking and picking off more green stuff..and still to come, the two second stages.
Long story short... I finally get finished on what appears to be a Sherwood Maximus Reg first stage shiny and clean, working fine. I tested it using different second stages as release valves as the actual second stages were in the bath.
I do not think that as a service tech, it is my responsibility to clean your reg beyond general maintenance and service, not to this degree. Cleaning is a part of service work to get the reg back to original like appearance, service and performance. I should not be there beating off encrustation
Now here is the good part.
When the guy comes back he can see that I added a extra fee for the extra cleaning required to service his reg. He did not like this extra cost and argued about it. I gently explain that regs need to be rinsed after use. He claimed he does this everytime. Now when he opened the reg bag, the bag itself had green on it around the zipper and we lubed that for him right in front of his eyes, this is common. He looked down at the reg in the bag and stated that was not his reg, his reg was green in colour. I choked down my laughter and said "Yes sir that is why the extra cleaning fee was added". The shop owner collected some of the green encrustation and placed it into a plastic bag and handed it to the owner to show what came off the reg.
The guy test breathed the reg, paid the service fees and left.
During the servicing I replaced two hoses (HP and a LP). Both mouth pieces and the standard service kit parts, including the HP spindle. I was able to clean the piston as there was green on it as well, otherwise that would have been replaced. You get the idea.
Please properly rinse your equipment or be willing to pay the price. Total time of service 3.5 hours, long time for any reg set up.
