Choosing equipment, and maintenance

[Caveeagle]

Small fixes (replacing a hose) I'll do myself, big fixes go to the guy that has the work bench with the magnehelic.

I am more concerned about the how my regs are maintaining IP vs inches is res from the 2nd stage.

I have a nice magnahelic and will check my regs at rebuild and from time to time, but a 1st stage Hp seat going bad can potentially go unnoticed during a pre dive check and can really bite you in the arse if it goes full TangoUniform during a dive.

Whether you self service, or use a trusted tech, knowing how to trouble-shoot and diagnose reg problems is critical for anyone I dive with.

 

[LiteHedded]

oh, another really weirdly interesting point that I've seen from most of my tech buddies. There is a balance point where you have too many regulators to pay someone to do them for you so you DIY, but it then flops over to where you have too many of them to do and then you end up paying to have them done because you couldn't be bothered... It's a weird thing that happens. By the time that happens though, you're usually not paying full shop retail prices on reg rebuilds and get a "costco sized" rate for rebuilding them when you drop 2 dozen regulators off or the guy rebuilding them is one of your dive buddies

i drop mine off when they start to leak. so never more than 2 or 3 at a time

 

[tbone1004]

i drop mine off when they start to leak. so never more than 2 or 3 at a time

fair enough. Some of the guys I know will hoard them until they have like 6 that need to go in at once or do them all in one go on some sort of actual schedule. I have enough that I just rebuild them as they leak so usually one or two at a go. Rarely more than that so it's quite manageable.

Now that I have a bunch of Scubapros though, I may continue to farm them out though. They were a lot more finicky to rebuild than the diaphragms I'm used to and I only pay about $10/first stage for the labor to rebuild. At that price, it's not worth my time/frustration

 

[LiteHedded]

I can't afford to have 6 regs down at once. diving windows are too short these days to let your gear go to **** like that.
you'll show up on site with the bare minimum amount of working reg and another one will go and everyone showed up for nothing. if you can afford to let 6 regs be broken, i think you have too many regs...

paying someone to rebuild my regs is worth it to me, but YMMV of course

 

[rjack321]

I can't afford to have 6 regs down at once. diving windows are too short these days to let your gear go to **** like that.
you'll show up on site with the bare minimum amount of working reg and another one will go and everyone showed up for nothing. if you can afford to let 6 regs be broken, i think you have too many regs...

paying someone to rebuild my regs is worth it to me, but YMMV of course

I send mine in about 4 at a time, usually in winter when I am not doing/planning huge dives. Self-service is not worth it to me and I have a good tech with ready access to all consumable parts and other spares (like once I had a crack in the 2nd stage body which he was able to replace)

 

[Lorenzoid]

As divers that pursue more challenging dives, we are required to acquire new skill, through training as well as equipment, and maintain proficiency with both.

Is the ability to conduct all the maintance and service on your gear a determining factor in making a purchase? Who do you trust more when your life is on the line, your attention to detail, or that of a technician who just sees another regulator across his table for an hour?

And if you do maintain your own gear, where do you gain the skills to do so?

I liked the idea that HOG encourages users to service their regs. Between my wife and me, we have two sets of doubles regs and two sets of singles, meaning a total of six first stages and eight second stages. My idea was to buy all the same models so I could more efficiently service everything. I bought all the reg service tools, including that magnehelic, and took HOG's course to learn how to service. To address your question, yes, I do feel I would do a more careful job than the local dive shop (a HOG dealer), because what prompted me to take this route was at least one instance of receiving a poorly tuned reg back from servicing. But, as they say about the best laid plans, I seem to spend my precious weekend days diving and not making time to actually sit down and do a complete servicing.

 

[Germie]

With 16 regulators, it would be too expensive to bring them away. So I do it myself. I have Apeks and Scubapro. As soon as I cannot get the servicekits anymore I would sell the brand that is doing such stupid things.
Apeks is easiest to maintain. But Scubapro has a better chrome quality on its first stages. The weak points of Apeks (leaks near membrane and hp seat) I haven't seen with Scubapro. I had now leaks with 2 new Apeks DS4's after a couple of months. I do not service every 100 dives or every year, but I can do all checks myself. Before a trip I check if they are still clean inside and the innerpressure of first stage.
The second stage I rinse sometimes without the cover and membrane to clean it again (wash sand off).

 

[Compressor]

I wiah I knew how to service them. I have all SP ones and take them in once every 2 years. But I only make about 75 dives/year.

 

[kensuf]

oh, another really weirdly interesting point that I've seen from most of my tech buddies. There is a balance point where you have too many regulators to pay someone to do them for you so you DIY, but it then flops over to where you have too many of them to do and then you end up paying to have them done because you couldn't be bothered... It's a weird thing that happens. By the time that happens though, you're usually not paying full shop retail prices on reg rebuilds and get a "costco sized" rate for rebuilding them when you drop 2 dozen regulators off or the guy rebuilding them is one of your dive buddies

I have about 20 regs in my fleet right now. It's not that big of a deal to outsource the servicing. I also do little things like open the adjustment knob all the way (while depressing the purge button) in order to extend the life of the 2nd stage poppet when I'm not diving.

FWIW, DACOR and ScubaPro used to make purge button depressors that had the sole intent of releasing the knife edge from the poppet and extending the service life while storing your regs.

 

[kensuf]

Yeah, a primary set of backmount regs, a backup set of backmount regs (it's easier to just swap a full reg if one fails on site), a primary set of sidemount regs, a backup set of sidemount regs, then a dozen stage regs. Plus of course drysuit inflator, 6 rebreather regs, etc.. It adds up quick.