Do not wait until the last minute to get gear serviced!

[redacted]

The few that come in that haven't even been in the water since last service, I definitely agree it's not necessary. Those that get left in a salty rinse tank without the cap in place, leaving no lube in side and tons of crap to clean out....

Sure, those that do not get good user care can be a real mess. Once salt deposits and verdigris get started performance will suffer and leaks will start. But with a good soaking (6+ hours) and proper drying after SW dives, such problems are easily avoided. Then it is just a matter of the life and wear on o-rings and other soft parts which can easily be 3 to 5 years. Before I got into DIY, my first 3 professional services (all different central TX shops) resulted in regulators that performed worse than when I took them in.

 

[kelemvor]

What would you do if you took your car in to the dealer for routine service and the dealer told you it would be 1 to 2 weeks?

This situation should not be acceptable to divers or businesses.

There's a lot of other weirdness with dive shops along these lines. Seems to be standard fare for diving, but would be nails in a coffin for a business in any other industry. I'm speculating that it's a lack of strong competition but that could be way off. Maybe they've all just got that laid back beach attitude. I think I could respect that, if so.

It's definitely a unique industry that I don't fully understand. I get frustrated at stuff like this when I encounter it for the first time. Sometimes I later learn there's a good reason for the weirdness, sometimes I discover that there's not. An example is that I recently (AFTER buying almost all my gear) found that apparently haggling is standard in dive shops! Other than at a used car lot, I've never haggled on the price of a product in my life. So that means I likely overpaid a lot for the gear I have. Lesson learned.

I've digressed, and to need to get back on topic. OP is right; and IMO it's really more of an important life lesson than a diving lesson. It can be summed up in two words; "Don't procrastinate." I didn't get to use my computer on my biggest trip to date because I waited until 3 weeks before the trip to send it out for repairs when I knew there was an issue. It wasn't back from scubapro in time. Luckily for me, I was able to borrow an identical computer from a friend and didn't have to dive tables.

 

[James R]

It's sad that some people don't (can't?) take a few minutes to pay attention to the details. Tune it with a magnehelic gauge, make sure IP is stable, make sure the hoses are in the same ports they were in when the customer dropped it off (I make a map of how the customer has the hoses before I take it apart so they get it back the same way), put a bit of conditioner on the hoses, etc...it's not that hard to do a good job. I do every reg as if it were my own. It takes me a bit longer than other people, but I have never had one come back with a defect that I caused.

 

[knotical]

Someone once said the difference between man and other animals is the ability to plan ahead. But having the ability and using it are two different things. It’s not just equipment maintenance. A fairly common occurrence is the phone call on Tuesday from someone leaving for the Caribbean on Friday and wanting to get certified before they leave. Such people are so common most towns have businesses that specialize in expediting passports. And the list goes on …

This behavior isn’t going away. Businesses who learn to accommodate it will gain a competitive edge.

 

[buddhasummer]

True indeed...

Moreover, one should allow time to make a couple of dives in order to make sure that the serviced gear (regulators, mostly) has no malfunctions after the service.

Better than finding the problems when already on vacation or on liveaboard...

Sent from my myTouch 4G

Yep happened to me with a brand new reg on a liveaboard, fortunately it wasn't a dive stopper but was annoying as hell, no excuse I know better.

 

[clownfishsydney]

My wife and I do approximately 160 dives a year. We get our main regs serviced every two years (roughly). Yesterday I put them in for service as in August we are going to Scapa Flow in Scotland to dive the (deepish) WWI German wrecks. Last time we serviced them was just before we went to Chuuk Lagoon to dive the wrecks which are on average, deeper.

Our other regs (for pony bottles, oxygen and spares) only get serviced every third or forth year. Sometimes they can go more than a year without being used, so no point getting them serviced.

Although my regs are working (apparently) fine now, I know that when I get them back next week they will be much better and this will be obvious.

There is no reason to get them serviced every year. Even for "free" parts, you would be better off dollar-wise only getting serviced every second year.

As to who to get serviced by, this can be difficult. I used to use a dedicated scuba mechanic but I felt that his service dropped off and his price increased. I changed to another bloke who again only does gear servicing. He is reliable, gives our club wholesale prices (he does many dive shops as well) and his work is excellent. I will get them back less than a week after I gave them to him. However, I did check beforehand to make sure that he could do them this weekend as we are away not diving and it is the only time we will not need them for more than four days.

There is now only one dive shop near our house. The person who owns this appears to do the servicing of regs himself. He does not seem to want to employ anyone. As a result, regs put in to him can take 6 weeks or more. Hopeless.

 

[MrSam]

That's why I love my LDS. I can't walk out of there without her playing 20 questions with me (which is a good thing). "When's your tank due for hydro/vis?...when was the last time that reg was serviced...?" Heck, if she knows I'm in a bind, she'll take a look at my equipment free of charge.

 

[abyss_scuba]

This is one of the reasons divers want to have a relationship with a full time dive shop. I have nothing against independant instructors, but a full time shop usually has a technichian available where as an independent who has a "day" job can not have the same avaiability andwill get to your reg when they can squeeze you in. I do teach this as part of dive planning, so it is something every diver should bevaware of.