Mares Warranty Questions

[Kohanbash]

I purchased a Mares 12S Regulator (First stage, second stage, SPG, and safe second are all Mares) while on vacation.

1. Do I need to bring it in for service every year, every other year, or some other interval to keep the warranty intact? (I know yearly reg service is industry recommended)

2. My LDS is listed as an authorized Mares dealer on the Mares website, But not under authorized services section. If they do the yearly service does it count for the warranty? Can they get the parts for the warrantied service items if needed?

Thanks

 

[Kohanbash]

Bump.

 

[zoranb]

The service interval in Mares regulators is determined by the type of poppet-valve assembly used in the 1st stage. If the poppet is either the old rubber type, or the newer Tri-material type, the regulator should be serviced EVERY year or every 100 dives.

If the poppet is the new ACT type, the regulator should be serviced every TWO (2) years or 200 dives.

How can you know which poppet you have in your regulator? - You can't.
Without taking the 1st stage apart, which I don't recommend.

All the new regulators (since SEP 2015) that have the X designator (i.e. 15X) come with the new ACT poppet already installed. All the older models that don't have the X designator (i.e. 12S) originally shipped with the older tri-material valve, BUT those could have been upgraded with the ACT upgrade kit during a previous service. If the shop where you service your regulator did not tell you that they installed the new ACT poppet, they either

1. didn’t
   
2. did, but decided not to tell you because they:
   a) are not aware of the difference
   b) are aware of the difference but prefer you bring your regulator in for service every year anyway

If your shop gives you back old parts after the service you can check to see what type of poppet was previously in the 1st stage (but you still don’t know what type of poppet has been installed; could be either older Tri-material (1 year/100 dives) or newer ACT (2 years/200 dives)). Ask your service shop. If they don’t know what you’re talking about, find a licensed Mares Lab shop.