You pay $120 for an oil change???
Service interval and new regs
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Ghetto Diver
Contributor
Guess I don't get it. We don't blink at $120.00 oil changes in a year but it is ridiculous to have life dependent equipment serviced yearly for about the same price.
Nothing fundamentally wrong with paying someone else do these tasks.
Some, like myself, have a tinkering nature. I like to understand the basics,if you will, of everything I have. I can work on my cars [will not touch automatic transmission tho], build firearms [see avatar], service and repair my regulators, etc. As I posted earlier, having an adjustable 2nd stage negates the 'set' being discussed. I know that because I have a basic understanding of what I use.
I do my own oil changes btw.....that reminds me, I do have a sh#@%load of used oil to get rid of.
Caveeagle
Contributor
Guess I don't get it. We don't blink at $120.00 oil changes in a year but it is ridiculous to have life dependent equipment serviced yearly for about the same price.
I suppose I will assume your $120'oil change is either at the BMW dealership, or maybe for an entire years worth. In any case, you are missing the point entirely.
For most divers, a total overhaul of a regulator every 12 months is totally unnecessary. This is based more on generating repeat business and dive shop traffic than any statistical wear patterns for consumable parts. Now getting your regs performance checked annually makes more sense, but that's not what seems to be generally promoted.
I would even suggest that tearing apart a well performing regulator actually increases your chances for a failure because of the inconsistency in service procedures and techition skill.
When was the last time you actually asked to see the credentials for your service tech? Or performance specs of your regs ( before & after)?
halocline
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Guess I don't get it. We don't blink at $120.00 oil changes in a year but it is ridiculous to have life dependent equipment serviced yearly for about the same price.
completely wrong comparison. Your engine actually needs the oil to be changed on a regular basis or it risks expensive damage to the engine. Your regulator does not need service anywhere near that frequently and will not cause expensive damage if you don't. If you want a car analogy, this would be comparable to replacing your spark plugs every 10,000 miles even though they are good until 50,000 miles
R
redacted
Guest
To be fair, your oil does not need to be changed on a regular (time/miles table) basis eithetr. It needs to be changed before the contaminants build up to a level where tyhey may cause engine damage. Larger ompanies may actually test the oil to determine when it should be changed. Apparenty that is effective and more efficient than simply following some usage schedule.
Regulator inspection is quite simple.
Skinsfan0260
Registered
I change my own oil for a quarter that price use top of the line synthetic. This is such a bad analogy because who in thierright mind trusts a quick lube to change thier oil and do it right. Unless you are suggesting we should all service our on regs because this too we would do a better job.
halocline
Contributor
Maybe not all of us, but poor service by a 'professional' was definitely a big factor for me in learning how to service my regulators. The issue with dive shop service techs is that there's no real standard. The certification consists of a weekend (or less!) seminar that nobody ever fails and there are no entrance prerequisites other than being sent by a dealer. So there are some dive shops with good, careful, knowledgable techs, and some with ignorant incompetent hacks. It also gets pretty expensive pretty quickly if you have several regs and are trying to keep up with the manufacturers' dumb annual service requirement.
But I'm a bit of a DIY junkie.
Skinsfan0260
Registered
I have been wanting to buy a copy Wolfinger regulator savvy or Harlow's regulator maintenance and repair, but what cost 50.00 if you are American cost 250.00 if you areally canadian. Thanks Amazon.ca. I know I'm able to buy direct but when I add the exorbitant shipping costs and customs clearing charges, thanks UPS, it ends up being the same amount. This is why I own 4 regulators it's cheaper to buy new every couple of years than to service them up here.
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