Yearly maintenance

[DCBC]

I guess it comes down to risk evaluation. I open up my reg every year, but don't usually replace any parts. I've often serviced regs and wondered why I was removing perfectly good parts and replacing them. I think most techs would agree that many regs that are serviced, don't need to be; it's a money maker.

 

[redacted]

....if you'll notice my post....I'm not blindly defending the holy 'annual'...there's nothing magic about the 12 month period.....I said 'reasonable' basis......also, while your suggestion about having a back-up reg is wise.....I didn't suggest that option as the OP appears very budget-conscious, and somehow I'm not seeing the OP springing for multiple reg sets if he complains about the expense of just keeping one reg set operational.

Even for the budget conscious, two regulators may well be cheaper than one in the long run, if you feel you have to do the recommended annual service if you own just one. I always carry 2 regs on dive trips. That allows me to go 3 to 5 years between an "annual" service with no worry it may cause a problem in the middle of a trip. That also allows you to purchase high performance regs at best prices as I am not concerned with things like the MFGR warranty or free parts that are conditioned on annual service.

In fact, since my wife is also diver, I could get away with 3 regs between to 2 of us. Unfortunately, since I now do all my own servicing, there is a tendency to get carried away with stocking up on a dozen or so high quality used regulators at very attractive prices.

 

[Scared Silly]

I have taken the approach that one of my local shops takes. Checks the reg for general corrosion, the IP is correct, cracking pressure is correct, etc. I.e. is basically with specs as set by the mfg. If that is the case I do not worry about it. Otherwise strip and rebuild.

Oh yeah, the one thing that most folks forget is the HP spool for the SPG, that should also be inspected.

 

[Wormil]

....if you'll notice my post....I'm not blindly defending the holy 'annual'...there's nothing magic about the 12 month period.....I said 'reasonable' basis......also, while your suggestion about having a back-up reg is wise.....I didn't suggest that option as the OP appears very budget-conscious, and somehow I'm not seeing the OP springing for multiple reg sets if he complains about the expense of just keeping one reg set operational.

I have three sets of regs. I simply don't like spending unnecessarily or being scammed.I have other stuff I'd like to buy instead.

 

[I Dive]

Yeah. Good job 300bar! YTMND.

I'm hearing about people who don't bother with the yearly fixing and get 10 years out of regs before they degrade.

This is like anything else. If you are determined to find a reason to justify not doing the annual maintenance, you will find one. In this case, you apparently found some people who got quite a bit of life out of their reg without the maintenance. Yipee! Good for you! You found someone to say what you wanted to hear! On the other side, manufacturers and dive shops will come up with stories of diving accidents that were preventable if gear was properly serviced. Yay! Good for you! You are saying something that benefits your business!!!

Whether or not you service your gear, and how you have it serviced, is totally up to you. It's your life support. I've never heard of the SCUBA police condemnng gear that wasn't maintained, nor have I ever heard of a diver having his annual maintenance records checked as he stepped on the dive boat. Personally, I recommend you either find a shop you trust and have them do it annually or you take some courses to learn how to do it yourself. Either way, I am in favor of the annual maintenance. The shop I take mine to for maintenance is a shop I trust and, from my perspective, the day I am too cheap to have my gear maintained is the day I should give up diving. This is not a cheap sport but take the cost of the annual maintenance and divide it by the number of dives you typically do in a year. Fanatical divers are probably paying less than $1 per dive for annual maintenance and casual divers probably aren't paying more than $6 per dive. The high end of that is less than the cost a tank fill at many shops...

 

[halocline]

And, it is your life support, how much are you worth?

Ahh, the classic line. If you don't work in a dive shop, you should!

 

[halocline]

...not sure that's a valid statistical sampling......obviously you'e going to be hearing about the ones who survive never servicing their gear...the problem is, you DON'T from the ones who tried to do that and DIDN'T make it!

Actually, if someone died from a reg failure, I'm absolutely sure it would make big news here and elsewhere. Do you have any examples of any person who has died as a direct result of not servicing his/her regulator?

How about safe diving practices like the buddy system, use of alternate air sources, training to deal with emergencies, etc? You think any of that might play into diver safety? Of course it's a little harder to use to sell gear....

 

[Scott L]

.....if you really couldn't care less about having a nice, high-performance reg, and are just fine with a relatively disposable, cheapie one...then it may make more sense to trash/trade it than service it. (although I still stand by my prior post about my pet-peeve on such 'free-loading' divers shifting their gear failure costs onto everyone else). However, if you like having very nice high-performance regs, then the cost of servicing represents a much lower percentage of the purchase price, and it makes more financial sense to service those.

First, are you evelwormil's surrogate or did you hijack his thread with annoying posts on your own initiative? The six regulators I utilize (Scuba Pro, Apex) are the top of the line models sans titanium offerings. Just for the record, I send in my regulators for servicing every two years with the exception of my loaner rig which goes in for servicing every year. I have been called many names but 'free-loader' is not one of them. I am frequently the diver who is reaching into my well stocked tool kit on dives for other divers without complaint. I have been diving since 1983 and have not witnessed divers being a burden regarding their regulators with the exception of O-rings which are extremely inexpensive. If a diver has a significant regulator issue he/she simply does not dive that day. How is that being a burden? Ironically, if a diver is having major regulator issues on dive day it probally just got back from servicing. This is a discussion board. Preach somewhere else...

 

[Scott L]

Service of gear in one way for the shops to make money, especially in a bad economy.

Does keep the regs in warranty, which should have covered the cost of the parts, but not the labor.

And, it is your life support, how much are you worth?

Well, which is it? A unjustifiable revenue source for dive shops and manufactures or a legitimate time schedule for servicing?

 

[scubafanatic]

Actually, if someone died from a reg failure, I'm absolutely sure it would make big news here and elsewhere. Do you have any examples of any person who has died as a direct result of not servicing his/her regulator?

How about safe diving practices like the buddy system, use of alternate air sources, training to deal with emergencies, etc? You think any of that might play into diver safety? Of course it's a little harder to use to sell gear....

......well, as a reasonably serious/well-read diver, I'll share a few resources of places that have had plenty of such examples:

scubadiving.com (see Training: Lessions for life section)
Alert Diver (DAN's publication)
Undercurrent Magazine