servicing own gear

In article <41353a49$1_2@news.chariot.net.au>, Robert Migliorelli
<miga@vic.chariot.net.au> wrote:

€ does anyone know of a site or where i can get information on servicing my
€ own mares dive gear (regs). i dont want to bring it to the local dive center
€ anymore because hes a pirate and charges way to much . i do relize that this
€ will void the warranty but i can live with that. thankyou
€
€

http://airspeedpress.com/

http://www.scubatools.com/RegSavvy.html

"Robert Migliorelli" <miga@vic.chariot.net.au> wrote in message
news:41353a49$1_2@news.chariot.net.au...
> does anyone know of a site or where i can get information on servicing my
> own mares dive gear (regs). i dont want to bring it to the local dive
center
> anymore because hes a pirate and charges way to much . i do relize that
this
> will void the warranty but i can live with that. thankyou
>

Your local dive shop should charge about $50 an hour in order to make a
reasonable profit on the labor portion of your regulator service. A good
job should take about 2 1/2 hours to perform. The parts should be about $30
to $50. What is he charging you? Most dive shops do not charge nearly what
they should because of competitive pressure. That is why so many are going
out of business.

In order to learn to service your own regulators, you should attend a
regulator technician class. This should entail two or three days of
intensive training. You will also need to have the maintenance manuals for
your regulators and be on the mailing list for service updates, service
advisories, etc. Do not get me wrong, I would not let anyone else work on
my regulators but me. Not because I think I will save money - I would
gladly pay someone else just to save myself the trouble. I just do not
trust someone else with my life support equipment. Unless you have
extensive experience with servicing pneumatic devices, however, I think it
would be foolish to risk doing this yourself.
--


Safe diving,

Dale Bennett
Captain Dale's, Inc.
Enterprise Marine, Inc., Dive Charters

"Robert Migliorelli" <miga@vic.chariot.net.au> wrote in message
news:41353a49$1_2@news.chariot.net.au...
> does anyone know of a site or where i can get information on servicing my
> own mares dive gear (regs). i dont want to bring it to the local dive
center
> anymore because hes a pirate and charges way to much . i do relize that
this
> will void the warranty but i can live with that. thankyou
>
>
There is also the issue of getting the parts. The manufacturer will not
sell to you directly and no dive shop owner in his right mind will sell them
to you either. His liability and the liability of the manufacturer, if you
screw up, is huge. Not only is he exposed to product liability but he will
also lose his distributorship. It is just not worth the few dollars for
parts sale.


--


Safe diving,

Dale Bennett
Captain Dale's, Inc.
Enterprise Marine, Inc., Dive Charters

> There is also the issue of getting the parts. The manufacturer will not
> sell to you directly and no dive shop owner in his right mind will sell
them
> to you either. His liability and the liability of the manufacturer, if
you
> screw up, is huge. Not only is he exposed to product liability but he
will
> also lose his distributorship. It is just not worth the few dollars for
> parts sale.
>
> Safe diving,
>
> Dale Bennett
> Captain Dale's, Inc.
> Enterprise Marine, Inc., Dive Charters
>
Personally the issue of the 'closed shop's in scuba regulator & equipment
servicing is a sick joke and makes my blood boil.

All the crap that the scuba industry say to justify their stance is a lot of
lies.

The standard diaphragm based 1st stage and balance (or unbalanced)
second-stage are quite simple pressure reducing valves, and with a little
common-sense, the correct tools and a little training, most divers could be
shown how to look after their equipment.

For those with a single regulator (1 first stage & 2 second stages) it may
be uneconomic to invest in an ultrasonic cleaner, IP gauge, the correct
tools etc, however for someone like myself with nine regs, than it pays for
itself in about 2 years. It also means that if anything happens I can be
self-reliant.

The industry goes on about how it is a 'life sustaining' piece of kit &
incorrect set-up may cause injury or death, however there has never been an
issue with anyone, untrained, not even a qualified driver or age limited, to
changing the brake parts or steering on a truck, SUV (small truck), or
Ferrari and killing LOTS of people!

There is NO law stopping home servicing, only the illegal practice that is
prevalent in the SCUBA worlds and the mystifying of the technicians job.

When some of us techie divers in the UK (most of us are already servicing
our regs) all using Apeks regulators, wanted to pay to take the same course
offered to shop technicians we were refused! Do they think that just
because we don't work in a dive shop that we're unable to use a spanner or
Allen key? No, it's so that only their dealers can make money.

IMNSHO the time taken to strip & re-build a 1st sate and 2nd stage regulator
set-up (assuming that no major parts need replacing) should be less than 1
hour, excluding the time in the ultrasonic cleaner 9at which time the techie
could be doing something else). A 1st sage service kit for Apeks diaphragm
regs is about £9 to £13 ($15 to $20) and a second stage kit about £6 or $10,
so a service on a normal reg for single-tank diving should be no more than:

1 x £12 + 2 x £6 + sundry cleaning agents & use of tools / ultrasonic
cleaner @ £6 + 1 hour labour @ £30 total = £60.

On Thu, 2 Sep 2004 05:56:06 +1000, "Robert Migliorelli" <miga@vic.chariot.net.au> wrote:

>does anyone know of a site or where i can get information on servicing my
>own mares dive gear (regs). i dont want to bring it to the local dive center
>anymore because hes a pirate and charges way to much . i do relize that this
>will void the warranty but i can live with that. thankyou
>

You might want to try this:

http://www.divers-supply.com/serviceCenter.asp

safe diving,

bullshark

> Personally the issue of the 'closed shop's in scuba regulator & equipment
> servicing is a sick joke and makes my blood boil.
>
> All the crap that the scuba industry say to justify their stance is a lot
of
> lies.
>
> The standard diaphragm based 1st stage and balance (or unbalanced)
> second-stage are quite simple pressure reducing valves, and with a little
> common-sense, the correct tools and a little training, most divers could
be
> shown how to look after their equipment.
>
> For those with a single regulator (1 first stage & 2 second stages) it may
> be uneconomic to invest in an ultrasonic cleaner, IP gauge, the correct
> tools etc, however for someone like myself with nine regs, than it pays
for
> itself in about 2 years. It also means that if anything happens I can be
> self-reliant.
>
> The industry goes on about how it is a 'life sustaining' piece of kit &
> incorrect set-up may cause injury or death, however there has never been
an
> issue with anyone, untrained, not even a qualified driver or age limited,
to
> changing the brake parts or steering on a truck, SUV (small truck), or
> Ferrari and killing LOTS of people!
>
> There is NO law stopping home servicing, only the illegal practice that is
> prevalent in the SCUBA worlds and the mystifying of the technicians job.
>
> When some of us techie divers in the UK (most of us are already servicing

Woops, should have said many not most.

> our regs) all using Apeks regulators, wanted to pay to take the same
course
> offered to shop technicians we were refused! Do they think that just
> because we don't work in a dive shop that we're unable to use a spanner or
> Allen key? No, it's so that only their dealers can make money.

In article <OhcZc.103076$mD.93126@attbi_s02>,
"Cpt. Dale Bennett" <captndale@comcast.net> writes:
...
>There is also the issue of getting the parts. The manufacturer will not
>sell to you directly and no dive shop owner in his right mind will sell them
>to you either. His liability and the liability of the manufacturer, if you
>screw up, is huge. Not only is he exposed to product liability but he will
>also lose his distributorship. It is just not worth the few dollars for
>parts sale.

Yes this is the same reason that you cannot by parts to replace
the brakes in your car... Oh, wait a minute! You CAN replace your
own brakes. Even though it is more difficult and more dangerous
if you get it wrong! <end of sarcasm>

Dale, I generally appreciate your posts; this one I do not.

Yes, getting parts is an issue.
But the "liablity" issue is completely bogus.
This is a matter of manufactures and "authorized dealers" working
to preserve their market. This is NOT in the best interest of
the recreational SCUBA community.

--
Charlie Hammond -- Hewlett-Packard Company -- Ft Lauderdale FL USA
(hammond@not@peek.ssr.hp.com -- remove "@not" when replying)
All opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily my employer's.

"Charlie Hammond" <hammond@not@peek.ssr.hp.com> wrote in message
news:g7lZc.9266$EG3.5280@news.cpqcorp.net...
> In article <OhcZc.103076$mD.93126@attbi_s02>,
> "Cpt. Dale Bennett" <captndale@comcast.net> writes:
> ..
> >There is also the issue of getting the parts. The manufacturer will not
> >sell to you directly and no dive shop owner in his right mind will sell
them
> >to you either. His liability and the liability of the manufacturer, if
you
> >screw up, is huge. Not only is he exposed to product liability but he
will
> >also lose his distributorship. It is just not worth the few dollars for
> >parts sale.
>
> Yes this is the same reason that you cannot by parts to replace
> the brakes in your car... Oh, wait a minute! You CAN replace your
> own brakes. Even though it is more difficult and more dangerous
> if you get it wrong! <end of sarcasm>
>
> Dale, I generally appreciate your posts; this one I do not.
>
> Yes, getting parts is an issue.
> But the "liablity" issue is completely bogus.
> This is a matter of manufactures and "authorized dealers" working
> to preserve their market. This is NOT in the best interest of
> the recreational SCUBA community.
>
> --
> Charlie Hammond -- Hewlett-Packard Company -- Ft Lauderdale FL USA
> (hammond@not@peek.ssr.hp.com -- remove "@not" when replying)
> All opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily my employer's.
>

I owned a dive shop for six years; sold it two years ago. When I had the
shop there were divers that I would sell parts to for their regulators.
Most of them were people who I had taught to service their equipment. All
were people who I was satisfied could do the job. These people, however,
were in the minority. Most divers have no clue as to how their regulators
even work. I got many regulators in service that had been screwed up by
people who did not know what they were doing. I got regulators with parts
missing, installed backwards, cracked and damaged in every conceivable way.
I would have been happy to sell divers the parts to fix their own regulators
if I thought that they could do it without killing themselves but the
evidence, in most cases, was otherwise.
--


Safe diving,

Dale Bennett
Captain Dale's, Inc.
Enterprise Marine, Inc., Dive Charters

In article <BwlZc.96904$Fg5.30718@attbi_s53>,
"Cpt. Dale Bennett" <captndale@comcast.net> writes:

>I owned a dive shop for six years; sold it two years ago. When I had the
>shop there were divers that I would sell parts to for their regulators.
>Most of them were people who I had taught to service their equipment. All
>were people who I was satisfied could do the job. These people, however,
>were in the minority. Most divers have no clue as to how their regulators
>even work. I got many regulators in service that had been screwed up by
>people who did not know what they were doing. I got regulators with parts
>missing, installed backwards, cracked and damaged in every conceivable way.

I agree that most divers would not be competent to repair their own regulators.
To continue my prior anaolgy, most drivers are not competent to repair their
own cars. So what? Most of us won't service our own regulators or our onw
cars -- that does not mean that parts should not be available to those who
wnat to do so.

>I would have been happy to sell divers the parts to fix their own regulators
>if I thought that they could do it without killing themselves but the
>evidence, in most cases, was otherwise.

Evidence? ??? Are you claiming that a significant number of divers
have died because of error they made servicing their own regulators?
I think not -- I have never heard of even one such case, althoug I
would not be surprised if there were a few -- nor would this change
my opinion. I think rather that you are expressing an opinion NOT backed
by any evidence.

Please realize that I am NOT saying divers should be ENCOURAGED to do
their own regulator service and repair. I am only saying that service
manuals, tools and parts should be available to those who want to do so.

I think most divers will continue to patronize dive shop repair services --
and get their regulators screwed up by "professionals" who often have
no clue either.

--
Charlie Hammond -- Hewlett-Packard Company -- Ft Lauderdale FL USA
(hammond@not@peek.ssr.hp.com -- remove "@not" when replying)
All opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily my employer's.

In article <BwlZc.96904$Fg5.30718@attbi_s53>, Cpt. Dale Bennett
<captndale@comcast.net> wrote:

€ When I had the
€ shop there were divers that I would sell parts to for their regulators.
€ Most of them were people who I had taught to service their equipment. All
€ were people who I was satisfied could do the job. These people, however,
€ were in the minority.

I can't think of a way to assume more liability, "captain".

You don't even see it...

--
"We're going to rush the hijackers."
-Jeremy Glick, aboard United Airlines flight 93, September 11, 2001