Servicing Regulators

[Moonfuzzy]

Thanks for all the advise everyone. I'm ordering books, tools, and classes. I figure whether or not I end up doing the work myself this will be a good experience.

[midway]

I agree it's somewhere in-between. Not as easy as some make it out to be, not as difficult as others intimate. If you know a reliable technician and have $ to spare, save the headache. What you see on the web are oftentimes close-to-best-case scenarios. As in most DIY matters. Installing 3/4" hardwood floors in your living room in a weekend? Sure, if your living room is a nice rectangle, the substrate is level, and a whole of other factors that may be off are favorably aligned. Reality is more messy. The fun part begins when a turret retainer breaks (yes, you pulled on the torque wrench a tad too hard), the spring is bad (all the shimming won't increase IP sufficiently), etc. The two books mentioned are excellent (and worth reading just to understand how 1st and 2nd stage regs work) but they too fall short of conveying the headaches that lie ahead and the know-how needed to handle them.

Having said all of that, if you don't know a reliable technician (how to tell if your LDS has one is a story unto its own), and you're not too clumsy and mechanically disinclined, then I would recommend the DIY route. I've only begun servicing my own regs recently but barring the headaches, cost (with parts, time, etc. it's actually cheaper to have someone do it), time delay (I'm sure it takes me a lot longer than a competent tech), I do it because I know the end result meets the high quality control standards I set.

Frankly speaking, if I knew someone who did a great job with Apeks regs for a reasonable rate, I would not service the regs myself. It is not as easy and simple as some people say it is, there are actually quite few things that can go wrong and lots of stuff that can break or get lost in the process.
Just to give you a few examples, two years ago I partially stripped the chrome plating on two entire sets of 1st/2nd stages because the acid in the ultrasonic cleaner was a little bit too much. I've broken an Apeks housing , actually the plastic part the exhaust mushrooms sits in, after trying to work the mushroom back in.
I lost a little clear washer in the sink when I did my old Aqualung Legend, that spare part was a pain to buy.
And no, I don't have "two left hands", LOL. Stuff like that just happens, it's part of the learning experience.
Basically I would agree with what Russell says. If you have someone at hand who is good at it, maybe it's better to have them do it. Since I have nobody back here whom I trust, I'll keep servicing my own regs. I'm sure I'm doing a better job now than most of the shops I would have access to who have their trainees and part time employees tinker with the regs.

[Sh0use]

I've been recently researching and getting ready to purchase a doubles reg set. After talking with my local dive shop and trying to figure out a set that fits my student budget, we were unable to come to anything that would be close to the doubles reg set HOG offers.
I am leaning towards the HOG set because I would also like to service my own regs and it seems they have made that a very feasible thing to do. I'm pretty good with tools and working in things, in no way do I expect past experience to be sufficient to know what I'm doing with regs, however I hope it will help.
If I do go with the HOG regs, I would like to take the course but living in KY the nearest HOG dealer is 200+ miles away so I'm not sure how/where I could take the course. Does anyone know if it's maybe offered online? Or of there's someone close to central KY that teaches it?
From all the positive feedback I've read, I'm really looking forward to trying out the HOG regs.

[whodunit68]

I'm a distributor of Edge and HOG products outside the US and have setup some classes here in the US. If we can get 5 people together who are interested in taking a class, we can bring it to you. Otherwise, give me a heads-up when you're coming to dive some caves and I'll do my darndest to make a class happen during that timeframe. I've got access to a pool of about 5 instructorsand we've got several supporting locations.

Drop me a line if you have any questions that I can answer off the forum.
steve @ MannOverBoard.net....

[ams511]

Having said all of that, if you don't know a reliable technician (how to tell if your LDS has one is a story unto its own), and you're not too clumsy and mechanically disinclined, then I would recommend the DIY route. I've only begun servicing my own regs recently but barring the headaches, cost (with parts, time, etc. it's actually cheaper to have someone do it), time delay (I'm sure it takes me a lot longer than a competent tech), I do it because I know the end result meets the high quality control standards I set.

I am not sure how you can say this. I recently started a thread asking about how many regulators are necessary for cave diving, the consensus was 6 (give or take). At a dive shop the average rate is around $25 per stage plus parts. The parts on average will be around $20 for a first stage and $30 for a second stage. So to service one stage it is $50 for labor and $50 for parts. If you multiply this by 6 then you are looking at $300 parts and $300 labor.

As far as the tools go you could go as crazy as you want or as reasonable. Many tools a person usually has, such as wrenches and hex keys. Some regs such as Scubapro require special tools while others do not. For a regulator like an Apeks you really only need a hook spanner and a torque wrench additional. Many of the other tools are only necessary to save time and frustration.

As far as parts go, there are several threads on Scubaboard discussing parts. As far as second stages the seats are largely interchangeable and the o-rings standard so you could service a second stage using aftermarket parts for about $5 a stage or $30 for six regs. If you have first stages that can use aftermarket seats (such a SP MK-10) then you could service them for about $5 a stage also. However other makes would require factory service kits so you wouldn't save anything there.

So for six regs the saving on just one service is about $400.

[ams511]

I've been recently researching and getting ready to purchase a doubles reg set. After talking with my local dive shop and trying to figure out a set that fits my student budget, we were unable to come to anything that would be close to the doubles reg set HOG offers.
I am leaning towards the HOG set because I would also like to service my own regs and it seems they have made that a very feasible thing to do. I'm pretty good with tools and working in things, in no way do I expect past experience to be sufficient to know what I'm doing with regs, however I hope it will help.
If I do go with the HOG regs, I would like to take the course but living in KY the nearest HOG dealer is 200+ miles away so I'm not sure how/where I could take the course. Does anyone know if it's maybe offered online? Or of there's someone close to central KY that teaches it?
From all the positive feedback I've read, I'm really looking forward to trying out the HOG regs.

There are some Hollis closeouts floating around where you can get a first and second for $200. You can buy parts from NESS.

[mfascuba]

I've been enjoying servicing & diving the vintage double hose aqualungs recently. The Mistral is dead simple, one "o" ring, a spring and a seat. Piece of cake.

[MikeT]

I'm a distributor of Edge and HOG products outside the US and have setup some classes here in the US. If we can get 5 people together who are interested in taking a class, we can bring it to you. Otherwise, give me a heads-up when you're coming to dive some caves and I'll do my darndest to make a class happen during that timeframe. I've got access to a pool of about 5 instructorsand we've got several supporting locations.

Drop me a line if you have any questions that I can answer off the forum.
steve @ MannOverBoard.net....

I'd be interested in this class next time you have one in cave country.

[whodunit68]

ok, I was thinking of polling to see if there's interest to do one fairly soon. I have to run an IT soon anyway for my guys in Brazil so maybe it's time to think about it. Anyone interested in a May timeframe, drop me a note steve at MannOverBoard.net. I noted your interest MikeT...
If I genemails, I'll go ahead and start a thread with requirements, costs, etc, after we determine a date/location.
If you check my started threads, you'll find the last one only about 10 threads back.

[MichaelAngelo]

I am