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Thread: Yearly Service

  1. #11
    Wreck Diving Moderator acelockco's Avatar
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    Wow, you really contradict yourself there dude. You said you would not take a chance on using "life support" equipment that was not maintained. You said it was not worth the risk.

    But then later you talk about regulators that you worked on where you were not sure, so you decided to dive with them to make sure. Well, that sounds even more foolish than diving with undermaintained gear.

    You did not answer my question, I was not looking for your opinion or assumptions. Again, here is my question:

    "Anyway, what I was wondering is there any certifing agency or any regulations on who can call themselves regulator tech's?"

  2. #12
    Registered Users hbh2oguard's Avatar
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    Ace I don't know but you can find service manuals on ebay:

    http://search.ebay.com/search/search...p=2%26fsoo%3D2

    I don't know where to find the tools or where to take a class. Since some people on here service their own equipment, are you guy cert. or just self/peer taught?

  3. #13
    Registered Users bottlefish's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by acelockco View Post
    "Anyway, what I was wondering is there any certifing agency or any regulations on who can call themselves regulator tech's?"
    Certification for servicing is done by the reg manufacturer, you become an authorised service technician by attending one of their courses. Getting on to a course is difficult, the manufacturers understandably want to control quality and also want to protect the business of the authorised resellers, i.e. they don't want joe blogg on the street doing his/her own servicing in a back shed, offering it out as a favour to any mate that buys them a drink.

    Getting hold of a service kit is even harder, these will only be sent to an authorised reseller, they in turn are not allowed to sell them on to the general public.

    That's the official way anyway

    With regards to the debate on when to get a regulator serviced, I get my regs serviced at least once a year, more if they have been taking a hammering (e.g a lot of tech/deep diving or loads of pool work/teaching), definitely if they have been sat unused for a while.

    Ace's point is quite valied, technicians do make mistakes. However the solution to me is quite simple, first thing I do with a set of regs that have just been serviced is a shallow check out dive to make sure they are OK. If the technician has made a mistake, it's going to show up pretty quickly, the service centre will quickly hear about it as well.

  4. #14
    Cave Diver amtrosie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by acelockco View Post
    Wow, you really contradict yourself there dude. You said you would not take a chance on using "life support" equipment that was not maintained. You said it was not worth the risk.

    But then later you talk about regulators that you worked on where you were not sure, so you decided to dive with them to make sure.


    No I did not! I said to verify proper operation! When a reg was brought in with a specific complaint. After tear down and rebuild, I would dive that reg(on a separate tank) to make sure that the complaint was rectified. For it is only in the water that you are 100% sure of the fix.

    To answer the other question, No there is no organization to certify technicians. The only "oversight" is through the controls the individual manufacturers have in place.

  5. #15
    Wreck Diving Moderator acelockco's Avatar
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    Well, if there is no official certification or governing agency, the I am in business. I am going to have to speak with my friends in regards to getting parts, but I know that won't be the problem. Tools are also pretty easy to get.

    I am not saying I am ready to work on regulators yet, but the parts and certification issue are taken care of. In fact, maybe I can just become affiliated with my friends dive shop as I know they don't have anyone to service their gear yet.

    As far as learning how to make repairs, I am going to have to start reading. Maybe by going through my friends dive shop, I can get into the manufacturers classes.

  6. #16
    Wreck Diving Moderator acelockco's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by amtrosie View Post
    ....(on a separate tank)....

    You mean like my completely redundant system? You know additional cylinder and regulator.

  7. #17
    Waterman Tigerbeach's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by acelockco View Post
    Well, if there is no official certification or governing agency, the I am in business. I am going to have to speak with my friends in regards to getting parts, but I know that won't be the problem. Tools are also pretty easy to get.

    I am not saying I am ready to work on regulators yet, but the parts and certification issue are taken care of. In fact, maybe I can just become affiliated with my friends dive shop as I know they don't have anyone to service their gear yet.

    As far as learning how to make repairs, I am going to have to start reading. Maybe by going through my friends dive shop, I can get into the manufacturers classes.
    You know, ACE, I did this 25 years ago when I started teaching; maybe protocol has changed since.
    I taught at Laguna Sea Sports, and asked the shop manager, and the owner, respectively, for the contact info for the different manufacturers I was interested in (Scubapro, Oceanic, and Sherwood,) I got course info, took a half to 1 day seminar each, and was certified as a repair tech.
    I was able to order rebuild kits through the shop as needed.
    Pretty simple, really.
    Let me know how it is for you.

    ASW
    ASW


    "Don't believe everything you think"

  8. #18
    Wreck Diving Moderator acelockco's Avatar
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    Cool,

    I will let you know how it all pans out. I just love fixing things (that's why I am a locksmith), so this will really be perfect for me. Gives me something to do in the evenings during the off season. I already service all of my other gear, just not the regs.

    Now I am going to have to look into some general liability insurance, but that is not really a big deal. I already have one policy for the lock business.

  9. #19
    Master of Mask Mold seasnake's Avatar
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    I made some of the tools myself and had a machinist friend make some stuff up for me too. Replacement parts can be found from third party sources in some cases, like o-rings for example. But there are certainly little dodads it would be nice to have access to what an authorized dealer can get. Ace if you are used to working on locks I would think reg repair would be right up your alley. The liability factor is what holds me back from doing work on other's regs.

  10. #20
    Wreck Diving Moderator acelockco's Avatar
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    Well you ALWAYS want to have liablility insurance when you are working on anything, especially something like regulators for obvious reasons. It is not really a big deal, and is not very expensive in the big picture.

    I have general liability insurance for my business for $1,000,000 and it costs me under $800/year. When I first started out I had a $300,000 policy and it was only $280/year.

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