DIY Apeks O2 Cleaning/servicing

[thehuntsman81]

Having just picked myself up off the ground after being told my crusty Mares reg is gonna cost £70 to service, I am now worrying about the cost of the six Apeks DS4's that are gonna need a seeing too at the back end of this summer.

SO... instead of remortgaging the house Ive decided to service them myself.

However I need two regs to be O2 clean which are used for my stages. Now Apeks o-rings are EPDM and crysto-lube is O2 compatible. So if I use a degreaser, lint free cloth and thorougly clean with an ultra sonic cleaner, I am fairly certain all my regs could be classed as O2 clean?

Hoses and 2nd stages aside (not really relevant anyway) am I missing a trick here?

[David]

thats about what they do at the shop :-)

[Simon A]

Just remember that with apeks the parts are supplied O2 compatible, not o2 clean. So you'll need to o2 clean the service parts before you fit them.
HTH
Simon A

[marine boy]

and do not use the white filter as its not 02 compatible use the brass conical one

[fatone]

Have you considered that if your asking then then maybe you are not the right person for the job ?

However as your asking..............
The best way to do this is to open the regulator with a 9" angle grinder (being careful not to damage the sealing surfaces) carefully place it in a bucket of ordinary household bleach for 2.7 days at 15 degree's celsius.
Then when its stopped fizzing wash it with freshly boiled water from a kettle, not stewed mind, and if you live in a hard water area filter it first.

Screw all the hoses in bar the last one, and push all the "O" rings from the service kit through this hole, a tip here is to use the 7/16" HP port as its largest. Finaly fit this last hose, which can be a bit tight if you use a full new service kit, but careful use of a 3 - 4 kilo hamer should do it.

When re assembled, ask your buddy if he knows anything about your particular brand of valve and when he say's "yes loads" give it to him to test out in the nearest really deep water as you value his opinion, and luckily if he say's "no" you should still be able to talk him into it on the grounds he's or she's impartial.
Oh, and best of luck.

[Ferg3333]

I say do one at a time, get some biox and a cleaner and the manuals can be had off the interweb somewhere (frogkick.dk maybe) else draw a diagram as you remove parts, removing parts in the correct order and with the correct tools might help

This is what I would do. It maybe worthwhile doing an equipment course or being shown how to service a reg (i.e. pay for one and ask if you can be supervised doing it) then do the others at home.

[Steve S]

Originally Posted by fatone

Have you considered that if your asking then then maybe you are not the right person for the job ?

However as your asking..............
The best way to do this is to open the regulator with a 9" angle grinder (being careful not to damage the sealing surfaces) carefully place it in a bucket of ordinary household bleach for 2.7 days at 15 degree's celsius.
Then when its stopped fizzing wash it with freshly boiled water from a kettle, not stewed mind, and if you live in a hard water area filter it first.

Screw all the hoses in bar the last one, and push all the "O" rings from the service kit through this hole, a tip here is to use the 7/16" HP port as its largest. Finaly fit this last hose, which can be a bit tight if you use a full new service kit, but careful use of a 3 - 4 kilo hamer should do it.

When re assembled, ask your buddy if he knows anything about your particular brand of valve and when he say's "yes loads" give it to him to test out in the nearest really deep water as you value his opinion, and luckily if he say's "no" you should still be able to talk him into it on the grounds he's or she's impartial.
Oh, and best of luck.

That's a little unhelpful to a civil question there mate....................a 4 1/2 inch angle grinder is more than adequate

Huntsman there are loads of 'guides' around.....IME it's not hard, and I'm not very handy

That said if in doubt take it to someone who isn't.

Safe diving,
Steve

[warmwaterdiver]

I found it easier to do an offical service technicians course

yes it cost a few hundred £££ in the short term but it'll save many more £££ in the long term, I didn't have the know-how or the confidence before but I do now

as some people have said, its not difficult, but then again thats what a heart surgeon says, and I can't do that job either, its all relative

[marine boy]

i had a customer the other week who had tried to fix a free flow on his dacor 2 nd stage and managed to cross thread where the valve goes in to the plastic body.result knacked 2nd stage

[sas steve]

I have had customers bring regulators in to the shop in a bag of bits where they tried to DIY it and failed.

If you have several regs then stagger the service intervals by a few months if that's practical.

We do a mail order service at Forward Diving in Poole. Iv'e been servicing regs and testing cylinders for 20 years so I have a bit of knowledge and experience.

The most important thing is that I have the right tools and test equipment to do it correctly.

Please don't DIY it, it puts me out of a job!!!