Frequently Asked Questions
Even when you try to take the best care of your equipment, the materials used in scuba equipment wear; through both their use, as well as their disuse. While you might see the corrosion and verdigris that grows on the outside of your equipment, you can’t see what is growing on the inside; and, even when you are not diving, rubber components like seals and o-rings deteriorate with time. Some materials even become porous over time in saltwater.
Having your equipment serviced ensures that it will function reliably, giving you peace of mind during your dive, while also ensuring that your equipment will last as long as possible.
Most manufacturers recommend servicing their equipment annually, or every 100 hours of diving – whichever is the shorter.
Some manufacturers allow servicing every other year, but recommended they undergo a safety inspection annually.
If you are unsure, we can let you know what the manufacturers recommends for your equipment.
The answer can depend on many factors, and it is often hard to say for certain one way or another.
That is why we offer a full safety check service. We will inspect the equipment and fully test its functionality for you.
Due to the harsh environment that is the underwater world, all of your equipment should be inspected regularly for wear and damage. A broken fin-strap is an easy to prevent way of causing you to end your dive early.
Put simply, any item with moving parts should have regular servicing to replace and lubricate the sealing o-rings. Items like camera housings, and torches rely on o-rings to prevent the flooding of your device, and should be serviced regularly.
Even your dive computer can rely on small o-rings to seal the buttons, and these are often neglected.
Southern Scuba Clinic can help you decide how often these additional items should be looked at.
Southern Scuba Clinic services equipment for all major scuba brands, and can service more than just regulators and BCD’s. We also service dive computers, transmitters, tank valves, torches, camera housings, gas booster, dive compressors, DPV’s, drysuits, bags and more.
If there is something we can’t take care of in-house, Southern Scuba Clinic has a wide network of support around Australia, and can normally arrange for the best care of your equipment.
Southern Scuba Clinic charges per item of equipment plus any parts or service kits required.
The cost of parts is dependent on the manufacturer and model of the equipment. Service kits for regulators can cost between $20 – $100, depending on the manufacturer and the complexity of the regulator. There are often service kits for other items as well including BCD inflators, dive computers and torches.
Our current service prices can be found here. If you contact Southern Scuba Clinic, we can also normally provide an estimate prior to the service.
Southern Scuba Clinic endeavours to complete most equipment within one to two weeks. In rare cases during busy periods, or, for certain items, longer may be required.
If you contact Southern Scuba Clinic we can normally provide you an estimate of the service time.
We have also have a priority rush service for those last-minute panics at an additional cost.
The Southern Scuba Clinic privacy policy can be found here.