• THE AP SERVICE

    Look after your dive kit
    and it will look after you...

    Get legendary service from divers who make,
    fine-tune and repair dive kit every day for a living.

     Good for another 20 years!
    An AP technician refurbishes a 27 year old BUDDY Commando - Dec 2013
    Jeff Parker AP ©

REBREATHER & BCD SERVICING

Why should I get my gear serviced at AP?

AP Diving is known worldwide for quality, reliability and service. We maintain this reputation by continuing to produce 95% of all products in-house. This ensures complete control over the manufacturing process from initial idea to design, tool-making, machining, moulding, assembly, testing, quality control and ultimately finished product. It also means we can always offer you a friendly customer aftercare service second-to-none – because we’re divers and we know our products inside out.

Future-proof Supply of Parts

Product servicing is offered direct from our Service Department in the factory in Cornwall, UK where we keep a future-proof supply of spares and replacement parts readily available. Although we select durable materials and design products to stand the test of time, your dive gear will be exposed to extremely harsh environments. From swimming pools with high levels of chemicals, extreme temperatures, prolonged UV exposure as well as salt build up and being dragged through the sand. By servicing your product regularly, you will prevent permanent damage and be free to enjoy your diving without that concern of what might go wrong.

Our approach

We disassemble, clean and reassemble as well as replace old parts for new where necessary. Certain parts that are prone to deterioration or wear will be replaced without question such as seals and O rings. Your product would then be tested for correct operation before being packaged carefully and returned to you in good time. We also manage servicing contracts with commercial and military organisations with exacting standards, so you know your product will be in good hands. Please note, we only service equipment manufactured by AP Diving. We do not have the spares or necessary training to service other manufacturers’ products.

 

What type of ‘product servicing’ do you offer?

We offer comprehensive servicing for all our products from cylinder valves to rebreather electronics. The typical products that we service are:

Rebreathers/CCR
  • Counterlungs
  • Wing
  • Open Circuit Bailout Valve (OCB)
  • Mouthpiece
  • Inflators
  • Automatic Diluent Valve (ADV)
  • First Stages (AP Diving brand only) 
  • Medium and High Pressure Hoses
  • Classic Electronics
  • Vision Electronics 
BCDs/OC
  • Buoyancy Cell (inner bladder)
  • Inflators and Breathing Valves
  • Mini Cylinder and Valve
  • Medium Pressure Hoses
Accessories
  • Blast Air Horn

We follow our ‘Servicing Guidelines’ when assessing the cost of repairing and servicing your equipment. These will give you a good idea of what charges to expect. However, each item is assessed individually and before starting any work, we’ll contact you if we think the cost will be greater.

How often should I get my dive gear serviced?

Maintenance is an ongoing task with diving equipment. We recommend the following:

Annual service

First stages
Auto Air
OCB

Every 2.5 years

Internal inspection of cylinders

Every 5 years

Hydrostatic test of cylinders

(AP Diving do not offer cylinder testing but we do a cylinder exchange scheme for BCD mini cylinders.)

Every 7 years

Replace O-rings in all products

Does AP Diving support AP Valves ‘BUDDY’ branded products?

Yes, of course. The AP Valves BUDDY range of products have been renamed as the AP Commando range under AP Diving. Essentially, they are the same great products made by the same personnel with a new brand name. We encourage customers with a BUDDY Commando, Explorer, Ranger, Sport, Trident, Tekwing, Pioneer, Profile, Slimline or other variant to consider a service or maybe even upgrading to one of our latest models.

How long will it take for my kit to be serviced at AP Diving?

Our service personnel aim to service your product and post it within 5 working days. Rebreather electronics are slightly more involved but we try to complete these within 10-14 days. During busy periods lead-times can be slightly longer. These are often at the beginning and end of the UK diving season and after retail dive shows. If you need your product back within a specific time frame, let us know and we’ll do all we can to accommodate you.

How do I arrange for my product to be serviced?

It’s easy. Download our Servicing Form and follow the simple instructions. Make sure you include contact details, a description of the work you need doing and any known faults. This doesn’t need to be too detailed as our service personnel will contact you to discuss the work and potential cost before getting started. Enclose the form with your product then choose a method for getting your product to us (see options below).

How do I get my product to you?

There are three ways to get your products to us. Pick the one most convenient for you, but always make sure you enclose a completed AP Diving Servicing Form.

1. By Post

service-postage-types-apdiving-post

Please return your item(s) to:

Service Department
AP Diving
Water-ma-Trout Industrial Estate
Helston
Cornwall
TR13 0LW
United Kingdom

You are responsible for the goods until we receive them, so choose a postal service you feel is appropriate. This might include proof of postage and trackable or insured delivery.

2. By Collect+

service-postage-types-apdiving-collectplus

Collect+ is a distribution network operating from 5000 small shops in the UK. Simply visit www.collectplus.co.uk, click send a parcel, enter our postcode TR130LW and add Service Department and AP Diving to the recipient details. Select your parcel size and service you require before following the payment and label printing instructions. Attach your Collect+ label to your packaging before you drop it off at your nearest Collect+ location which you will find during the final step of the process on the Collect+ website.

This service can be used for parcels measuring up to 60 x 50 x 50cm and 10Kg. For your convenience, our packaging for BCD’s fits within these limits.

3. Drop off at the AP Diving factory or at our stand at a Dive Show

service-home-01

If you are local to our factory in Helston, Cornwall, you are welcome to return your product to us directly. This also applies at dive shows. Feel free to deliver your products to our show stand and we will gladly return them to the factory once the show finishes.

Can I buy a spare part and maintain my product myself?

Yes, you can. Virtually unique among diving manufacturers we make nearly all of our components ‘in-house’. This not only ensures complete quality control throughout the manufacturing process but also means we have a comprehensive stock of spare parts and accessories readily available from the factory in Cornwall. We take pride in offering a customer service second-to-none, so we provide a series of service kits for individual products and sub-assemblies for you to choose from.