Mask maintenance to avoid Mask fogging during dive?

[vinx]

Hello there I wanted to ask everyone what kind of maintenance do you guys do with your mask so that it wont fog during dives? I recently bought an aqua lung ventura mask about 2 weeks old now and I'm still having problem with it, because it fogs a lot. Please post some tips guys. Thank you in advance.

 

[j yaeger]

i use sea drops every dive to avoid fog
pretty much it for maintenance

 

[g1138]

Gritty toothpaste such as Crest regular paste or Colgate (my personaly go-to).
Wet both sides of your lens lightly and then smear and rub the toothpaste around lightly. Let the grit do the scrubbing.

Alternatively you could also take a lighter to the lens. I've never done this method before and can't offer any guidance however.

Be sure to get the area's along the edge of your lens and around the nose pocket.

After you've prepped your mask, anytime you're ready to put it on, spit in it and rub the spit all around. You don't want just watery spit, you want at least a little bit of that sticky mucous feeling spit to be rubbed on the lens (it doesn't have to be green though). You really only need a thin coat of it to be rubbed over the lens.
After that just give it a quick 1-rinse in ocean water or fresh water, your choice.
If it still fogs you may need to prep it again with some toothpaste.

I personally only had to prep my mask once and since then if I spit in it everytime before I put it on, it's not a problem. Once you take the mask off you will have to spit in it again to keep it from fogging.

 

[vinx]

i use sea drops every dive to avoid fog
pretty much it for maintenance

thanks for the post.. but what is actually sea drop? sorry im a bit newbie..

 

[vinx]

Gritty toothpaste such as Crest regular paste or Colgate (my personaly go-to).
Wet both sides of your lens lightly and then smear and rub the toothpaste around lightly. Let the grit do the scrubbing.

Alternatively you could also take a lighter to the lens. I've never done this method before and can't offer any guidance however.

Be sure to get the area's along the edge of your lens and around the nose pocket.

After you've prepped your mask, anytime you're ready to put it on, spit in it and rub the spit all around. You don't want just watery spit, you want at least a little bit of that sticky mucous feeling spit to be rubbed on the lens (it doesn't have to be green though). You really only need a thin coat of it to be rubbed over the lens.
After that just give it a quick 1-rinse in ocean water or fresh water, your choice.
If it still fogs you may need to prep it again with some toothpaste.

I personally only had to prep my mask once and since then if I spit in it everytime before I put it on, it's not a problem. Once you take the mask off you will have to spit in it again to keep it from fogging.

thanks I already did the toothpaste and lighter thing... before I first use it, I will try to redo it again.. Also I always do the spit and rinse before backrolling into the water.

 

[Dirty-Dog]

I spit in it, rub it around and rinse it. That's it. I've never had any fogging issues.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

As part of the manufacturing process, factories utilize a mold-release agent on scuba masks. Unfortunately, this mold-release agent remains behind and would promote fogging on a dive. For this reason, a new mask needs to be prepped by removing that mold-release agent.

I'd recommend prepping your mask again by rubbing the inside surface of the lens with an abrasive compound, e.g., Crest toothpaste.
Repeat a couple of times.
There's no reason to scrub the outside of the lens. The fogging is occurring on the inside (part nearest the wearer) of the lens.

I've also used the mask-lighter technique. It works great. So long as you keep moving the flame back and forth, you shouldn't have a problem melting the silicone skirt.

Now that you have a properly prepped mask...
Before each dive, many divers spit in their masks. My spit doesn't seem to work so great, so I use "500 psi" mask defog. I only have to apply it once before the first dive of the day. It remains effective for the rest of the dives during the day (2 or 3?).

For whatever reason, if you still get fogging during the dive, it's easily remedied. Simply allow a very small amount of water into the mask, look down, swish the water around so that it rinses the inner surface of the lens, look up, and clear the mask.

Hope this helps...

 

[diveprof]

IF you have done a good job of cleaning your mask, it may be that you are breathing out your nose a fair bit when diving. Breathing out of your nose is not a problem generally speaking, but it may result in more fogging of the mask. A cheap but quite satisfactory mask defg is 50% Johnson's baby shampoo and 50% water, preferably in a squeeze bottle. I also like the Sea Drops antifog.

 

[LowDrag]

As part of the manufacturing process, factories utilize a mold-release agent on scuba masks. Unfortunately, this mold-release agent remains behind and would promote fogging on a dive. For this reason, a new mask needs to be prepped by removing that mold-release agent.

For whatever reason, if you still get fogging during the dive, it's easily remedied. Simply allow a very small amount of water into the mask, look down, swish the water around so that it rinses the inner surface of the lens, look up, and clear the mask.

My LDS instructor that sold me my SP Mini Spectra suggested washing the inside of the lens once with non abrasive dish washing liquid and then use the anti fog drops. He said there was some kind of silicone coating on the lens.

I also used to keep just a little bit of water in the bottom of my old mask to swish around on a free dive in case my mask would fog. I never carried the anti fog drops and this worked well for me back in those days.


Good luck

 

[vinx]

Thanks guys for all the help.. I will try to buy a sea drops antifog and probably use it if fogging still occurs. Thank you!