Regulator Soaking - Mistake?

[shopguy]

I was surprised none of the manuals that came with any of my gear included cleaning/rinse instructions. I guess maybe it shouldn't be a surprise though, I can't say I've ever seen such a thing on any tools or most other stuff (except maybe a TV or cell phone) I buy.

 

[halocline]

Do you have any reason for your personal practice other than it is your personal practice? Why is a multiple hour soak necessary? Describe the parts of the regulator that benefit from this.

Exposed threads benefit from it. These are threads where the sealing o-ring is on the interior of the threads, a good example would be a yoke or DIN retainer that is sealed by an o-ring on the end of the retainer that is screwed into the regulator body. During an ocean dive, salt water slowly leeches into these threads; there is no airtight seal 'outboard' of them, but there is also a tight mechanical fit, so water will infiltrate the threads slowly and partially. I have confirmed this by disassembling a regulator after a dive and finding the threads wet.

What soaking does is allow the saltwater on the threads to be diluted through osmosis. It takes a long time because the threads are a tight-but-not-airtight fit. If you soak the reg for a day, then immediately disassemble it, the threads will still be wet but with much lower saline water. I've actually tested that as well with a highly scientific taste test!

If you dive in fresh water with a high mineral content, say in Mexican caves like you and I both do, the mineral content of the water is still far, far closer to 'pure' fresh water than sea water, and the rinse water is usually from the same source. So, I never bother to soak my regs on a cave trip.

 

[lowwall]

Here's another guy that soaks his regs.

 

[Open Ocean Diver]

I rinse everything at the same time.

 

[rick00001967]

Here's another guy that soaks his regs.

did you watch the video ? he basically said exactly what many of us already said. you can do this, and you can do that, but if you get water in the first stage you need to have it torn down and serviced. so why take that chance. it makes no sense to me anyway.

 

[Doctorfish]

That guy just took 10 minutes to say "put the dust cap on before you soak 1st stage"

 

[lowwall]

did you watch the video ? he basically said exactly what many of us already said. you can do this, and you can do that, but if you get water in the first stage you need to have it torn down and serviced. so why take that chance. it makes no sense to me anyway.

I did watch it. He says around 15 minutes of soaking is how he cleans his regs after every day of diving.

He mentioned getting it serviced only in the context of if you do everything wrong to get water in the first stage and then ignore it (instead of hooking it up to a tank and purging it to blow dry air through the regs). This is basically the same thing that Alec Peirce said in another video.


Just to be clear, I'm talking about non-freshwater dives. If you are worried about corrosion and reg service intervals, getting all the salt or chlorine off your gear's surfaces is vital. That takes time that a rinse can't easily provide. It's far simpler to take a few seconds to ensure the dustcap is properly in place and then soak compared to be certain you have adequately rinsed every nook and cranny of your regs.

Here's another video showing reg soaking. This one is sponsored by Dive Rite, which presumably is OK with the contents.

 

[Ayisha]

Alec recommends a soak.

Please note that the caveats are with a flat-sided, well fitting, dry yoke dust cap.

Alec saved my regs (at least) once. During my first LDS trip to Cozumel many years ago, I was chatting away after a night dive. I thought I had already put the dust cap on and started putting my regs into the rinse tank and realized the cap wasn't on and pulled them out right away. The DM said, they'll be ok, let me dry them.

He proceeded to blow them with a tank, and I immediately thought, "uh oh, Alec said not to do that because if you don't do it properly, the water will be pushed further in". He said, "they'll be fine".

After getting home, I took them to Alec for service but didn't say anything about the uncovered dunking. He called me a couple of hours later to tell me that there was a little salt water right through into my (analog) gauges. He said I was lucky I brought them right away because he was able to clean and dry them out, and if I had waited, they would have corroded. Alec was widely considered one of the best reg techs in Ontario.

After that I was really careful about having the dust cap on and still soaked it as I had been taught in my o/w course. Fast forward 17 years to my last liveaboard and someone told me that I shouldn't soak the first stage, and especially not in the rinse tank as there could be lubricants from other people's stuff that could degrade the o-rings in my regs.

Ok, so combined with the potential of forgetting to cap it or not having a good seal, I stopped soaking the first stage after salt water and rinsed it well with the regs still on the tank, if possible. At home, I rinse the 1st and 2nd stages and then soak only the 2nd stages.

I'm suddenly glad that most of my dives are fresh water.

 

[hedonist222]

One issue to take into consideration is the salt/minerals in the tap water they have there. If high mineral content, you need to rinse the equipment with "drinking grade" water to remove residual salts/minerals otherwise you will have salt/mineral build up on the equipment over time.

Good point.
I use tepid distilled water to rinse out the inside of my BCD.

 

[BoltSnap]

Good point.
I use tepid distilled water to rinse out the inside of my BCD.

I buy the 18L water bottles and use them for soaking my regulators and computers.