Anti-Fogging Treatments for New Masks. (a comparison of techniques)

[АлександрД]

Does anybody have any other ideas?

yes.
"Chromium mix" based on Potassium dichromate K2Cr2O7
this mix looks ugly, and very dangerous, but as I know - it is THE best glass cleaning liquid.

Important warning: Hexavalent chromium compounds (including chromium trioxide, chromic acids, chromates, chlorochromates) are toxic and carcinogenic.

One standard recipe involves adding 93 ml of concentrated (95-98%) sulfuric acid to a cooled 7 ml solution of supersaturated K2Cr2O7. If the solution is not cooled, chromium trioxide will precipitate.

My mother worked in chemical industry and she use this mix very frequently for laboratory glassware cleaning. She told me many years ago about this mix.

I do not know, how it could react with mask silicone and with plastic (may be just few modern masks use metal inside, or may be even none), and it need to be tesed.

But if you can fill inner side of mask glasses for day or two, after well washing it should have cleaned surface even better than on the glass crack

here is some info about ChAcid and some antother cleaners Chromic Acid Cleaning Solution(Bruce Hamilton, Alan "Uncle Al" Schwartz)

and again: Use mask, rubber gloves and do not breath of vapors

 

[lowviz]

My mother worked in chemical industry and she use this mix very frequently for laboratory glassware cleaning. She told me many years ago about this mix.

Yes, same stuff. We called it "Chromerge". Looks like you can still get it: VWR® Chromerge® Glass Cleaner

A million years ago, when I was an analytical chemist, we used gallons of the stuff. The world is kinder and greener, now...

 

[scrane]

To cure a mask I use toothpaste. If toothpaste doesn't work I flame it. After curing it's baby shampoo before every dive. I hope I didn't miss anything in the previous 250 posts.

 

[tridacna]

I so love crossing swords with the old guard. But how does one handle an upstart new pup? (mask)

We press on...

You ARE the old guard!

 

[Dan]

To cure a mask I use toothpaste. If toothpaste doesn't work I flame it. After curing it's baby shampoo before every dive. I hope I didn't miss anything in the previous 250 posts.

I don’t think you miss anything. Don’t fix it if it ain’t broken.

 

[formernuke]

Though mine are nice clean and fog free I'm curious as to the results. Mine were a real PITA to clean

 

[lowviz]

You ARE the old guard!

You got that one half right.

Though mine are nice clean and fog free I'm curious as to the results.

Pretty much what is driving this. Basic research, what one learns along the way is usually the best part: The Ultimate Guide to Sea Glass: Finding, Collecting, Identifying, and Using the Ocean's Most Beautiful Stones by Mary Beth Beuke

Enquiring minds want to know! (why their masks fog)

 

[drrich2]

Apologies if this has been covered; I've followed this thread over time, but it's been too long for me to recall it all. Anyone used a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to clean a new mask to 'fight the fog?'

I first learned of Magic Erasers from a Dive Gear Express article claiming one could clean pencil writing off a slate. It did...very well. Wow.

Recently, I was struggling with the blinding fog effect of sunlight in the morning on my old car's windshield when the weather's chilly. Sun shining into it turned the 'clear' windshield into a nearly opaque white glare. Online checking indicated plastics in car interiors off-gas when hot (e.g.: green house effect when parked outside during summer) and residue collects on the inner windshield, then when it's chilly atmospheric humidity condenses on it and catches the sunlight...or some such.

Getting that fog layer off can be very difficult. The Magic Eraser came up as one option, but to be used with some care as it is abrasive (which surprised me; they don't feel abrasive). Gotta said, while it didn't do a great job, it did a decent job, which is more than I can say about anything else I've tried.

And people deliberately use abrasive toothpaste on new masks.

Just curious as to how well Magic Erasers work. And on dive slates? They are the bomb!

 

[lowviz]

I considered it (see post#7) and I'm glad to know others see it as potentially valuable. I will add Magic Erasers to the final tests.

Still trying to sort all this out and get a good 'second generation' series of tests.

 

[scubadada]

Lately, I have followed the DGX recommendations. I scrub the lens and the inside of the mask several times with undiluted baby shampoo. I then use a commercial defog, usually Mcnett sea drops as I don't like the gel. I do very well with this regimen, If I get any fogging, I repeat the undiluted baby shampoo wash. So this does not seem to include the abrasive component of cleaning.

WARNING
Don't use toothpaste on modern dive masks, especially those masks that have vision correction lenses. You will either damage the lenses, or needlessly waste toothpaste since most modern toothpaste formulations are not at all abrasive. The same goes for using a lighter to 'burn' the lens to prepare a new mask. Dive Gear Express will not warranty masks that have been treated with abrasives or burned with lighters. Most new dive masks do have mold release agents in the flexible skirt that during storage will migrate to the surface of the lens and cause fogging. These deposits can be safely removed with an extra application of a powerful surfactant like baby shampoo, SeaQuick or SeaDrops defog.