Basic BC care? (from someone who should know by now)

[WOODMAN]

You would think that I would know this by now, but the question has come up amongst us about basic BC care after salt water use. I have always filled my inflation bladders with fresh water and soaked the whole thing overnite to help clean out the salt (after draining all the salt water out, of course), and then hung up to airdry and then storage on a special hanger. This, along with annual service, is what I have always done. ( a zeagle ranger and an amersea, if that matters) I am hearing that we should be using a cleaning solution in our soak water, however? I thought I would go back to school here and see what the rest of you kiddies think. Thanks for your help. Woody

 

[Bratface]

I drain all the sea water, fill mine with fresh, add some air and swirl it around, drain, repeat, drain, repeat. I don't think we need anything special other than regular water.

I do wash my wetsuit in woolite or some other mild solution and it had never had an odor.

 

[Sasquatch]

I drain all the sea water, fill mine with fresh, add some air and swirl it around, drain, repeat, drain, repeat. I don't think we need anything special other than regular water.

I do wash my wetsuit in woolite or some other mild solution and it had never had an odor.

This is my routine, too. I'll add that I work the BC with a hose pretty well to remove exterior sand and, this is weird, I sometimes touch my tongue to an area to detect salt...but that's just me

 

[BabyDuck]

very occasionally i put a bit of listerine in the bladder rinse water. makes your bladder minty fresh, kills germs in there, and makes orally putting a bit of air in refreshing.

 

[O2BBubbleFree]

...and soaked the whole thing overnite...

I just read where one author feels that the power inflator is the piece of gear most commonly neglected. The author pointed out that by submerging the inflator without the lp hose connected, water enters the inflator through the lp air connector. This could be a major problem for someone using an octo/inflator combo (AirII or the like).

We all know not to submerge a first stage w/o the cap on it, but I had never before thought about the inflator. Not even back when I had an octo/inflator.

I typically fill the bladder and swish it a couple of times, then I rinse the outside of my BC with a hose. I have only submerged it a couple of times.

Now, I'm thinking of finding a plastic cap for the lp connector. Better yet, I can probably get the LDS to give me an old inflator hose that has a good connector. If I cut it off and plug the hole, I can use it to cap off the inflator connector.

Any one else think this is a concern?

 

[ch0ppersrule]

we put a littlle simple green in our water to rinse the outside and fresh water on the inside. Swish, dump, fill, swish, dump, fill etc... usually 3 times then add air and hang to dry. Depending on how often we dive (not a lot lately) but every now and then we add some BC cleaner to the inside. I have had my BCD for 2 years (250 dives) and it only has some fading on the tank strap from the sun.
I think I will try the listerine thing so my inflator will taste minty fresh. No sense in wasting tank air to fill the bc when I can use my hot air.

Melissa

 

[jsmith89]

I really don't think the low pressure inflator should be a problem because it is nothing more than an on/off valve and even removing the lp hose at depth seems to do no damage. I wouldn't worry about it. I actually just popped my lp inflator open and everything in there is either SS or plastic I don't see any way rinse water could harm it.

-Jacobi