BC handling

[Dr Neil]

After rinsing with fresh water, I put 1/4 cup of Listerine in the BC. I inflate a little, swish the Listerine around, then invert the BC an drain the liquid. Listerine kills the bad stuff and leaves the BC fresh and minty.

When I'm ready to store the BC I make sure all of the liquid has drained. I then add a small amount of air the the bladder. I store the BC on a hangar.

 

[cool_hardware52]

There is *NO* need to disassemble any part of any BC to rinse the bladder.

Removing hoses and or OPV's runs the risk of loosing parts inside the bladder, losing gaskets, cross threading, over tightening etc.

Much better left alone. Keep in mind that there are various ways hoses and fittings are secured to bladders. Some allow pretty simple disassembly and some do not.

Just because one has seen others unscrew a hose doesn't mean it's a good idea for your BC.

I recommend introducing a pint or two of fresh water through the oral inflate mouth piece, sloshing it around and blowing it out the OPV. If the BC / wing has been used for multiple days of diving repeat once or twice.

Then I blow up the wing fully and let it sit over night. If there is a leak or other problem I want to know about it *before* the next dive.

Removing hoses / bladders / opvs etc. is not required for cleaning and can often lead to grief.

Tobin

 

[KeithG]

We flush inside with fresh water, drain, then remove end of inflator hose to let inside dry. We started this practise after we got home from a carribbean dive trip with a bcd that had a puncture. Our claim is we did not empty the bc of air completely, then packed it in checkin luggage, bc expanded in baggage compartment, pinced on something and cut the bladder.

So our bc's are allways unsealed when they plane travel now.

But, yes be careful - make sure you retain the rubber seals and extra fiddly bits.