BCD Questions

[Searcaigh]

Never heard of using baby shampoo in a BCD bladder.

Fresh water rinse with inflation hose in place after the dives, then when I'm home I remove the corrugated inflation hose and rinse again with some diluted Dettol to kill "stuff", then replace hose and store inflated until the next dive.

 

[Still Kicking]

Here’s the hose and dump valve attachment on my BCD, it’s made to be easy to remove

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Not all bc dumps and bladders are created equal. I have seen people torque on them to the point where the RF weld breaks. Throw in lost gaskets, crossed threads etc as i mentioned before and it can be more trouble than it's worth. Scubapro BC inflator elbows are sealed with an uncommon sized oring that is easily overlooked and often lost. You have to order replacements from $cubapro.

Nothing wrong with removing the dump occasionally if you know what you are doing, but for many people it seems to lead to problems.

BCs are designed to be submersed in water....it will do no harm. Flush a little fresh water in through the inflator (with a few drops of BC conditioner if you like), swish it around and drain the excess water through a dump. Its very easy. A few drops remaining are not a problem. If you orally inflate you are pushing air into the bladder, not sucking it out. If you are stranded and have to resort to drinking residual bc rinse water, you have bigger problems

One additional note: chlorinated pool water is harder on gear than saltwater. It makes sense to do a more thorough rinse after pool dives.