BCD/Regulator Cleaning Question

[lowwall]

A regulator technician took apart my BCD integrated regulator and showed me how allowing water into it through the inflator port will cause long term damage. Makes perfect sense to me, doing so is no different than dropping an uncapped 2nd stage until a rinse bucket.

???

Do you mean uncapped first stage? You want the insides of the second stages to be rinsed.

 

[runsongas]

make sure to drain the out the LP hose and 2nd stage thoroughly and keep the first stage elevated if you have an atomic and have to rinse/soak it unpressurized

 

[happy-diver]

Here is less than the amount of bcd manufactured rock salt salt I pulled from one inside unwashed bcd

I have collected enough over the years to serve a tray of a dozen oysters for two

lovely pointy sharp sharp bcd perforating rock salt great for oysters not for bcds

 

[Belzelbub]

The other option is to remove the SS1 which easily unscrews and clean it separately in the regulator tank.

Do this. In fact, that’s what the manual for my Octo-Z (Zeagle version of the SS1) recommends.

If I use this method when I go to clean the BCD then I now have an inflator hose line wide open where the SS1 screwed in and water runs inside into the bladder. I has searched to see if I can find a cap that could screw on where the SS1 was but haven’t found anything.

Water running inside the bladder is what this coupler was made for. When you get home, hook it up to your hose and clean it out. Drain it, then hang it up to dry. Unless you are storing where there are a lot of bugs, leaving it open is fine.

If you must close it, head to your hardware store and find a cap that fits a female hose thread.

 

[Outbound]

I generally don’t rinse my gear in the communal rinse tanks unless I happen to get there when they are being filled with fresh water. Otherwise you are just rinsing your gear in increasingly salty, dirty water. For wetsuits, you end up rinsing it in other people’s diluted urine. What I usually do is stand under the outdoor shower with my gear on and rinse it that way. Then, when I get home from a trip, I make sure to give everything a good soak, scrub, etc.

 

[Belzelbub]

Not understanding where the confusion is coming from. It's ok for water to get inside the regulator mouthpiece and the BCD bladder, the only place you don't want water is inside the port/opening where the low pressure hose connects to, and these regs usually come with a small rubber plug that is permanently attached to the corrugated hose with a rubber ring so it's always right there.

This is where the confusion is coming from. With most brands, the inflator or AIR2, etc. is meant to stay attached to the corrugated. Using the quick disconnect on the airline is a lot easier than removing zip ties.

With Zeagle and Atomics, it’s different. They attach to the corrugated via a threaded coupler. So, when putting your gear away, it’s pretty much just as easy to simply unthread the inflator, or SS1, or Octo-Z. Then, the inflator/SS1/Octo-Z can be stored with your regulator not the BC. This is a side benefit.

The main purpose is cleaning the inside of the BC. Rather than holding the button and trying to get some clean water into the BC, you simply connect the corrugated to a standard hose and turn on the water. My BC has never seen the level of rock salt as posted above. Not even close. It’s well cleaned with fresh water after after every dive day.