Chlorine

[galvanni]

I recently purchased all of my own gear and wanted to spend some time playing around with it all and getting familiar with them in a pool. Should I be concerned with giving all my new gear such a chlorine bath? Any special cleaning procedures afterward other than normal soaking and rinsing?

 

[noreastDIVER84]

I recently purchased all of my own gear and wanted to spend some time playing around with it all and getting familiar with them in a pool. Should I be concerned with giving all my new gear such a chlorine bath? Any special cleaning procedures afterward other than normal soaking and rinsing?

You should be fine in the chlorine, just give all your gear a good rinsing more than anything. If you have a public water utility you are rinsing with chlorinated water anyway.

 

[widget]

No, not really. As others have said just rinse the gear well and all should be fine.

Pay special attention to your wetsuit though, chlorine can bleach fabrics quite quickly if you dont give it a good rinse, although it wont do the integrity of the suit any harm, you may start to get that "washed out look" after a while.

 

[scoobydrew]

I often use much of my main equipment for teaching in pools and apart from the bleaching already mentioned it does not present any problems, just make sure the equipment is washed as you normally would ASAP. other instructors I know do not like using their equipment in the pool but this is due to prolonged use, one off you should be fine.

 

[spectrum]

The gear will hold up fine but it will accelerate the fading process, sometimes to odd hues. Thoroughly soak / rinse ASAP. I would speculate more/longer than most do after an OW dive.

I have heard of some that use a set of beater gear for pool sessions for these reasons.

Pete

 

[pjhansman]

I just leave my bcd and wetsuit on for the after pool shower.....provides a good rinse

 

[NCadiver]

Before you get in the pool wet your bcd and wetsuit with tap water. That way the water that is absorbed is fresh water.

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

I use a pool for all confined water sessions. I teach every week in a pool. My gear is fine because I am scrupulous about immediately and thoroughly washing it right after we get out. My students learn the same thing.

We had a customer once, who bought a Zeagle bc and Apeks reg, plus the rest. He had them about 6 months and brought them back -hoses a mess, bc faded and tattered. He was very irate. We talked to him and found out that after his sea dives (2-3 days a week), he took his gear home and dumped it in his pool, where he left it overnight and pulled it out the next day. He then hung them to dry form the pool in the sun. Hmmmmmm. Unbelievable, how much bad judgement one person can have at a time.

Wash you gear thoroughly and after each use and don't hang it to dry in the sun. My main bc has thousnads of dives in it and it looks just a sparkly as a new one.

 

[tracydr]

I often use much of my main equipment for teaching in pools and apart from the bleaching already mentioned it does not present any problems, just make sure the equipment is washed as you normally would ASAP. other instructors I know do not like using their equipment in the pool but this is due to prolonged use, one off you should be fine.

I used to swim on a swim team and our swim suits would literally fall apart after a couple of months of swim team practice 2-3 hours every day. So, in extreme cases, integrity could be an issue but you'd have to do a LOT of pool diving, especially since dive gear is a lot sturdier than racing swim suits.

 

[Reef_Haven]

My city water often has more chlorine in it than my pool, sometimes > 3.0 PPM. I'll just rinse off in the pool after showering.