What I advise all my customers as far as rinsing goes after saltwater dives is this. Local dives a couple few hours is not going to hurt. What will is allowing the gear to dry out. I have seen enough regs to know that soaking after saltwater dives is not enough. What happens, or so it seems, is that soaking will allow the salt to dissolve into smaller crystals. I see this on second stages all to often when all they did was run em through the rinse tank. After you put the first couple pieces of gear in there the tank is now saltwater. If the smaller crystals are not rinsed away with RUNNING freshwater they seem to work their way into places that larger ones (salt crystals) will not.
Soaking works to keep them in solution. It does not get rid of them. So here is what I do:
Local: rinse the regs with bottled water, a gallon jug of water brought from home, a hose if available. Put em in a bin or tub. Cover and do not let them sit in the sun. When you get home, fill the sink or bathtub with warmer water from the tap. Sink works better for regs. Make sure the dust cap is on and if you do not have a small tank to pressurize them don't soak the first stage, rinse it under running water. The second stages can be soaking while doing this. Then set the first on the counter and swish the seconds around. Drain the sink and refill. Repeat the previous steps. Drain the water and rinse the seconds and first again under running water. Hang to dry.
On trips. Do not use the communal rinse tank unless it is one that has water circulating through it. And if it does know where the water is coming from. Better is to take the regs back to your room, make sure the dust cap is on, drape them around your neck, and take em in the shower with you.
If you choose to leave them for the dive op to take care of whatever you get back is your own fault. I never leave them with anyone. Rinse the first and seconds and hang to dry.
I do this every day and the difference at the end of a trip when I get home is striking as to how much less crud there is in them. And when I get regs in for service that have been taken care if this way it is so easy to tell. Ones that have not been have thin layer of white powder looking junk in them. This is fine salt. And salt loves metal parts. I got a first stage in that had the chrome eaten away down to the brass that a guy bought used and had me overhaul. Good thing to. It would not have been long before the corrosion would have eaten too far in to salvage the reg.
On the last day when there is no more diving before the flight I disassemble the seconds and clean them out. Take the covers off, remove the diaphragm, and clean em out with a lint free cloth, freshwater, and allow to dry out of the sun before they get packed. When I get them home I do the freshwater procedure before storing them for any length of time. The people I have told about this and who follow it, I love to service their regs. They are clean, take less time in the ultrasonic, and have less problems for me to address. The ones that don't, well it costs for that extra time scrubbing and a couple trips through the ultrasonic, as well as some of the extra parts that are required due to being eaten away by corrosion. I've pulled hose protectors back that were fuzzy and had so much corrosion that in my opinion the hose fitting was compromised and the hose needed replaced.
It does not take that long, it's not rocket science, and it will save you money and headaches down the road.
