NOT Rinsing BCD Internally

[ash7636]

I bought my Mares Vector Origin 1000 in September 2005 and dived with it 38 times over the course of 27 months. I always gave it a through external rinse but unfortunately I never gave it a proper internal rinse during all that time(I already kicked myself).

I just gave it a good rinse and filled it with air over night. The BC held the air all night. Should I still be concerned about the condition of the internal bladder? Should i have it professionally inspected? Thoughts?

Thanks.

 

[RJP]

I just gave it a good rinse and filled it with air over night. The BC held the air all night. Should I still be concerned about the condition of the internal bladder? Should i have it professionally inspected? Thoughts?

Go, and sin no more! (John 8:1-11)

I wouldn't be terribly concerned about it. Were the 38 dives salt or fresh water?

If they were salt water (or really either way) for sure I would suggest going the extra step of unscrewing the inflator hose and dump valve connections and making sure you've really got the thing clean of any salt deposits, etc. If you bought it at a local shop you could bring it in and ask them to take a look. I'm sure they'd be happy to do so.

I dive salt water nearly every weekend (more than 170 dives in the last 2 years) and simply give a good rinsing outside and in after every dive day, and my gear looks and works like new. Today's gear can pretty much hold up to not be perfectly maintained, but it's so easy to do the simple things that you might as well. If you do there's no reason that your gear shouldn't last a lifetime +.

Ray

 

[fisherdvm]

I always rinse through the inflator hose while depressing the power inflator. This forces water through the valve, and makes me feel better that no salt is left in that valve. Salt crystals can form and cause malfuntion of BC valves, and corrosion of the inflator valves... It just make me feel better that no scum grow inside my BC.

 

[herman]

Never too late to rinse it out. I fill mine with a couple of quarts of water via the LP inflater, inflate it most of the way, slash it all around and drain it by opening all of the dumps (one at a time) and allowing water to exit through all of them- reinflating as needed. This washes out the valves, cleaning them of sand and salt. I might would do it a couple of times on your BC, just to make sure I got all the salt out.

 

[Kingmob3]

wash everything, including you're inflater as stated and if it had a pull dump that too. If you're worried about things growing in it, a little simple green never hurt anything.
Allen

 

[The Chairman]

Tobin (Deep Sea SUpply) sells a wonderful device to rinse the inside of your BC using a regular hose. Valve Flusher.

 

[1_T_Submariner]

I second the rinse with a little simple green then soak for a little while then drain and rinse.

 

[Charlie99]

I rinse out the inside of the BCD about once a month or every 30 dives or so, whether or not it needs it.

One of my SeaQuest BCDs is still in good shape about 10 years and about 400 dives -- all but about 10 were in saltwater. My other BCD is also still in good shape after 5 years and about 250 dives, also mostly saltwater.

It takes more than a bit of salt to harm the bladder. I worry more about the inflator and the dump valves.


Charlie Allen

 

[diver 85]

I bought my Mares Vector Origin 1000 in September 2005 and dived with it 38 times over the course of 27 months. I always gave it a through external rinse but unfortunately I never gave it a proper internal rinse during all that time(I already kicked myself).

I just gave it a good rinse and filled it with air over night. The BC held the air all night. Should I still be concerned about the condition of the internal bladder? Should i have it professionally inspected? Thoughts?

Thanks.

No, it should be OK.........

 

[jupitermermaid]

Tobin (Deep Sea SUpply) sells a wonderful device to rinse the inside of your BC using a regular hose. Valve Flusher.

At first look, I thought, "Aw, it's not that much work to hold down the manual inflater while letting water trickle in with the hose, but when I thought about how long it takes, how much water is wasted, $12 is a small price to pay to cut my time in half of rinsing out the inside of my bc. I'll have to get one. Thanks, NetDoc

Also, ash, after you rinse out the inside of the bc and drain the water out through ALL the valves (one at a time) to make sure you flush out any remaining salt crystals, orally inflate the bc a little to help facilitate the drying out of the bladder.