Pee-Valve Cleaning

[Lorenzoid]

I have a balanced pee valve and when I squirt disinfectant into the tube, it drains out right away.

Is this alright, or are there any tips to make the disinfectant dwell in the tube & valve longer?

Is your valve not closeable? The Halcyon balanced valve has a cap that twists between closed and open positions. I think the main idea is that if the valve malfunctions the diver could close it underwater to prevent water intrusion, but now that you mention it, I suppose closing the valve also allows one to fill the tube with sanitizer/disinfectant.

 

[guruboy]

On mine I close the valve.

 

[tbone1004]

@Lorenzoid couple types of balanced p-valves. Some like the Halcyon are just a normal unbalanced p-valve with a balance T put inside of the suit. Others like the Light Monkey Tinkle Valve, Dive Rite P-valve, etc. are actually a duckbill built into the valve itself and those typically don't have a way to close off. I have the Dive Rite and if diving multiple days in a row, will flush it with water each day, then at the end of the trip it will come out and get cleaned properly inside

 

[wKkaY]

Thanks for the insights. Mine is a sitech trigon and doesn't have a way to close it off.

 

[Doby45]

At the end of a dive weekend, I will take my DiveRite balanced valve off the suit completely and submerge it in a bowl of hot water and a cap of Listerine. No issues in over a year of doing this.

 

[Nomad-Diver]

The advice I was given by a very helpful Diving Doc was to make sure the tubing was properly dried by flushing with methylated spirits. His full text is below, for info :

The bacteria involved is usually pseudomonas which loves to grow in moist warm places like a P valve tubing (and ears on tropical dive trips!). Urine is sterile but is an excellent culture medium so leaving urine in the tubing adds to the problem. I strongly suspect that the corrugated style of tubing is worse than the smooth sided silicon or rubber tubes.

So the best remedy is something that kills the bacteria but more importantly drys the tubing...hence a flush with methylated spirits is probably the best idea, cheap and readily available. I use a tomato sauce bottle. Some metho always spills on the suit and runs down the outside of the leg and seems to have no detrimental effect on the drysuit after several years of doing this. And the mess evaporates straight away anyway.

You do not want pseudomonas in your urinary tract, trust me! Not just unpleasant but potentially life threatening.

BTW when you see your doctor, the normal antibiotics for UTIs will usually not work. Tell them you probably have a pseudomonas infection and will need a different antibiotic (Norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin or gentamicin for example).

 

[Ioannis]

Hello guys,

I just got Steramine tablets to clean my pee valve.
Instruction mention about usage of 1 tablet per 1 gallon of water.
I want to ask you if you gonna make a large quantity of steramine sollution, how long can you store it so that it stays effective?
I mean can you use the same sollution you have made a week or two ago, or does it lose its effectiveness?

 

[PT4476]

You most certainly can get a UTI from a pee valve, I speak from personal experience. I used to only flush mine out every few days of diving but since my incident I use diluted dettol or a 50/50 aclohol/white vinegar solution then flush with water at the end of each dive day.

 

[Jack Hammer]

Hello guys,

I just got Steramine tablets to clean my pee valve.
Instruction mention about usage of 1 tablet per 1 gallon of water.
I want to ask you if you gonna make a large quantity of steramine sollution, how long can you store it so that it stays effective?
I mean can you use the same sollution you have made a week or two ago, or does it lose its effectiveness?

Not sure how long it's good for. Ive been using a quarter or so sized Steramine tablet in a pint? size container for quite a while. I don't think twice if it sits for a few weeks. When I used a 2 liter sized bottle it would lose color after sitting in the sun in the back of a pick up after a few weeks, then I'd dump it a break up a new tablet.

 

[chris kippax]

I use this diy flusher. 50/50 mix of dettol & water then hook this up to the garden hose and the quick connector and let it flush for a few minutes. The flow is tuned to something similar to your urine output.