Rinsing dive gear

[TMHeimer]

Not really he posted a couple of long posts with a lot of info. He wasn't concerned about a little fresh water getting in but didn't post dunking an open 1st stage into fresh water. He's of the opinion that a dust cap with a good o ring will prevent rinse water from entering the 1st stage while submerged. Since I've done that for decades and also service my own reg and have never seen evidence of water in the dry areas I tend to agree the dust caps with a good O ring hand tight will keep the 1st stage internals dry in a rinse tub.

Agree. And I make sure the dust cap is darned tight on there before using the hose.

 

[Bigbella]

I

He's of the opinion that a dust cap with a good o ring will prevent rinse water from entering the 1st stage while submerged. Since I've done that for decades and also service my own reg and have never seen evidence of water in the dry areas I tend to agree the dust caps with a good O ring hand tight will keep the 1st stage internals dry in a rinse tub.

You're obviously in the minority, in terms of being able to service your own gear; and, kudos, that you were always able to soak your disconnected regulators without any water intrusion; but the bulk of gear that I have serviced, over the years, hasn't fared remotely as well as yours; and the rate of interior corrosion of unfinished brass has often proved spectacular -- so much so, that on one occasion, a regulator became unusable, do to heavy pitting of interior sealing surfaces, especially an HP port, where the o-ring would no longer provide a reliable seal . . .

Thankfully, the pieces of crap that have passed for Poseidon dust-caps, over the years (hollow plastic on the yokes, w/o o-rings), have all-but ensured that I soak my gear while it remains pressurized.

Poseidon, even went so far, as to provide instructions, sown in their later regulator bags, to prevent such issues (see above) . . .

 

[AfterDark]

You're obviously in the minority, in terms of being able to service your own gear; and, kudos, that you were always able to soak your disconnected regulators without any water intrusion; but the bulk of gear that I have serviced, over the years, hasn't fared remotely as well as yours; and the rate of interior corrosion of unfinished brass has often proved spectacular -- so much so, that on one occasion, a regulator became unusable, do to heavy pitting of interior sealing surfaces, especially an HP port, where the o-ring would no longer provide a reliable seal . . .

Thankfully, the pieces of crap that have passed for Poseidon dust-caps, over the years (hollow plastic w/o o-rings), have all-but ensured that I soak my gear while it remains pressurized . . .

Thanks,
Everyone isn't the same I wear many hats here at the homestead in the woods of RI. My auto tech, plumber, electrician, landscaper, ammo makers, regulator tech hats to name a few. I'd have probably found a way to make those POS caps water tight by now, maybe not but I'd would have tried! Others just call someone or bring X somewhere to be repaired.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I have a Behlen Country galvanized metal livestock water trough that I use. It’s a small one, 2’x2’x3’ with rounded ends. They are popular now with people making them into vegetable gardens.
Anyway, when I get home all my gear goes into that and I fill it up with about a foot of water. The reg stays on the tank pressurized (always) and is the first thing in. The BC is next, followed by all the rest of the stuff. If I’m too tired I just leave it in to soak overnight and deal with it the next day. The wing I fill with some water from the hose into the oral inflator then slosh it around and rotate the rig to make sure the whole inside of the wing gets rinsed. Then I orally inflate it, then blast out all the water with the inflator hanging down. I do this twice to make sure all the salt water is out of the wing. I also unzip the wing and run the hose into the area between the inner bladder and the outer shell. After the rig is rinsed I hang it upside down to drip dry and orally inflate the wing so all the water will trickle down inside then drain it out completely.
After everything else has been rinsed and hung up, I stand the tank up in the tub with reg still on it pressurized, and I take the hose and hold it up to the ambient chamber holes on the reg with my hand cupped round the end of the hose to seal it around the holes and make sure to blast water into the ambient chamber so I see water run out of the other holes. Another way to do it if you don’t have a hose handy is to use spray bottle on jet spray and shoot it into the holes so you see water squirt out the other holes. This insures that you cleaned out the ambient chamber really well. Just soaking it doesn’t work because there is no flow through and salt water will sit in there stagnant. After the reg is cleaned and soaked really well I take it out and stand it up in the garage still pressurized and let it dry, then take it apart and put it away later. I’m extremely careful not to get any salt water into the reg while changing tanks too.
After all the gear is cleaned, I use the water on my plants in the front yard (drought).

After a day of diving, I don’t worry too much about getting my gear in fresh water right away. It’s sometimes a two or three hour drive home so the gear just goes into a big gear bag wet and I deal with it at home.
I service my own stuff too and even after a few years when I finally tear it down, I never see a hint of anything gross inside, always very clean. I must be doing something right. My wing inflator has never been serviced or taken apart and still works fine. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. It’s an Oxycheq wing almost 15 years old now.
Back before I was working on my own gear and before I knew to soak regs pressurized, (I used to soak them with the dust cap on in the sink), I was told by the service tech that the insides were green.
Since I’ve been soaking them pressurized I’ve never had a problem.

 

[SlugLife]

View attachment 674780



Perhaps, he was only referring to the open areas of first stages, were water normally has some access, such as the example above?

Not really he posted a couple of long posts with a lot of info. He wasn't concerned about a little fresh water getting in but didn't post dunking an open 1st stage into fresh water. He's of the opinion that a dust cap with a good o ring will prevent rinse water from entering the 1st stage while submerged. Since I've done that for decades and also service my own reg and have never seen evidence of water in the dry areas I tend to agree the dust caps with a good O ring hand tight will keep the 1st stage internals dry in a rinse tub.

Agree. And I make sure the dust cap is darned tight on there before using the hose.

Ok, this makes a LOT more sense. That wasn't exactly clear in the OP, or maybe I missed it (since it's a lot of text). I have a pony-tank, so I might end up using that normally, but if it's not available, I'll make sure the dust-caps are nice and secure.

 

[AfterDark]

I have 1929 cast iron tub with legs mounted on concrete slab with a drain that runs to my adjacent lot. I have hot and cold water with a inline mix valve so I can use warm water. Dump the gear in fill the tub with warm water, marinate, overnight sometimes

 

[sandiegoaes]

Do you mean you screw on the cap (DIN) or stupid rubber stopper (yoke) and literally throw the whole reg set, 1st and 2nd stages, into water and let it soak?

Yes

Doesn't that allow water to get into the 1st stage through the 2nd stage and hose?

No

 

[sandiegoaes]

I'll make sure the dust-caps are nice and secure.

This is all I do. I don't use a pony bottle. 30+ years of doing this and I haven't had any issues.

 

[sandiegoaes]

Ideally you won't ever submerge an unpressurized 1st Stage.

I have been soaking my regs unpressurized for 30+ years without issue. I put them in a fresh water water filled tub without a pony bottle and let the soak as I drive home from the dive site.

 

[sandiegoaes]

If I'm reading OP correctly, he allows water to get inside the first stage? Completely soaking the regulators, inside and out?

No. Not inside and outside. Only the external parts of the reg. Put a dust cap in place before soaking the regs. I just don't use a pressurized tank when soaking my regs.

However, if fresh water gets into the regs, it usually isn't a big deal and you can hook it up to a tank and blow the water out.