Rinsing Equipment

[spectrum]

After I rinse our gear in a big tub I dump it on the lawn and refill it. Then with the cover on it I let the water stand in the sun. The result is usually a nice tub of warm water. It's real nice to come home to on a cool evening since it will still we warmer than the air temp.

Also built a dryring cart that goes out to the tub and rolls into the garage.

Pete

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

I do not have anyplace to hang gear outside out of direct sunlight, so I have added an extra shower rod in my bath to hang gear. I throw the gear in the tub, plug the tub, take my shower, letting residual shampoo and soap hit my equipment. Then rinse me and gear. Hang gear to dry.

 

[DBailey]

Living in an apartment complex, I really don't have the luxury of a yard or outside water/drying. After dives my bathroom is packed with scuba gear. First, I take my shower. Second, all of the gear gets a quick rinse from the shower head. Next everything soaks for a couple hours in the tub (with weights to hold everything under). Finally, after draining out all the water, everything gets another quick rinse before hanging up to dry.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Ideally, use the hose at low pressure with the scuba unit still pressurized so you can drop plenty of water into the second stages while cycling the purge button.

I would not recommend cycling the purge button unless the reg is pressurized. Water entering the second stage will make its way into the low-pressure hose and could end up back in the first stage.

I have never used soap myself, but I don't know if it would be good or bad in the long run.

Depends on the type of soap. Some soaps contain fragrances and other ingredients that help decay things like latex and o-rings. Lukewarm, fresh water is usually all you need anyway.

I start by soaking all my gear in the hottub, then I run the jets for a few minutes and next everything goes into the pool for a cold water rinse, finally everything goes into the garage onto the drying racks for a day or so.

Hot tubs can contain relatively high amounts of chlorine and/or bromine (to keep the science experiments in check) ... which wouldn't be good for the rubber or latex parts of your gear. But I have heard that some of the newer models use little or no chemicals, so I guess it depends on the hot tub.

Do not hang your drysuit near a hot water heater. It will do a number on your latex gaskets.

Ditto a furnace, or any other ozone-producing appliance. Ozone does bad things to latex.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[pasley]

I dive salt water which would I guess make a difference. I beach dive mostly which is hard on the gear with all the sand.

I take a 3 gallon bucket of hot water inside a Rubbermaid tub with me to the beach. The combination of the bucket with lid inside of the Rubbermaid tub with lid keeps the water quite warm. I place the bucket in the sun behind the car while I dive. When I come out of the water the 2nd stage and octo along with the computer go into the bucket as I set down my gear. They are of course still attached to the tank and under pressure. So my 2nd stage and computer are soaking from the moment I get back to my car. After I dry off and change clothes, I break it all down and put the wet stuff into the Rubbermaid tub. I find it is easier to remove salt if you never let the crystals have a chance to form.

At home, I went to a feed store and purchased a horse watering trough, 2'x2'x4' with a plug in the bottom (which I replaced with a ball valve). I hose rinse my gear and then soak it in the water trough for a couple of hours (often over night). My 1st stage is attached to the tank and all of it goes into the rinse tank for a soak. I made a fame work of PVC pipe filled with sand as a weight to hold everything under water. Every few weeks I add some BCD Shampoo to the tank for a soak, then I dump the tank (I have an acrylic lid on it to keep the trash out).

Since the wet suit is a neoprene product, I would want to be careful not to dry it out by using harsh degreasing chemicals on it. I hear bleach and chlorine (same thing) are hard on neoprene. So I would skip the swimming pool rinse.

My gear is 3 years old with 178 dives (160+ beach) on it and still in very good shape.

 

[Damselfish]

I wouldn't use the hot tub or pool, the chemicals are something you would want to wash off your gear. (And the stuff you're washing off your gear, you may not want in the hot tub or pool either.) Even the routines that use less chemicals still use some. Some hot tubs also have ozone generators which can reduce the need for chemicals, but then as mentioned you don't want the gear around ozone either.

 

[knotical]

Actually no! You do not want to dip/soak the whole 1st stage since that little DUST cap is just that! It is not water tight at all. You are better off leaving the reg on the tank (pressurized) to clean the first stage, then you can soak the 2nd/octo/gauges in the warm water.

Maybe it depends on the reg. I’ve always soaked my first stages (Atomic and Aqualung) with the mis-named dust cap in place. I have never gotten water in the first stage doing this. I service my own (and other) regs and would have seen the evidence. I agree that keeping the reg pressurized is probably best, but not always convenient.

 

[moneysavr]

I allways rinse with the hose salt or fresh,and dip the reg set in fresh water with dust cap on,
My BCD and wet suit i will soak and rinse with a bit of pert shampoo=then fresh water rinse and dry,rinse the in side of you BCD too,water will enter it and will muck it up! rinse it out and hang for a day or two with vent off,then put vent on and MAKE SURE YOU DONT LOOSE THE SEAL!!!!!! and add a breath or two of air to stop it from sticking togeather,till next use.
Sink the stink works but a mild soap will do the same thing,even a capfull or two of mouth wash listerene will stop the quarry smell!

 

[Charlie99]

Living in an apartment complex, I really don't have the luxury of a yard or outside water/drying. After dives my bathroom is packed with scuba gear.

I've tried that method, but eventually changed to using the carwash area and hose in our condo complex.

I use a couple of 58quart containers (about 24"x18" and 12" high) to keep wet gear from dripping a lot of saltwater into the car trunk. When getting home I just fill up the tubs of gear with water at the carwash area of the parking lot, then let it drip dry for a couple minutes. Using the tubs to carry everything also minimizes the dripping as I haul everything through the condo out onto the patio.

Just plain old fresh water rinses for the BCD and regs. J&J baby shampoo for the neoprene, followed by a fresh water rinse.

 

[Michael Schlink]

Who wants to help Scuba_Jenny clean her gear?? (I'm sorry but I felt it needed to be said)