Should I rinse my BCD?

[tridacna]

I use a hose adapter. Connect to garden hose and flush. I use BC conditioner every few weeks.

 

[gcarter]

I use a hose adapter. Connect to garden hose and flush. I use BC conditioner every few weeks.

I have a hose adapter and don't like it. Too slow to fill.

 

[Pearlman]

How about using a descaler powder like the type used to clean washing machines? Is that a good idea?

 

[MichaelMc]

At day's end, stick inflator mouthpiece on faucet in tub, fill 1/4 full, slosh, drain, repeat once or twice. Sink with rest of gear in tub overnight. Orally inflate BC to guard against pinch flats, dry, store.

 

[BDSC]

At day's end, stick inflator mouthpiece on faucet in tub, fill 1/4 full, slosh, drain, repeat once or twice. Sink with rest of gear in tub overnight. Orally inflate BC to guard against pinch flats, dry, store.

That exactly what I do. When I do the soak, I use warm water with a touch of baby shampoo and then do a final rinse without the shampoo. Never had a BC problem in 27 years doing it this way.

 

[sh1513]

How about using a descaler powder like the type used to clean washing machines? Is that a good idea?

Probably not a good idea, you don't know what is in those products that could damage the bag or inflator parts.

Clean fresh water should be more than sufficient to dissolve salt crystals.

 

[Jonny Wishbone]

There is a product called "salt away" boat owners that boat in salt water usually know about it. get it at west marine for sure but walmart may have it too. you can spray it on everything and run it through your boat motor too. its good stuff....

 

[kelemvor]

I rinse mine every time. When I get home, I wash it with that cleaner stuff all the dive shops sell, and the garden hose to LPI adapter. After 4 years I still ended up with a leak in the bladder due to salt (or sand from shore dives?) caught in a seam. Thankfully I chose a wing with a replaceable bladder so it wasn't a big deal. I'm also a stickler for rinsing my regulators, and I have had a tech say something along the lines of "you've never rinsed this thing, have you?" I guess it's a good thing I have them service my regs annually.

There was not enough salt in mine to produce that photo you took. Just a few grains in the seam it seems.

Not entirely sure what I'm doing wrong but I feel like that hour or two I spend cleaning gear after a dive is wasted.

 

[CT-Rich]

I take my wet box from the car and fill it with all the gear with water. slosh it around and drain as I go along when it has drained enough outside I hang it in the garage to really dry. BCD gets drained after rinsing and I flush with fresh water as time allows (maybe every second or third outing). At the end of the season we used to add a small vodka bottle to it for winter storage (this was 30 years ago). I stopped doing that I wouldn't use anything that you are not okay accidentally swallowing or is potentially corrosive, like a descaling agent. You might want to do a warm water flush to to unstick it at the start of the season. 5 years with out being used is pretty much a needs to be serviced situation, both for the BCD and Regulator.

I really don't want to know what might be crawling around in the dark recesses of well used BCD. This is why I always cringe when the topic of breathing off your BCD comes up in threads. yuck.

 

[Fastmarc]

I'm always amazed at the amount of water I see people dump out of their BCD after a dive. Regardless of how deep I go I have never seen a drop come out of mine.
Regardless I always rinse outside and flush inside several times after dives. My OCD wouldn't have it any other way.