Should I rinse my BCD?

[Cowfish Aesthetic]

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.

Someone will tell me if I'm wrong, but I believe that means you're never fully deflating your BC (which would generally mean you're over-weighted).

 

[Fastmarc]

Someone will tell me if I'm wrong, but I believe that means you're never fully deflating your BC (which would generally mean you're over-weighted).

I doubt it. I only have 8 lbs and don't add much air during a dive.

My only guess is the way I dump air which by pulling on the dump valve on the inflator hose (left shoulder). I never lift the inflator hose above my head to dump.

 

[agilis]

I doubt it. I only have 8 lbs and don't add much air during a dive.

My only guess is the way I dump air which by pulling on the dump valve on the inflator hose (left shoulder). I never lift the inflator hose above my head to dump.

It's nice to hear from someone in Jamaica.I lived in Grange Hill for a year back in the late 70s, dived with Cecil Brown. I still miss the place very much.

 

[dmaziuk]

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

No.

 

[dmaziuk]

Someone will tell me if I'm wrong, but I believe that means you're never fully deflating your BC (which would generally mean you're over-weighted).

I suspect once you're used to your BC and are weighed right, you won't need to keep pulling on the valve. Which is how you get more water in. Probably helps if it's a wing where it's easy to feel if there's any air left.

 

[Fastmarc]

It's nice to hear from someone in Jamaica.I lived in Grange Hill for a year back in the late 70s, dived with Cecil Brown. I still miss the place very much.

Were you diving here back then? I hear the reefs were amazing back in those days.

 

[agilis]

Were you diving here back then? I hear the reefs were amazing back in those days.

Yes, they were spectacular. Negril, where i did most of my diving, was a sleepy village back then.

 

[Sam Miller III]

In the genesis of recreational diving I was a advisor or a consultant to a number of companies.

Sea Tec /Inflatable Systems was established by a pioneer spearfisherman/diver ex Aerospace engineer Harry Rescigno (Pro- Ree cen O) in the SoCal city of Orange. At that time the European developed large vest were beginning to appear in the American diving market; the Fenzy and the equally tough Nimrod. Both were equipped with oral inflator mouth pieces which were difficult to use.

Harry went to work and designed and developed the first push button oral inflator. Soon all the major manufactures were ether copying or had developed their own version of the push button inflator.

Harry next project was to develop the original concept of the double bag unit, The outer bag was of tough protective ballistic material the inner bag was of a much more reasonable priced easy to replace plastic. Initial tests were not good - the inner plastic bag was a mother lode for breeding mold. After testing a number of suppliers one was accepted and became the standard at that time for the dive industry

Soon leakage problems developed in the inner bags from salt crystal growth due to lack of preventative care.

After considerable experimenting with the products available at that time it was determined that the common "Dawn" dish soap was the best antidote.

The recommended procedure was to depress oral inflator, then squirt a liberal amount of Dawn into jt followed by water -- (at that time from a hose) fill with about a 1/2 gallon of water and shake vigorously

Drain - repeat filling and draining until the water existing from the hose does nit have a salty or soapy taste.

Inflate the unit to about 1/2 capacity and store in a cool place

Both Sea Tec/Inflatable Systems and U S divers aka now Aqua lung did a 24 hour QC test for leakage on their inflatable units -- If it leaked it was rejected and repaired or rejected and scraped

I would suggest that all once again view Alex Peirce's BC maintenance video clip previously posted by @Tom_Ivan .

Sam Miller,III

 

[stuartv]

Amazon.com : Innovative BC Flush Hose with Inflator Adapter : Sports & Outdoors

 

[Sam Miller III]

@stuartv
Great find & a great price !
I am ordering one --how about you ?
I now question why wasn't something like this on the market years ago?
Simple but so effective

SDM