smelly BCD - how to fix?
- Thread starter quitzalcoatl
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Caje
Guest
Simple Green is a mulilevel dissinfectant that started it's life as a industrial type cleaner but has gotten so popular now you can by it at Wal-Mart. The only drawback is that it leaves a geriatric,old person smell to it. (no offense)quitzalcoatl:
I can save you alot of time and money. Your dive shop oughtta have somthen to deestink a BC. Akona makes a real good deestinkifier. But it has been my experience and all time favorite is to tea bag you BC ( Hell, dunk the whole gear bag for that matter) in a SWIMMING POOL,yes a pool. You can almost hear the little microbs sceaming bloody murder as the chlorine kills anything from lice to funk. Let is sit in the pool for a little while (you decide how long) then take it out, wash it off and your good to go. Trust me, Ive instructed enough classes to know.
Good suggestion Caje, but the chlorine may in time discolor your gear. Do it infrequently and it shouldn't be an issue. I imagine adding a couple capfuls of Clorox to a bin of water would have the same effect.
Caje
Guest
jonnythan:
Hey jonny,
You got a point but the whole concept is to kill the funk, not kill the BC. All he has to do is wash it off after he dunks it and no discoloration will accur. Ive been doing it this way for years and have had my BC for 3years now and it hasn't happened yet.
JUST WASH IT WITH FRESH WATER AFTER YOU DUNK IT!!!!
The bleach thing I'm a little sceptical about. Ive seen gear eaten into because some of the material dosn't hold up to the acidic factor of bleach. You have to wash your gear onstantly because the bleach dosn't wash of after a few rinse cycles like chlorine does.
Hank49
Contributor
Clorox is bleach. It's a 5% solution. The chlorine powder used in swimming pools is 65%. There is calcium hypochlorite and sodium hypochlorite. Both are strong oxidizing agents and smell and act exactly alike. If you want to neutralize the chlorine after dipping, use a sodium thiosulfate dip. It will nuetralize the chlorine instantly at a .5 : 1 thiosulfatre to chlorine ratio. (half the thio as the active reading of chlorine using a swimming pool test kit) Hank
Caje
Guest
Hank49:
WHOOOAH,...can we have that in lamans terms Hank (just kidding) I don't know percentages of this,that and the other all I know is that they way I'm doing it now works for me. You seem pretty much on the up and up on this stuff. Are you a pool guy or perhaps a chemist, maybe you can help this guy out better than the rest of us can. Thanks for the info
What he said was that the chlorine in the pool and the chlorine in bleach are basically the same thing, which is why I said in my post that some Clorox will do the same thing as the local pool.
Caje
Guest
jonnythan:
I got it, I got it. I got I the first time I was busten his chops at the risk of being humorous.
Hank49
Contributor
Caje:
I sound pretty smart huh? Well, it's only the sound. I'm pretty in tune with chlorine because it's used in aquaculture for disinfecting water and washing tanks etc. So we had to nuetralize it or any residue will kill the algae and shrimp we try to grow. But, the tomato worked the best for getting the s**t smell off my shoes and my friend's bcd. (see my first post in this thread)
Caje
Guest
ohhh boy
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