Hi all: I feel like soaking my gear in my local tap water is *almost* like soaking my gear in a chlorinated pool. After a pool session, or a saltwater dive, I always rinse my gear out in my bathtub and let it soak. I rarely drink my tap water though without using a brita filter--so is rinsing my gear in tap water just adding to the negative chemical effects of being in a swimming pool, or do you think the level of tap water chlorine is minimal enough? I am assuming my tap water is chlorinated, is that legal/normal? It sure tastes "poolish". Anyone ever wonder about this, or am I being neurotic?
Tap water rinsing & chlorine
- Thread starter WillyCham
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
windapp
Contributor
The chlorine in your local tap water will be an order of magnitude or more lower than in your local swimming pool.
diverrex
Contributor
Never wondered about it, yes I think it is being "neurotic" or simply way too much time on your hands to think about it. Of course I also drink tap water at times.
Don't give the chlorine in your tap water another thought. I assume you use that same water supply for laundry and bathing. Are you clothes bleached or have you gone blond?
Pete
Pete
Them
Contributor
Most tap water (in the US at least) uses elemental chlorine. As in 80+ percent of all muni water supplies as I recall. They expose the water to a high partial pressure of chlorine and the chlorine dissolves into the water just like nitrogen into a diver's body on a dive.
As a scuba diver might guess, as soon as water with elevated chlorine is exposed to atmospheric air, the difference in partial pressures means chlorine starts leaving the water just like elevated nitrogen leaves a diver as she rises. Within a certain amount of time the chlorine in the water will equalize with the chlorine in the air.
Normal atmospheric air has just about 0.00% chlorine gas.
Which means there's an 80+ percent chance that your chlorinated tap water will no longer be chlorinated if you leave it out for awhile. The amount of time depends on a few factors but as a rough guide an aquarium will take a day or two, and smaller volumes (e.g. residual water in your gear after rinsing) will shed the chlorine faster. Sometimes much faster. So if you hose off your gear with chlorinated water, and let it hang dry, the chlorine will be gone before the water is.
I don't know how it works for the other types of chlorination though.
As a scuba diver might guess, as soon as water with elevated chlorine is exposed to atmospheric air, the difference in partial pressures means chlorine starts leaving the water just like elevated nitrogen leaves a diver as she rises. Within a certain amount of time the chlorine in the water will equalize with the chlorine in the air.
Normal atmospheric air has just about 0.00% chlorine gas.
Which means there's an 80+ percent chance that your chlorinated tap water will no longer be chlorinated if you leave it out for awhile. The amount of time depends on a few factors but as a rough guide an aquarium will take a day or two, and smaller volumes (e.g. residual water in your gear after rinsing) will shed the chlorine faster. Sometimes much faster. So if you hose off your gear with chlorinated water, and let it hang dry, the chlorine will be gone before the water is.
I don't know how it works for the other types of chlorination though.
fire_diver
Contributor
I've been rinsing / soaking my gear in tap water for years and never had any problems from fading or deterioration. I consider the clorine in the water as an aide to removing bacteria from the lakes I normally dive in.
- Messages
- 16,644
- Reaction score
- 5,417
- # of dives
- 1000 - 2499
Yeah, never a problem. I only use a hose to rinse off with tap water and don't soak my stuff. Everything OK after 7 years and most of it used to begin with.
Personally, I only use Poland Spring to rinse my gear. You can drink from my wing -It's delightful! Thanks for the advice Jerry!
I don't drink the tap water in my area because it tastes funny, but I definitely always wash my gear in it!
I'm slightly curious though... what would your alternative be for washing your gear? With Dasani or SmartWater? :biggrin:
I'm slightly curious though... what would your alternative be for washing your gear? With Dasani or SmartWater? :biggrin:
drinksfromtap
Contributor
WillyCham - you're essentially correct, since the levels maintained in pools and in municipal water supplies are similar. Pools tend to be run with around 2 mg/L chlorine residual, while you'd typically see from 0.2 mg/l to 4 mg/L in your tap water. What you actually get at your tap depends on how close your are to the water plant and how your operators like to run the system. The major difference is that pool water will tend to have higher levels of chlorine byproducts, such as various chloramines (formed when you sweat or pee in the pool) and chlorinated organic stuff. I'm not sure how much of an effect these byproducts have on dive gear compared to "free" chlorine. In some places, they use monochloramine as a disinfectant, which is less reactive in chlorine and would probably be less harsh on your gear.
This next part gets into the weeds of chlorine disinfection and can easily be ignored
Them - you're essentially correct in your description of chlorine disinfection. To add to what you wrote, utilities that use gas chlorine typically draw the gas into a water stream under vacuum, where it reacts with water to form hypochlorous acid (HOCl), which acts as the primary disinfecting agent. Chlorine typically does not hang around as an elemental gas unless the pH is really low (below 3.5 or so, if I remember correctly). Some systems use high-strength bleach instead of chlorine gas for various reasons.
Also, while free chlorine will dissipate over a couple of days when left out, chloramines will not - they are much more stable in the water. So, if you decide to let water sit out a couple days to reduce chlorine, make sure your system uses free chlorine, and not chloramines.
SOURCE: I'm a drinking water treatment engineer and spent 2 years researching chloramine disinfection of viruses, and I've worked on gas chlorine and sodium hypochlorite system designs.
This next part gets into the weeds of chlorine disinfection and can easily be ignored
Them - you're essentially correct in your description of chlorine disinfection. To add to what you wrote, utilities that use gas chlorine typically draw the gas into a water stream under vacuum, where it reacts with water to form hypochlorous acid (HOCl), which acts as the primary disinfecting agent. Chlorine typically does not hang around as an elemental gas unless the pH is really low (below 3.5 or so, if I remember correctly). Some systems use high-strength bleach instead of chlorine gas for various reasons.
Also, while free chlorine will dissipate over a couple of days when left out, chloramines will not - they are much more stable in the water. So, if you decide to let water sit out a couple days to reduce chlorine, make sure your system uses free chlorine, and not chloramines.
SOURCE: I'm a drinking water treatment engineer and spent 2 years researching chloramine disinfection of viruses, and I've worked on gas chlorine and sodium hypochlorite system designs.
Similar threads
