Wetsuit in washing machine?

[johndiver999]

Certainly, this is a terrible idea, based on my past experience. Rinse and soak your wetsuit in a large tub, then dry it in the shade, avoiding direct sunlight. If necessary, use the anti-smell product available at the dive shop, and that's all.

In my experience, if you have a really stinky suit, washing it well and then drying the inside in direct sunlight should help kill nasty things, of course the Uv light is not good for the suit, but if you do it a few times a year, I doubt it will matter.

The sunlight also seems particularly good at sanitizing open cell Freediver wetsuit interiors that can harbor nasties that can cause rashes. The porous nature of the material surface along with incompletely washed lubricant, can make for a bit of a Petri dish, if you are not diligent with cleaning.

 

[BoltSnap]

In my experience, if you have a really stinky suit, washing it well and then drying the inside in direct sunlight should help kill nasty things, of course the Uv light is not good for the suit, but if you do it a few times a year, I doubt it will matter.

The sunlight also seems particularly good at sanitizing open cell Freediver wetsuit interiors that can harbor nasties that can cause rashes. The porous nature of the material surface along with incompletely washed lubricant, can make for a bit of a Petri dish, if you are not diligent with cleaning.

Perhaps it depends on where you are on the planet. Here in Libya, you really don't want to hang anything in the sun except your clothes to dry. I'd rather use a disinfectant or those odor eaters than leave any of my dive equipment, especially suits, out in the direct sunlight.

Additionally, free divers often consider their suits disposable and replace them more frequently than scuba divers do. Consequently, they may not care about leaving their suits in direct sunlight.

 

[lizardland]

Why would you want to take that out? It's a sign of an experienced diver. One should be proud of the "divers' smell" and not try to wash it out!

Very useful when crossing through customs. I was driving home from a month long cave diving trip in France and got pulled over at the ferry terminal in Dover by customs officers. They asked if I'd mind opening the back of my truck. I have never been so happy to agree because I knew what it was like and it had been maturing all day in the 12 hour drive in 30C+ temperatures. I opened the tailgate and stood back as they stuck their heads in and the cloud of urine and sweat and French cheese & saucisson hit them. Everything was caked in mud too and still dripping wet. Strangely they weren't keen to go exploring and I got waved through.

 

[Centrals]

1. Rinse it after every dive. Soak it in a bath/bucket for an hr or so would be better but not practical when I am diving in a resort.
2. Never ever dried it under the sun. UV light is detrimental to neoprene. No scuba equipment other than the metal plate is safe to be placed directly under the sun.
3. All the washing instruction on every wet suit that I ever had, never suggested to clean it in a washing machine.

 

[tmassey]

Fine, I’ll be the counter argument:

I wash my wetsuit in the washing machine. NOTE: Front load, not top load: top loads with an agitator absolutely destroy everything that’s put into them. Front load are quite gentle. Top load without agitator, I can’t say.

I do this probably every three months or so. I virtually never pee in my wetsuit, so that isn’t the problem, but I dive in a freshwater river near my home and the suit will definitely get funky. Yes, I could probably use some of the biological enzyme soak stuff, but I’m lazy. I chuck everything in the washing machine with Costco brand detergent. Works really well. Delicate cycle, medium speed spin.

Could it damage my wetsuit? Maybe. But I’ve been doing it for the past several years, and I haven’t noticed pulling my suit out of the washing machine in any worse shape than I put it in. Besides, the diving that I do is completely infested with zebra mussels, so they’re 1000 times worse than what the washing machine might be doing to my suit.

For the record, my suit is a 15+ year-old Tilos 7mm 2-piece. This is old school neoprene: none of that “hyper stretch“ nonsense, this is good, old-fashioned stiff-as-a-board no-stretch neoprene as God intended. . It’s possible that stretchier, more fragile neoprene may take more damage. I can’t say.


TRIGGER WARNING! I also wash my dry suit in the washing machine. Admittedly, I’m a lot more nervous about this than my wetsuit, but again, so far I don’t seem to have pulled my suit out of the washing machine in worse shape that I put it in. I have a DUI CLX 450. For that one, I turn the suit inside out (neoprene socks FTW) and run it through the machine. Again, I haven’t noticed any deleterious effect on my suit. It just smells better.


I see a lot of people hating on using a washing machine in this thread. My question is: how many of you have ever done it? Or are you just echoing your emotional “gut feeling“? Like I said, I’ve been doing this for something like three years. So far, so good.

Many of you have commented that manufacturers say don’t do it. Honestly, they probably know what they’re doing, and they’re probably aware of specific issues. I’m not actually arguing against that. But like I said, I’m lazy. And so far, it hasn’t bitten me in the butt.

 

[ibj40]

Quoting BARE: "The wetsuit should be periodically washed with mild detergent either by hand or on the delicate cycle in washing machine."

Which is what we do after every dive trip.

 

[clownfishsydney]

Nothing wrong with spin drying a wetsuit after washing by hand, but just make sure that no part of it can rub against part of the machine that does not spin.

For washing to get rid of yucky stuff, put some Dettol in the water.

 

[Scubagermany]

I put them in the washing machine once a year or if its particularly stained with residues.
I use a neopren washing agent.
Hand wash selection. I have never had any problems with it.

 

[DanBMW]

You can and we do with some, in a front load washer, at the aquarium where I dive, after every dive. On a personal wetsuit, it's really not necessary. A good soak and rinse then dry, and any normal odor disappears.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Neoprene? I'm in the 'never' camp. A good soaking overnight in McNett Odor Eliminator (formerly Mirazyme) after each dive trip and then hang to dry in the garage. That is all mine ever see, and it works great. I do this with my wetsuits, boots, and pocket shorts. During the course of each trip (2-4 days typically), the above gets a quick rinse and is then hung up/set out to dry (as much as possible) overnight.

I do wash my Sharkskin hooded vest & socks along with the spearfishing gloves I wear, but those are not neoprene. They get washed on cold with a little detergent, extra water, double rinse, in a top-load no-agitator washing mashing and then hung to dry in the bathroom.

I've been following this routine for over 9 years now since I moved to Florida and all my diving became both wet (wetsuits vs. drysuits) and salty. It works very well for me. Odor is removed and everything holds up very well.

One item I do very much agree with is to keep everything out of the direct sun. Nothing will destroy materials such as neoprene faster than the direct sun. Maybe chlorine is even worse, that that is another topic entirely.