Chlorine also kills dive gear.
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Yea I never thought about this issue when I was doing OW but perhaps I should have... When we had to do mask replacements too, we had to swap masks. Most people spit in their masks... I think there are hygiene issues as I doubt the chlorine kills germs that quickly.
I remember getting an insta-buddy on a boat one day whose mouth was *covered* in cold sores, and thinking "I really hope nothing happens that would require us to buddy breathe!"
After class I was thinking about it and realized that I had just successfully "swapped spit" with 3 different people in less than an hour
Also, pee is not taken care off by chlorine in a swimming pool. Pee is sterile to began with, what it contains are electrolytes, water, left over vitamins, minerals and various non-living waste chemicals.
Chlorine only reacts with organics and living stuff. Oh, and causes faster corrosion of metals.
So, today in class we were playing with hula hoops. One of the last exercises we did had us trying to get 3 people though a series of 6 hoops using 1 tank (we had a primary and a secondary regulator) this obviously required us to buddy breath though the whole thing. After class I was thinking about it and realized that I had just successfully "swapped spit" with 3 different people in less than an hour (I was buddy breathing with my usual buddy for another exercise we did before this). I know chlorine can take care of things like pee in the water, but how good is it!? By moving the regulator quickly though the water will the chlorine actually kill anything that manages to latch onto it? For the 2 breaths that a regulator is in your mouth, can you actually pass on a nasty cold or anything else?? (Not that you would be diving with a bad cold) .... Im not really too worried about this, just very curious. Any input would be appreciated!