Why Do I Still Have Salt Buildup???!!??

[jiveturkey]

I rinsed my gear in cold water on sunday afternoon after my dive. When I got home, I soaked it again in cold water. I noticed I still have white stuff in the creases of my bc and on my reg. I dumped both in a big plastic tub with warm water and soaked for a few hours. I hung it to dry last night and there's still that salt film on it. On my guage, there were still salt crystals!!! What do I have to do to get this stuff clean? Do I have to start using a tooth brush? Nobody I've ever talked to does much more than give their stuff a soak and a rinse.

[FredT]

Not all sea salts will dissolve in neutral or basic water once precipitated out during drying.
Put a half liter of vinegar in about 10 liters of water, then soak a few minutes in that, followed by a clear water rinse.
Salt should be gone.

FT

[jiveturkey]

Do you do this after every dive trip?

[annie]

Good question - I've noticed this too. Does anyone else use vinegar?

[jiveturkey]

FredT once bubbled...
Not all sea salts will dissolve in neutral or basic water once precipitated out during drying.
Put a half liter of vinegar in about 10 liters of water, then soak a few minutes in that, followed by a clear water rinse.
Salt should be gone.

FT


Is it really ok to soak your gear in vinegar? BC and reg?

[Gilligan]

Cold water does not dissolve salt, warm water does.

[JeffAustin]

If all your gear is being dumped into a tub, flush the water out a couple of times. The water in the first soak becomes salty after you throw your gear in it, it is not fresh water anymore. Warm water helps, too.

[SubMariner]

Put a half liter of vinegar in about 10 liters of water, then soak a few minutes in that, followed by a clear water rinse...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in addition to this being done in warm water, isn't there supposed to be a baking soda in water solution soak after that to neutralize/halt the acid from the vinegar?

THEN that is supposed to be followed up by a clear water soak.

?????

~SubMariner~

[FredT]

A light sodium baicarb solution will nutralize the little acid left after the vinegar rise. Is it strictly necessary? No.

The vinegar solution I described is .25% acetic acid (2.5ppt). A thorough fresh water rinse will remove that. acetic acid is one of the chemiclas used by repair gurrus to clean your reg parts, and dilute acetic is not agressive to the other components of your gear.

I use an acid rinse only if my gear dries out after a dip in salt water before I rinse it. If it stayed wet there will be no salt precipitation so no need for the acid to dissolve it.

Hot 5% acetic (straight vinegar) will clean almost any salt build-up off your gear, but it will strip a cheap chrome job if you leave it in there too long too.


FT


SubMariner once bubbled...


Correct me if I'm wrong, but in addition to this being done in warm water, isn't there supposed to be a baking soda in water solution soak after that to neutralize/halt the acid from the vinegar?

THEN that is supposed to be followed up by a clear water soak.

?????

~SubMariner~

[Arnaud]

Before we put in a water softener, the water was really hard in our area. A bottle of shampoo would turn completely white after a week in the shower...

[Allen42]

I had a very experienced diver tell me that they put about 1/2 cup of vinegar and 2 cups of water in their bc, air it up all the way, shake it around and let it sit for a day. They then shake it up every day for the next copule of days to "re-coat" the inside. They said they usually just leave the solution in the BC until the next trip, but sometimes will rinse it out after a few days. One of his BCs is VERY old, and has the original bladder, so this can't be too bad for the BC.... any thoughts?