Water in bladder inside wing?

[Craig66]

The good news is, is that as you get more experience with your equipment, your diving and your buoyancy, the amount of water that accumulates in your bladder will decrease. Here I refer specifically to your BC bladder. Your own bladder is a totally different matter entirely

In general the less air added and released will result in less water accumulating.

It is absolutely normal and is nothing you should worry about. You should make sure that you rinse it out with a good clean water flush and then drain all the water (or as much of it as you can) before storing.

 

[stuartv]

Thanks, all. I feel much better now. Being my first ever BC of any kind, and having bought a used one that is 10 years old, my first thought was that there was something wrong.

I fly to Riviera Maya on Wednesday and do my first real (i.e. fun) dive on Thursday. I CAN'T WAIT!

 

[tbone1004]

one of the biggest ways they come in is by divers not dumping air when vertical.
With a bc you never have to raise the inflator over your shoulder which is a very uncommon thing in diving unfortunately.





most people do that. All that does is let water in the inflator the whole time and is completely unnecessary. All you have to do is raise it so it is parallel with the elbow to let all the air out. Hell most instructors do that

It won't let me insert the image here, but
http://img.diveadvisor.com/photos/bcd-6227.jpg
that is as high as the inflator should ever go. That will help with water getting into the bladder, but also save strain on your hoses, keeps you from looking like a damned moron in the water, and is actually the easiest way to ascent. If you keep the inflator at it's normal level, keep the oral inflation button depressed and slowly raise it to where the air starts coming out. On your whole ascent while vertical you keep the button depressed, and move the inflator up and down slightly to control your ascent rate. Because it is open, the wing will automatically compensate for the decreased pressure by equalizing the whole way up and you can control the ascent by slowly sculling your feet. It's the easiest/best/most efficient way to make a vertical ascent. Bit trickier when you're flat coming up, but still possible, just is a controlled lean to the right.

As far as draining the best method is as follows.
Inflate BC fully
hold the plate flat in your left arm with the inflator pointing to the left, butt dump closest to your right shoulder tipping it slightly so the dump is the lowest point in the wing
SLOWLY pinch the dump valve until it is cracked just enough that water is coming out. If you pull it all the way open you'll never get the air out. You need the pressure to push the water out. Once air does start coming out, reinflate and do it one more time and you will be about as dry as you'll ever get it.

 

[stuartv]

Thanks for that, tbone! That is some great info.

 

[Craig66]

Thanks, all. I feel much better now. Being my first ever BC of any kind, and having bought a used one that is 10 years old, my first thought was that there was something wrong.

I fly to Riviera Maya on Wednesday and do my first real (i.e. fun) dive on Thursday. I CAN'T WAIT!

Stuart have an amazing time. I will just add one more thing. Being that it is a 10 year old BC I hope that you had a good look at it and ensured that all is functioning. Perhaps fill with air and ensure that there is no leaks. Make sure that the power inflator is not sticking and working well. Replacing the power inflator can be really quick and easy fix.

 

[lucca brassi]

proper deflation of BCD or wing with inflator is holding inflator behind your neck at highest point of your body

 

[tbone1004]

since when Lucca? Only two times you should ever be deflating from the inflator.

Leaving the surface, when you don't actually have to pick it up because you're overweighted due to the air in the tank, so you don't have to pick it up any more than parallel to the surface of the water at most.

Almost at the surface when you go vertical which is typically only after your 15ft stop and that is just to control ascent rate while you make sure you aren't going to run into a boat.... *this also applies to certain chimneys in cave diving*

 

[stuartv]

Stuart have an amazing time. I will just add one more thing. Being that it is a 10 year old BC I hope that you had a good look at it and ensured that all is functioning. Perhaps fill with air and ensure that there is no leaks. Make sure that the power inflator is not sticking and working well. Replacing the power inflator can be really quick and easy fix.

Thanks, Craig.

And yes, the day I received it, I took the wing off the BP and blew it up with the oral inflator, as full as I could get it. I left it overnight and it was still just as full and tight the next morning. Using it in the pool yesterday. the power inflator worked perfectly fine, too.

 

[Rayallyn]

I always rinse the bladder with fresh water after use. I have one of those hose connections to the inflate connection and fill the bladder with fresh water that way.

 

[Stoo]

It also happens when you inflate the wing... a small amount of water will usually be sucked in through the mouthpiece due to a venturi effect of the air coming through the inflator.

I dive in fresh water most of the time, so I'm really bad at rinsing gear (i.e. never do it) and it's amazing how much water accumulates over the course of a bunch of dives!