A mask fogging question ...

[The Kraken]

For what I have to pay for a bifocal mask, a lighter ain't gittin nowhere near it !!!!

the K-an't See without my Bifocals

 

[rockjock3]

Use either the lighter trick or regular (not gel) toothpaste to clean the inside of the mask. Once you do this then get the product called 500PSI.

Buy 500psi mask defog 507 with reviews at scuba.com

I bought my bottle 4 years and over 500 dives ago. I still have more than half the bottle and the only time my mask has ever fogged is when I forgot to put it on. You put an amount on your finger that is the size of about 1/2 to 3/4 the size of a grain of rice. You rub it on until you can see almost clearly through it. I do this after my mask is rinsed and dry. This way the stuff sits on it for anywhere from one day to maybe a week or so. When I go diving next it will not fog for as many dives as I do.

You can, however, put this stuff on whether your mask if dry or wet. Everybody that has used mine, when they forgot theirs ended up throwing theirs out and getting this stuff.

 

[Hank49]

I've never used anything but spit and the juice from kasla trees in the Philippines. (really, it works
!) Spit must be applied while the mask is dry. Don't know why, but that's the way it works for me. After a dive, even for a two hour interval, if I keep the mask full of seawater sitting on the boat, I don't spit in it again. The first application works all day.

 

[Splitlip]

1. There are better alternatives to body fluids and baby shampoo. Sea gold comes to mind.

2. You are foolish to use a communal rince bucket on a boat. People spit and bleed in their masks before they rinse them, so you expose your eyes and sensitive mucus membrains to whatever they have contributed to the soup.

But that is just me and a few MD's I dive with as well as a few ops which only provide freshwater showers and wash downs for mask rinses.

 

[Splitlip]

ahhh.... I've never heard of "the lighter trick"
but it sounds like a really really bad idea to me.
I wouldn't trust myself not to ruin a perfectly good mask.

I was a skeptic myself until this week. I had been having trouble with my masks flooding when I lost some weight. My LDS was kind enough to let me take a couple out to try, so I did not want to get them smelling of tooth paste. First dive, first mask was perfect but for the fogging. Had no buff or tooth paste in my save a dive so right there on the rolling deck I hit it with the lighter I keep in my SAD. Perfect.

 

[Splitlip]

Please allow me: An old post..

Well ok then. I guess you need more.
Couple years ago I was on one of the local charters. We were going out for a couple 60 footers. Easy dives, nice day.
After the first dive, one of the divers in another group surfaces with what looks like a couple of large green bloody amoebas in his mask. He pulls his mask off and proclaims that this happens all the time and he is used to it.
As he is talking, one of the nasty globs slides out of the mask like a rotten oyster and slaps on the deck with a sound like the the monkey's hand hitting the transporter window in "The FLY".
The guy quickly appologizes and rubs the sickening mass around with his foot. Then, you guessed it, he dips his mask in the rinse bucket so that the other offensive blob won't disturb anybody.
When he swirled his mask in the bucket, it looked like a frog in a blender.
So now, I rinse my mask with the shower, a water bottle from my bag or even a cup of water from the keg on board. Or, of course, I wait until I splash.
So for all you folks who proudly proclaim that luggies make the best defog and then rinse in somebody's bucket, just remember that sombody may decide your regulator bag makes the best urinal.

Edit: FTR, my MD friends don't use them, nor do my RN friends, nor do....

 

[rligon]

Thanks Splitlip, really something to think about. Last week was my first boat dive, and I didn't even question using the communial mask tank. The first post made me really question the practice, and the second one - yeeech!

 

[TMHeimer]

I think spit is as good as anything else. Some dives I'm clearing my mask of fog often, others not. During some dives the problem of fogging clears up by itself. An instructor told me it has a lot to do with temperature (air/water). Who knows.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

An instructor told me it has a lot to do with temperature (air/water). Who knows.

With your instructor experiences I can see why you think only who knows (or was that a question).

If you do an SB Search on mask fogging or mask problems there are numerous threads where people who do know have posted. The trick, just like in our real lives, is to figure out who knew.

 

[RonFrank]

I like Sea Gold, or Sea Drops. I've used spit on occasion. The poster that indicated that a clean interior lens works best is spot on. New masks have a lens coating that must be removed. I dive a lot of cold water, so fogging is something that can happen easily when I dive. I can not say I've had much of an issue, and don't always treat my mask between dives.

If you have a new mask, cleaning the lens with a slightly abrasive cleaner is not a bad idea IF you are experiencing issues with fogging.