BC handling

[V&G]

Obviously, washing of BC's air space with fresh water after dives is good practice, but is there any way to dry it after that?
Generally, I have 2-3 monthes between my dive sessions and by common sense I understand, that keeping BC clean and dry will help me to handle it right way, but I have no idea about how to achieve it..

 

[ronbeau]

Obviously, washing of BC's air space with fresh water after dives is good practice, but is there any way to dry it after that?
Generally, I have 2-3 months between my dive sessions and by common sense I understand, that keeping BC clean and dry will help me to handle it right way, but I have no idea about how to achieve it..

In my case I have an Atomic SS1 that acts as my octo and my inflater.
It simply unscrews off of the corrugated hose.
I flush the bladder by placing a hose over the open end of the corrugated hose (after the SS1 has been removed by unscrewing it) and filling the BC bladder with water.

I slosh it abound really well and then hold it upside down and squeeze all the water out.

I then leave the SS1 off of the corrugated hose so that air can circulate inside.
When I am on vacation dive trips I always have a least a day between the last dive and my departure. Most of that time the bladder is drying out.

I figure that the is the best I can do. When diving at home I follow the same procedure.

 

[ferretchen]

This is a tricky problem. I do as ronbeau - take the inflator hose off, multiple fresh-water washes, and then hang upside down to drain. Sometimes I take the bladder out of my wing (you may not be able to do this with your BC) and inspect it for salt crystals. I always make sure to open all of the dump valves and let fresh water stream through them; you probably have one on the back bottom, the one on the end of the hose that you use most often, and one activated by yanking on the inflator hose. Make sure water flows through them, and through the hose itself.

There are also a number of soap-like products made for this purpose; they discourage bacterial growth inside the bladder.

 

[knowone]

Then screw the corrugated hose back on to the shoulder, 1/2 inflate the thing and hang upside down with the hose also hanging down and manipulate the bc so that any excess water runs down the hose and shake and drain through the inflator for a few days.

 

[scubadiver888]

I've never worried about drying out the inside of my BCD. I will put some fresh water in it then inflate it so the water can slosh around. I'll then roll the BCD around so everything gets rinsed. Finally I'll roll the water towards the inflater hose and drain it. I might do it again if I think it needs it.

Once I have drained it, I'll leave it slightly inflated so the sides of the bladder aren't touching. If it does dry out, I don't want to risk having the sides of the bladder stick together and tear when I inflate it.

If I'm worried about bacterial build up, I'll use an anti-bacterial soap and wash the inside. If I do this I'll definitely rinse it a number of times.

 

[V&G]

Thank you all for your answers!
I got a general direction and will look for application suitable in my case.

Another question, please:
I just purchased by opportunity a BC from someone. In general in looks almost new and functioning great. But its metallic parts are covered by green-blue spots, like oxide from sold water. Is there some way to clean them out?

 

[RedCash02]

What parts? Green-blue corrosion means it's probably brass. There's plenty of metal cleaning and polishing compounds out there. Just be careful when using it. Personally, I'd probably just leave it alone; gives it some character.

However, metal oxidation on an otherwise new looking BC could mean it wasn't cared for and rinsed after diving. You may want to look at the springs on the dump valves to see how they're doing.

 

[ferretchen]

I had the opportunity to clean my BC this evening, and thought of this post. I'm using a BC conditioner (made by McNett, although there's many brands) that is a mixture of soap, germicide and silicone oil. You pour a couple of cap-fulls into the inflator hose mouthpiece, fill the bladder with water via the mouthpiece, shake, empty, and rinse. ~$5/bottle at your local dive shop.

 

[scubaskipper]

For those of you that might be taking parts off to get the water inside and or drain it. Remember not to loose anything. You would be surprised how many BC's come into the shop with a shoulder gasket missing. You might also try hot water, it does a better/ faster job of dissolving salt.

 

[fjpatrum]

On my jacket BC I just put some water in it through the inflator hose and flushed the inside... dump out of the inflator hose again. Hang dry. (Some folks inflate it a little...)

On my wing, I will take all the OPV and hoses off and rinse thoroughly then hang dry. I've moved all the valves and hoses around on this so I'm much more familiar with it than with the jacket bc. So far, I've only dived fresh water with it though.