Gear rinse tub sanitation - a study

[muddiver]

I often rinse my mask on my descent.

My scuba mask is self rensing. I typically have to blow the residue out every couple of minutes.

 

[netdiver]

Unless you have something nasty going on piss is sterile.

Unless you have something nasty going on piss is sterile.

Kidney and Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) are fairly common conditions and thus urine would not be sterile even while in the body. Urine also picks up bacteria as it leaves the body, and this is more true for women and uncircumcised men.

Sterile urine or not, I don't use the rinse bucket for my mask while diving. I'm not sure what it's supposed to accomplish. I haven't discerned a difference in performance of my defogger by rinsing my mask with fresh vs salt water. I'm not a germophobe but I don't see a benefit to exposing my mask to a mixture of saltwater, urine, defoggers, and other things in the so called "rinse tank". I apply whatever defogger I'm using and rinse with water by reaching over the side of the boat or when I enter to dive.

 

[Thorndowyn]

Usually I don the mask without rinsing or defogging and jump into the water. Then in the water on the surface I take the mask of, spit, rinse and don it again.

Of course if you have major current or wind and you have to drop down very fast, it might not be possible.
After the last dive, since I usually have my own equipment and use it for snorkeling as well, I rinse it at home / hotel room with fresh water.
Oh, and the suit: If you turn them inside out, so it can dry quickly, it eases the trouble with bacteria. Usually those need humidity and warmth for growth. So you might have less of a problem from the suit.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

I wander how much tax dollars was wasted on this study? I could of told them this for free. Any time you rinse your gear in a tank that I rinsed my piss soaked wetsuite your going to get some bacteria.

http://data.memberclicks.com/site/aaus/AAUS_Strategic_Plan_For_2008_Through_2011.pdf

According to their Strategic Plan ('08-'11) they appear to be hoping for a grant.

"Submit a grant application to NSF based on the UNOLS model"

There does not appear to be any tax money involved from '08 to present.

 

[DandyDon]

Gawd, I never use a mask bucket. Puke...!

I often rinse my mask on my descent.

Works for me.

I rinse my gear in communal dip tanks and haven't died from it yet.

False Science.

I still laugh at how the media has turned all of us into germophobes. "SWINE FLU! Quick, close the airports!" I remember when the first confirmed death from Swine Flu occurred in Texas. It made the front page of the paper. The other 37,000 people that died of plain-old flu that year didn't even get a mention.

I'm about 1/2 way convinced that the whole swine-flu panic was orchestrated by the manufacturers of hand sanitizer. You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a bottle of that stuff now.

I guess it was just a matter of time before divers started freaking out over germs and bacteria. There's usually some nonsense thread running here about "something growing inside my BC" or "infections from the rinse tank."

-Charles

Gawd I am so glad we didn't have your kind in charge of stopping the epidemic before it could get worse.

Unless you have something nasty going on piss is sterile.

Even if that were true, doesn't make it appealing. Only half of the men bother to wash their hands in restroom. Yuck!

Kidney and Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) are fairly common conditions and thus urine would not be sterile even while in the body. Urine also picks up bacteria as it leaves the body, and this is more true for women and uncircumcised men.

Sterile urine or not, I don't use the rinse bucket for my mask while diving. I'm not sure what it's supposed to accomplish. I haven't discerned a difference in performance of my defogger by rinsing my mask with fresh vs salt water. I'm not a germophobe but I don't see a benefit to exposing my mask to a mixture of saltwater, urine, defoggers, and other things in the so called "rinse tank". I apply whatever defogger I'm using and rinse with water by reaching over the side of the boat or when I enter to dive.

Ever see anyone do that while the boat is still moving? Good way to lose a mask.

Depending on the setup, sometimes I rinse most things in the tank, dunking my bag of gear - then rinse mouthpieces again. You can use mouthwash on mouthpieces, but I prefer rinsing them separately. Mask & camera I'll rinse in whatever available after diving as seawater evaporates with salt & hard deposits both, then soak again in my room if possible. I shower in my suit on dock, then soak it again in the room, but really like to spray it with pet urine remover too.

 

[mobeeno]

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[charlesml3]

Gawd I am so glad we didn't have your kind in charge of stopping the epidemic before it could get worse.

What epidemic? Swine Flu or H1N1 had a 99.97% survival rate. It killed a grand total of just over 14,000 people worldwide. That's not even half of the number of people in the U.S.A. alone that die of regular flu every year. Worldwide, regular flu kills over a quarter-million people yearly.

Sorry Don, but you fell victim to the fear mongering media. They had people so scared that Lowes and Home Depot couldn't keep dust masks on the shelves. Despite the fact that a dust mask cannot in any way filter out a microbe....

-Charles

 

[Mopar]

Damn media.

 

[DandyDon]

What epidemic? Swine Flu or H1N1 had a 99.97% survival rate. It killed a grand total of just over 14,000 people worldwide. That's not even half of the number of people in the U.S.A. alone that die of regular flu every year. Worldwide, regular flu kills over a quarter-million people yearly.

Sorry Don, but you fell victim to the fear mongering media. They had people so scared that Lowes and Home Depot couldn't keep dust masks on the shelves. Despite the fact that a dust mask cannot in any way filter out a microbe....

-Charles

Well, my granddaughter and I both had it before the vaccine arrived; worse case I've ever had, and hers was worse including a week in the hospital. I'm still glad they stopped it from spreading more.

 

[diver 85]

Exactly. But we were on a liveaboard recently and the majority of folks first sprayed their masks with a soap solution, then used the mask bucket as a sink in which to rinse the soap from the mask. After most people had rinsed, there was as much soap in the bucket as was originally in the spray bottle. Hard to rinse out the excess under those circumstances.

Just goes to show you how stupid some people are......