Regulator Soaking - Mistake?

[360GUY]

New diver here.

I signed up for a series of 5 dive trips with a local dive shop. (All dives were SALT-WATER)

After each trip, I left to go back to the hotel, however, the dive shop retained my gear (BC, Regs) and I'm assuming properly cleansed and prepared the gear for the next trip. So far, so good.

Following the final dive , I just packed up my gear and went back to the hotel. I tried to follow the best advice I found here on SB regarding the cleansing of my gear, however, it "appears" as if, at times, these opinions conflict.

Although I'm a total newbie, I have spent considerable $$$ on new gear (Ranger BC - Envoy II Regs, etc) and I just want to be able to care for my gear so that each dive is as safe as possible.

Upon returning to the hotel, here's what I did. Please advise if I've done anything I shouldn't have or if I've done something incorrectly. Thank you, in advance.

BCD
1. Placed my BC under the shower, turning frequently, for about 30 minutes.
2. Filled my bladder (25%) with fresh water and air...swooshed around...emptied upside down using deflator. Emptied dump valves and squeezed the BC tight draining as much water as possible. Set aside to dry.

REGS
Filled the tub with lukewarm water. Made sure DUST CAP was securely attached to 1st stage, and soaked the entire regulator set for about 45 minutes. I hung to dry.

NOTE: During the hanging/drying process, I removed the DUST CAP just to air out / dry out the 1st stage.

That's all I did. Am I good to go?
Thanks again for the continuing education!

 

[lexvil]

You probably over did the rinse on the b/c but no harm done, the Zeagle dust caps are good at sealing so you should be good on that too.

 

[James79]

Sounds good to me... only things I do different are; on the BC I pull the dump valves to dry the bladder afterwords, or if I don't have time for that I leave just a bit of air in it to keep it from sticking to itself. For the regs, I give a final rinse with the shower (the salt water on them diluted with the soak and should have broke up any deposits.... but that made the soak water into a "less salty" solution, so a final rinse gets rid of that).

Respectfully,

James

 

[icechip]

Sounds good, maybe blow a few puffs of air into the BC after flushing it out while it hangs to dry.

 

[BoltSnap]

1. Placed my BC under the shower, turning frequently, for about 30 minutes.

That is too long and unnecessary. Rest is OK.

I removed the DUST CAP just to air out / dry out the 1st stage.

No need to "air out".


One issue to take into consideration is the salt/minerals in the tap water they have there. If high mineral content, you need to rinse the equipment with "drinking grade" water to remove residual salts/minerals otherwise you will have salt/mineral build up on the equipment over time.

 

[360GUY]

Excellent! Thanks so much.

Yes, I did puff some air into BC prior to drying out.

So, regarding REGS, it seems like a good solid rinse is good...a soak is better?

 

[Open Ocean Diver]

I usually rinse the inside of the BC three times, going to start removing the inflater for easy filling, rinsing, and drying.

 

[Open Ocean Diver]

Excellent! Thanks so much.

Yes, I did puff some air into BC prior to drying out.

So, regarding REGS, it seems like a good solid rinse is good...a soak is better?

Do both... soak and rinse.

 

[James79]

Excellent! Thanks so much.

Yes, I did puff some air into BC prior to drying out.

So, regarding REGS, it seems like a good solid rinse is good...a soak is better?

I would put it as "A rinse is a minimum, if time permits soak and then rinse. If time doesn't permit... make time!"

 

[boulderjohn]

When I finish my last dive of a trip, my primary goal is to make a quick cleanup and get it dry for travel. When I get home, I do a much more through job, using a hose. Even then, I do not so as much as some of what you did. Here are some comments:

1. It takes very little to clean the outside of the BCD. A quick rinse is all you need.
2. When emptying the rinse water out of the BCD through the inflater, let the water run through both exits--take turns pressing the deflate button to go out through the normal exit, and press the inflate button to have it go out through the inflation hose connection.
3. The best way to clean the regulator is while it is under pressure on a tank. This is obviously not going to happen in a hotel room.
4. It does not take a whole lot to clean the regulator. Soaking it like that is overkill and risks leakage through the dust cap.
5. There is no reason to take the dust cap off during drying.

Remember, a large portion of scuba gear is designed to get wet. It can handle it.