Rinsing regulators

[PaulChristenson]

Urine only has 3% waste to it, considered sterile when coming out of the body. I usually use a water bottle to do a quick rinse on my reg and 1st stage.

From Survival training lectures:

Only water can prevent dehydration and maintain your body in good function. Alcohol, urine, salted water & blood can only increase the dehydration process.


Regarding hygiene, let's return to the phrase "relatively sterile". While many sources will tell you urine is "sterile", end of story, this is not entirely accurate. Urine can actually pick a variety of bacteria as it exits the body through unwashed or infected genitalia. While this probably won't hurt you, it is rather icky, so the solution is to wash the area thoroughly and then collect the urine mid-stream.

As long as the pee you are drinking is your own, this is probably as much as you need to concern yourself with. However, if the urine belongs to your another person consider that there are certain viruses and bacteria that can be carried in and transmitted through the urine (such as Cytomegalovirus [CMV] or Hepatitis B Virus). In essence then you may be guzzling down a great deal more than you bargained for. More importantly, do remember that even tiny abrasions or tears on the inside of your mouth or on your lips (or on any external part of your body) could allow the virus or bacteria to enter your blood stream and thereby infect you.

Which brings us to the Rules of 3
A person can live for:
3 minutes without air.
3 hours without shelter from the cold.
3 days without water.
3 weeks without food.

Paul in VT

 

[freediver]

Which brings us to the Rules of 3
A person can live for:
3 minutes without air.
3 hours without shelter from the cold.
3 days without water.
3 weeks without food.

Paul in VT

I peed the number 33 in the snow once.

 

[neyer]

DO y'ALL SPIT INTO YOUR MASK?

 

[VaDiver]

Think about it. Once the first person rinses his/her stuff in the rinse tank, it's no longer fresh water unless you drain it all out and refill it before you use it. I'm talking about salt water here, not urine.

I tend not to use the rinse tank at the dive shop for that very reason. Instead I go back to the hotel and rinse it all out in the shower or bath. If the dive is just before I drive home I make sure I do a thorough job the minute I get home assuming its a one-day drive. If not, I clean everything at the motel that night.

I also make sure I have my reg and Air2 serviced at least once a year.

 

[String]

I just take my kit home and wash it in the bath.

Rinsetanks are practically unheard of here anyway

 

[Charlie99]

DO y'ALL SPIT INTO YOUR MASK?

Before or after we rinse it in the common rinse bucket?

 

[Fin59]

Do you rinse your reg in the rinse tank after a dive? All the gear is rinsed in the tank, fins, mask, bc and, ahem, wetsuits. We all know what happens in wetsuits on dives when your bladder is filled with all the water and juice we hydrate with prior to diving. So, sorry to be indelicate, we are rinsing our regs, second stage that goes in your mouths, with pee laden wetsuits? yuck. Yeah, yeah, you never pee in your suit. Sure. Is that sanitary. Isn't that a health issue?

One thing to think about....after the dives, everyone is at the rinse tanks rinsing their gear. That is a lot of people in a day from lots of boats, all rinsing the saltwater (with and without pee). The rinse water is going to get salty pretty quickly, so what good is it going to do to rinse your gear in this water? Seems like if you want it rinsed in fresh water you need to take it back to your room and do it or it is about the same as rinsing it in the ocean.
Just make sure when you pack to go home, you still have some wet neoprene in there. The custom agents love that smell

 

[Kamala]

One thing to think about....after the dives, everyone is at the rinse tanks rinsing their gear. That is a lot of people in a day from lots of boats, all rinsing the saltwater (with and without pee). The rinse water is going to get salty pretty quickly, so what good is it going to do to rinse your gear in this water? Seems like if you want it rinsed in fresh water you need to take it back to your room and do it or it is about the same as rinsing it in the ocean.
Just make sure when you pack to go home, you still have some wet neoprene in there. The custom agents love that smell

AMEN. This is why showers get you cleaner than baths. When you take a bath, you're just sitting in a tub of your own filth (and probably pee for a number of you, judging by the comments.) And no, I don't pee my wetsuit. I'm too much of a hoover to be down there long enough to worry about peeing. In any case, I'm going to go hide in my plastic bubble now since diving and hot dogs are probably going to kill me.

 

[CROCETTI]

I bring a spare waterbottle to rinse out my reg, mask and snorkel.

 

[pilot fish]

One thing to think about....after the dives, everyone is at the rinse tanks rinsing their gear. That is a lot of people in a day from lots of boats, all rinsing the saltwater (with and without pee). The rinse water is going to get salty pretty quickly, so what good is it going to do to rinse your gear in this water? Seems like if you want it rinsed in fresh water you need to take it back to your room and do it or it is about the same as rinsing it in the ocean.
Just make sure when you pack to go home, you still have some wet neoprene in there. The custom agents love that smell

That is why I question the need, urine aside, or effectiveness, of rinsing your gear after second dive when you are going to do a third dive. I've seen people agonize over rinsing their fins to prepare for third dive. What's the point?

I have often thought that the rinse water is as salinated as seawater after a few people have rinsed their gear. We have separate rinse tanks for cameras but none for regs. I say get a separate rinse tanks for regs. It's more sanitary.