will chlorine damage my gear

[batman diver]

so i only get to dive once every 3 months or so , so i enjoy going to my lds and messing around in the pool , its like 3m , so nothing amazing , but i practice all my skills ets ... how much will the chlorine effect my gear ... esp my reg ?

 

[LakeCountyDiver]

none at all if you keep the water out of the first stage. I use a pool to rinse off all my gear. The local tap water in my town has enough chlorine in it it dont make a difference what water I use to clean my gear with. Most damage comes from Sand,dirt,& salt. The cleanest my gear ever is is when I dive the springs here.

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

Just wash it in fresh water after every time. I wash mine after every dive, fresh, salt, or pool water. Chlorine is extremely corrosive if you leave it on. Rinse your gear, no worries.

 

[TSandM]

No matter how well you rinse it, all the fabric portions will fade, as will your wetsuit. It's my perception that the neoprene gets stiff, as well, and it wouldn't surprise me. Chlorine is very reactive, and may well be interacting with the rubber in the neoprene and changing its flexibility.

Chlorine will accelerate the loss of chrome off any chromed pieces, but you SHOULD be able to rinse things well enough to prevent that. (You can't rinse fabric that well, because it's porous.)

 

[g1138]

My university has been using teh same scuba gear for their pool dives and ocean dives.
They also have a rack to 3mm suits which each student used for the pool dives.
I would say that the gear is bare mininum, 3 years old.

It goes through rescue, advance, and basic OW for 3 sessions a year,
10wks each session combined between the 3 classes. Roughly 36 combined students total each year, and used in the pool twice a week consistently until the 9th week of each session (then it's to the ocean for Basic).

The rinse buckets consist of 2 garbage cans that become filthy after around 5 BC dunkings, and believe me plenty more go in after.

All are still in peak, working condition though. There is fading; think black T-shirt after running it in the wash for a year (w/o color saving detergent).

So, yes chlorine will fade your stuff, it will discolor your clear mask, and if there is any chrome brushing off your reg, it will exacerbate this.
Give your gear a fresh rinse after every "dive" and it should be fine.

 

[scubamarketing]

Some manufacturers (sorry, I don't recall which off the top of my head) figured out how to keep their black neoprenes and fabrics blacker longer. I have a cheap Seaquest BCD for teaching in the pool and it's still black after years of use, so is my Harvey's wet suit. I have a Mares reg I bought 10 years ago an at least 5 was exclusive pool time and it has only had regular annual servicing. I never rinsed my gear and it was in the pool at least 2 nights per week.

 

[dvr4lyf]

Some manufacturers (sorry, I don't recall which off the top of my head) figured out how to keep their black neoprenes and fabrics blacker longer. I have a cheap Seaquest BCD for teaching in the pool and it's still black after years of use, so is my Harvey's wet suit. I have a Mares reg I bought 10 years ago an at least 5 was exclusive pool time and it has only had regular annual servicing. I never rinsed my gear and it was in the pool at least 2 nights per week.

I agree with Nick!! After working for a pool company for 10 yrs and being the only certified diver I learned to rinse well. There are salt pools out there as well as other chemicals that can be more corrosive to our gear. My practice was always rinse, and rinse again when I got home, then hang to dry. I'm on my second wetsuit in ten yrs!!!

 

[scubamarketing]

(I didn't even rinse though )

 

[moregooder]

a little chlorine isent going to hert, long term exsposher to the pool like teaching will sure take the color out. we just got back from ST Lucia, hurricane Thomas left them with a fresh water shortage so we rinsed the salt out of the stuff in the pool every day. seamed funny that the resort always had water? the locals only had tap water for 1 hr every day.

 

[batman diver]

ok so it wont kill my gear , not phased about the fading , just worried about the reg mainly