Last Updated on April 24, 2023 by Mark Newman
Can I Use Dish Soap to Wash My Dive Gear? #scuba #askmark @ScubaDiverMagazine
@AleCorrea12
Ale Correa
#askmark
Is it ok to use regular dish soap on dive gear?
#scuba #scubadiving #scubadiver
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#askmark Hi Mark , please recommend marine life identification book for South East Asia, preferably book with simple picture and name covering nudibranch and coral also . Going for dive trip in july at Philippine and Malaysia, would love to learn more about marine life there and possible identification after dive
Thanks
I have a fairly worn copy of the Princeton Pocket Guide to Coral Reef Fishes that has great illustrations of thousands of species along with some information about each of them.
I tend to prefer illustrations to photographs because some fish are hard to photograph and illustrations can help to highlight minute differences in similar species.
As mark# can you put Kubi dry gloves system on a dry suit with neoprene seals?.
Was great to meet you at yhe dive show
#askmark
Hello 🙂
What to do if during washing first stage some water gets into…?
Thanks !
Good question! It’s one of those ‘it depends’ kind of answers though…
The safest action is to get your regulators serviced and tell the service centre that there may be water inside.
If it happened while washing your regs then 1. the water is clean and fresh and 2. it should be a relatively small amount.
The one thing that you don’t want to do is pressurise your regulators or let that water get into your hoses or gauges. Because the water can damage your gauges on the inside and corrode your hoses.
If you’re comfortable doing so, I would dry out as much of the 1st stage as I could then remove the hoses, attach the 1st stage to a cylinder and slowly open the valve so that air can flush through the 1st stage. Don’t open the valve completely, just enough to let a small amount of air out and keep your hands well away from the 1st stage as the air coming out of the 1st stage could hurt you.
If you feel like it could be more than a small amount of water, it’s been more than a few days or you’re ever unsure about what you’re doing it’s always best to take it to a service centre so that professionals can fix the problem safely.
@Scuba Diver Magazine Thanks! It would be the scenario with detaching all hoses and letting it dry… And “rinse” with left over cylinder air 🙂
👍😎Always enjoy Mark!
I’ve been using hair shampoo for washing my gear until very recently. I’ve swapped to wetsuit wash because it says it helps with salt deposits and that’s important to me.
I’m still going to use hair conditioner for (open cell) wetsuit lube though. It’s basically the same as expensive wetsuit lube.
There’s cheap screw-on “dust caps” that have an o-ring. This is better than holding your finger over the hole. Don’t use the crap rubber things that come with most regs and don’t take your cap into the water with you! Keep it dry.
I see people with Yoke regs screwing the bolt in all the way to block the hole – hopefully that works?
Thanks for answering!
If you have air integration on your inflator/deflator, how do you recommend rinsing the inside of the BCD? I am not sure dumping water down the second stage is a good idea. #askmark
Interesting question… Most AAS inflator systems have separate Inflate, Deflate and Purge buttons. So, when you’re washing your gear after the dive you can wash the inflator while it’s depressurised and push the Deflate button to open the airway to the corrugated hose and flush water in through the mouthpiece.
If you push the Purge button it will open the 2nd stage valve and let water through the seal and it’s bet to avoid this as much as possible.
You can always bypass this problem altogether by unscrewing the kidney dump or elbow joint at the top of the corrugated hose or pressurise the inflator while washing.
@Scuba Diver Magazine Your last paragraph was what I was thinking. Just got a new BCD with air integration and did not want to mess it up, thanks!
Please don’t use antibacterial soap. It’s pretty bad for environment since it leads to more resistant pathogens
is it ok to use wetsuit cleaner with all of your equip beside wetsuits
Hi Mark,
I have a question:
We get always told, that nitrogennarcosis a similar effect like alcohol have and I wondered if you are (theoretical) deep in the water long enough, could you get something like a hangover?
#askmark
The closest thing to a hangover you should experience is a decompression stop…
As far as I’m aware there are no long-term effects to Nitrogen Narcosis, or any other gases while recreational diving. The narcotic effects of gasses wear off as soon as you return to shallower depths and I have never experienced a post-dive nitrogen hangover
I’ve been using Milton, it’s for cleaning baby bottles. I chuck a few caps into a tub of water, put my gear in and mix it around occasionally (keeping dry suit sleeves/1st stage etc). Fill my wing bladder with some and then, once sat for a while, give a closer scrub, rinse and hang to dry.
Steramine is a food grade safe sanitizer so arguably it may be better for things that may go in your mouth or directly on your skin. Chemgine is a surface disinfectant but I couldn’t find if it was food grade or not, which probably means it is not. Assuming those things are properly rinsed it probably won’t matter and most likely the dosage levels would be too small to be particularly noteworthy anyway if any were left on the equipment, but just something that might be worth noting in the difference of that “food grade” designation where those should (should) be safe even if they weren’t rinsed.
Most dive boats I visit in south Florida have Steramine buckets for regs, cameras and masks for after dive rinse. I bought the pills and use it on my gear at home just fill a bucket with add pills according to gallon quantity.
Hi, witch are better. Hollis LX 200, or apeck xtrc. For sidemount. Thanks Mike w
X-Deep Stealth 2.0
is soaking in diluted Dettol safe for all dive gears ? #askmark
Diluted Dettol is used by a fair few scuba divers to disinfect their dive gear. It is important to wash it off afterwards though so that it won’t be ingested or near your eyes and nose. You don’t want any left over on your mask, regulator, BCD or wetsuit. Give them all a good wash and a scrub with fresh water after disinfecting to get all of the Dettol off before your next dive.
@Scuba Diver Magazine thanks. anyway is it gonna make BCD color faded?
#askmark What about using it as an anti-fog? I use it and it works great. Better than commercial versions I’ve used. Just a couple drops and I’ve never had any eye stinging. Just a quick rinse in the water, not in any tubs on board. Negligible environmental impact.
Yeah, a fair few divers use diluted baby shampoo as a defog solution and as long as you only use a small amount, it’s only a literal drop in the ocean compared to what normally ends up in our oceans.
I have been using cough drops / lozenges to combat dry mouth, what else do other use? #askmark
I often use chewing gum between dives. A metal 2nd stage can help because some of the moisture from your breath can condense inside on the metal.
Some divers bring pouches of drinks on longer dives and it’s important to hydrate yourself as much as possible between dives.
@Scuba Diver Magazine I use them during the dive is that dangerous?
#askmark
Hi Mark! I was shopping for a high pressure swivel when I notcied there are two types. What’s the difference between a straight hose swivel and a shouldered hose swivel?
There are three styles of swivel pin as far as I know: short, longer & flanged. The good news is that most are interchangeable.
The flange style I like because it ensures that the pin sits in the middle and you have the greatest chance of a seal on both sides. Shorter straight pins can be pushed too far into the SPG or hose and not seal very well on the other end. Long pins may be too long and not allow you to tighten the nut. But, the flanged pins are usually short enough to fit any configuration
@Scuba Diver Magazine thank you!
#askmark Hi Mark I have reactivated my diving due to my daughter doing her OW. Now (after OW 1996) I am about to finish my Scuba Master Diver soon and I would like to get my daughter a first kit. what would you suggest fore someone doing an AOW soon. Thanks and I love you advises bought my whole equipment based on it. Im happy !
Congrats on your MD cert!
As far as gear for your daughter, I presume she already has a nice mask and probably some fins also. A good dSMB and spool would be nice and shouldn’t break the bank. A dive computer is a good investment, something they can use for a long time and maybe some regs. I’ll always remember my 1st set of regs and that being a big step in my diving career.