Investing in your own Scuba gear and equipment comes with the additional responsibility of maintaining it properly and making sure it’s functioning at its best, for your own safety when you dive.
Many people prioritize taking care of Scuba regulators they own and settle for just a simple hosing off for their Buoyancy Compensator’s maintenance, which is not nearly enough. Neglecting Scuba equipment is a sure fire way of shortening the life of your gear and since you’ve made the considerable investment to purchase a BCD, that’s the last thing you want.
Here are a few steps to taking care of your buoyancy compensator to keep it in good condition, making it well worth the cost for a good number of years.
1. First, you need to soak your BC in fresh water after every dive. Fresh warm water is best to get the salt, sand and minerals off that soak through the cloth of the BC. Slosh your BCD in a rinse tank or bathtub and rinse the outside thoroughly.
2. Saltwater gets into the bladder of your buoyancy compensator when your diving, so you have to rinse the inside of the bladder just as good as the outside. Hold down the deflate button or through the oral inflation hose fill up your BC about a third full with clean fresh water, vigorously shake it about to all parts of the bladder.Turn it upside down and slosh it around some more, then drain it out. Repeat this step a couple of times if necessary.
3. While your BC is in a tub, partially inflate it and put a little pressure on it while submerging it to check for any leaks in the form of small bubbles escaping. Leaks can hamper achieving buoyancy control and a wastage when you are trying to conserve air on a dive.
4. Push the inflate and deflate buttons and see that there isn’t any salt or sand making them sticky. Rinse them off while pressing and releasing them to make sure there’s nothing blocking them from working freely.
5. When you’re done, hook your BC up to the low pressure hose of your regulator set and partially inflate the BC. Hang it upside down in the shade to dry. Hanging it upside down helps all the excess water collect near the hose which you can easily drain.
6. Store your buoyancy control device in a cool dry place, partially inflated.
7. BCs may look like simple pieces of equipment, but they need the same careful attention that your regulators do, so take your BC in for an annual service when you take your dive regulator in. This will help avoid any failures that could cause your BC to inflate uncontrollably and send you shooting to the surface with a risk of getting the bends.
Following these simple and straight forward steps and making them a post dive routine will take your Scuba gear a long way and pay off for many great diving years to come.
* Pictured above Tusa Platina Evolution BCD available at LeisurePo.com
