Advice on Cleaning Air Cells?

[Atlantis Fire]

Inevitably some saltwater makes it into the air bladder in a BCD. I've been told to flush the inside with fresh water a few times. This seems to have worked all right, but brings up a new dilemma. How to get it dry? I clean my Camelbak the same way, but I can fit my hand inside it with a cloth. No such luck on an air cell. Best I've done is drain the water and hang it up to dry with all the vents opened. Any more foolproof method out there?

[Jon]

Blow it up all the way and hang it upside down so that the oral inflator hose is the lowest point. There are also special BC cleaners you can use, along with fresh water, to slosh around inside the BC after a big trip.

Jon

[Atlantis Fire]

Okay, thanks for the note. Maybe I can make a cleaner with a piece of plastic and a cloth or something.

[Scuba.com]

For the most part you could leave your bcd wet on the inside and it won't hurt a thing. We have you rinse your bcd out after dives mainly to clear out the salt water which will dry into sharp salt crystals and cause excess wear on your bcd's bladder or liner.

I spent some years as the technical support director for a couple manufacturers. We found that having your bcd wet doesn't harm a thing. One possible negative reaction to that could be if you live in a humid climate you could get bacteria growing inside the damp environment, but structurally speaking it has no negative effects.

As a rule we generally tell folks to fill it about half way full, swish it about for a bit, then dump it one or two times, then blow 2 or 3 breaths of air into it and hang it up.

[Atlantis Fire]

Okay, that's good to know. Thanks for the info.