Zen and the Art of Buoyancy Compensator MaintenanceMost people know that a regulator is an important and complicated piece of scuba equipment. Buoyancy Compensator Maintenance, what do you do?
Their buoyancy compensators are a different story. These get set down on the driveway and sprayed with a hose. After this unceremonious rinse, the BC gets a toss into the garage where it sits and waits for the next dive. What about an annual service? Unfortunately our meticulous diver is blissfully unaware that BC’s get serviced at all. All this neglect will inevitably lead to some dive-wrecking equipment failure. Does this sound like you? Surely not! How should you be caring for such a deceptively simple looking device?First, give your BC a soak in fresh water after every dive.Your BC is made of cloth which soaks up the saltwater (or the dirty, algae infested freshwater). A nice long soak in the tub should help in getting all of that stuff off. For most divers, if they do anything to their BC at all, this is where they stop. But wait! Remember when you were descending in a feet-first position with your BC inflator hose held high and your finger mashing down the deflate button? Was there any air leaving your BC? No? Then guess what? Water was rushing into your BC’s bladder. Saltwater can cause all kinds of damage to a buoyancy compensators bladder. It will weaken the plastic walls by drying it out and cause further damage when the water evaporates and the salt crystallizes. Next to punctures, this leftover seawater has to be the leading cause for BC bladder failure. How do you prevent this from happening? By filling your BC with clean freshwater. Hold down the deflate button and fill your BC up with clean fresh water then drain it out. Repeat this step a couple of times if necessary. When you’re done, hook your BC up to the low pressure hose of your regulator set and inflate the BC. Let it sit for an hour or so, then deflate the BC and inflate it again. You’re drying the inside of your buoyancy compensator. It shouldn’t take more than two or three repetitions to get your BC dry since the air in scuba tanks is bone dry. Finally, make sure you take your BC in for an annual service when you take your regulator in. There are all kinds of springs and o-rings in your inflator valve that can wear out and fail. Getting your buoyancy compensator serviced once a year is a great way to avoid rocket man syndrome (where your BC starts to inflate uncontrollably sending you shooting to the surface). BCs may look like simple pieces of equipment, but they need the same careful attention that your regulators do. By following proper, after dive and annual buoyancy compensator maintenance routines, you can make sure that you never have to worry about your BC failing during a dive. Return to Underwater Diving Equipment Home Page.
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