Inspiration Cleaning

[divetheworld]

I've been using really dilute dettol, any danger in this for the lungs or loop?
I've never noticed any degradation, been cleaning the Aga and Xstreams for years with it and never had any signs of damage. Residue was a bitch to get off the lens once when I didn’t dilute it enough.

[J.D.]

Originally Posted by Drmike

The Navy report is floating around somewhere on the net it makes for quite interesting reading.

Is this it? http://www.therebreathersite.nl/Down...sinfectant.pdf

This looks at the use of Virkon S which I think is the one used by vets, and will kill more organisms than the human grade version which is just called Virkon (which is the stuff we use in work to disinfect lab benches etc)

Heres the abstract if you dont want to download the full version

As a result of the health concerns expressed by the combat divers, the consultant in Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine at CFEME Toronto requested a toxicological review of the disinfectant

Virkon S to determine its suitability for continued use as a cleaning/disinfectant of re-breather sets for the Canadian Forces (CF) diving community. An initial assessment of the components of Virkon S revealed the product had not been approved nor was it intended for human topical disinfection. As a result, a literature review was performed on Virkon S, but as well the review was expanded to include other disinfectants used by civilian and military divers around the world. The aim was to assess the health hazards of using disinfectants to clean re-breathers, as well as, assess the capability of disinfectants to kill the full spectrum of biological contaminants (bacterial, viral, and fungal) to which divers might be exposed.

Nine disinfectants were found to be used by divers nationally and internationally (Virkon S., Sanizide, Confidence, Advance TBE, BI-Arrest, Buddy Clean, Trigene II, Listerine, Cavicide) and all were evaluated against the same criteria. In order to be recommended for use two mandatory criteria had to be complied with; the product had to exhibit an absence of components that would cause undue risk to human health during use that could not be prevented by reasonable protective measures, and proof must be available to indicate the disinfectant was effective. Products should be able to kill the full spectrum of viruses, bacteria and fungi that divers could be exposed while using a re-breather. Two further considerations were applied in reviewing all disinfectants, compatibility with system components and ease of use.

Based upon the above criteria the review of these nine disinfectants revealed that only two products, Virkon S and TriGene II, met all of the criteria considered essential for use by CF divers using rebreather equipment. Although both products have met all of the minimum criteria, Virkon S is recommended as the continued disinfectant of choice for the CF as it has been shown to be able to provide a more rapid and more complete microbial kill than TriGene II. It is thus considered a better disinfectant.

James

[Drmike]

Originally Posted by James Davies

Is this it?

yep thats the one.


Interesting points made about Buddyclean....

But like I said unless your sharing a unit I dont think its a big worry, the high po2 and free radicals are causing so much damage to our bodies anyway.

[J.D.]

Originally Posted by Drmike

But like I said unless your sharing a unit I dont think its a big worry, the high po2 and free radicals are causing so much damage to our bodies anyway.

Yes its probably overkill for most people (it is designed for killing viruses like Hep B, HIV etc ), but if its cheaper than buddy clean and makes people feel better then its peobably worth it.

James

[Rob Evans]

Originally Posted by Drmike

Interesting points made about Buddyclean....

Hmmm. Something along the lines of "We haven't tried it, didn't think much of the data sheet, don't use it"

Not terribly scientific I feel. Still, if it's really only diluted Trigene... I'll get some of that.

[nigelH]

I have a big 5L pot of Trigene (not Trigene II) and follow the instructions to dilute it 10:1 for real bio hazards not 50:1 which is just a surface cleaner. I like to squirt a big blob into the exhale lung and leave it to soak into the gunk in there while I'm playing with the rest of the bits so it gets to mix a bit.

I confess I'm not a careful cleaner and it only gets hit after the trip. I assume that anything that can make it's way through six inches of sofnolime will laugh at anything I have to clean it out with.

nigelH

[Drmike]

Originally Posted by Rob Evans

Hmmm. Something along the lines of "We haven't tried it, didn't think much of the data sheet, don't use it"

Not terribly scientific I feel. Still, if it's really only diluted Trigene... I'll get some of that.

IIRC they rejected Buddyclean at least in part because its based on Trigene '1'. which they had previously rejected on grounds of suitability.

[Rob Evans]

Originally Posted by Drmike

IIRC they rejected Buddyclean at least in part because its based on Trigene '1'. which they had previously rejected on grounds of suitability.

Aha! Thanks for that, must've missed that bit.

[J.D.]

Also, this is a literature review so none of the actual research was conducted by the authors - where no data could be found the product was rejected for this reason. Thats not to say it doesnt actually work

[markscubawilliams]

Originally Posted by Shaunzxr

Hi all

Can any one recomend a cleaning solution for cleaning the loop and lungs other than Buddy clean.

Thanks

Shaun

Virkon S is used by Canadian Forces.( got the report off the net where they tested some disinfectant and it was recommended as the best)

regards

MarkW