SaltAway for cleaning controls?

All,

At BTS last weekend, at one of the video workshops, someone mentioned a product called Salt-Away, which they used to clean/rinse the salt out of controls. Was wondering if any of you had any experience with this product (good or bad) and were willing to share?

Cheers B)

Never heard of it but it sounds interesting. It would have to be abrasive enough to get off dried salt but gentle enough to avoid damage, especially to the more sensitive electronic housings and such.

Steve B)

I'm not sure what's in it besides a soap and calcium nitrate. However, I do know that my camera repair tech at SubAquatic told me that if I wanted to get to know him really well, go ahead and let my housing soak in the stuff.....

A quick look through the literature doesn't show much, except silicone isn't that happy with it.

All the best, James

Well, now found a more complete discription (http://www.saltawayproducts.com/4ozPage.htm) and it does say for possible use on "printed circuit boards" (although I'm not going to try that one out ), but possibly a few sprays on the handles/buttons of my housing and then a very very thorough rinsing...

Am I nuts?

Try it for a full trip and then do a review for us;-)

Steve B)

Well, now found a more complete discription (http://www.saltawayproducts.com/4ozPage.htm) and it does say for possible use on "printed circuit boards" (although I'm not going to try that one out ), but possibly a few sprays on the handles/buttons of my housing and then a very very thorough rinsing...

 

Am I nuts?

I think it would be good in the handles and such, but if you do use it during a trip please don't rinse your housing in the normal rinse tank! It might kill someone else's domeport or controls!

I used it (or something very similar that a guest left behind) in Tahiti on my amphibico housing to get the deposits out of the holes where the weights connect to the housing... It didn't work.

You cant beat a new rinse tank of fresh water....

I used it back in the late 90s. It was ok but I wasn't so sure about the effect on the coatings of my SWA lens so I didn't spray it on the lens port. My frequent use of the product compared to soaking the housing in distilled water for 12 hrs came up with one conclusion ( a very unscientific one), why buy another product when distilled water does the trick with a long soak AND actuating the controls to remove salt crystals. Of course the only real way to test it is to have saltaway sprayed on one side of the housing and soak the other side. Then compare salt deposit after 6 mths of constant use.

I've used SALT-X (salt-x.com if interested) on my scuba gear and housing a couple of times and have not noticed any problems. Of course on their website they say the other brands are all copy cats and to be afraid of them..., I don't know if the SALT-X stuff really made any difference, or not. I last used it about 4 months ago, so I need to pull all my gear out and take another look at it, and get my yearly on my regulators.

HI ALL,

I carry to bottle of saltaway with me, but I have only used it on my dry suit/ BCD inflator

hoses if the coupleling gets stiff. I have not had any problems with push buttons getting

stiff on my housing, but perhaps I clean my housing/ports/strobes better than my other

scuba kit

Andy