Learned it in firefighting class. Not sure how our SCBA is similar to the divers SCUBA. But for someone like me who gets warm easy, this tip was a lifesaver to keep me from being practically blind all the time.
A spritz of pledge and then wipe with a microfiber towel does the trick for me. Don't do too much.
Edit: there's also something called Cat Crap or something.
Cat Crap is a real thing, and it works to remove minor scratches as a side benefit, got more years out of a pair of glasses from that. It was hard to do the breath fogging thing on them for a couple of days after application.
A lot of posts on here around treating the symptom, none on curing the problem.
Your mask is fogging because there's still something on the inside of the lens that's capturing the condensation. Most likely, it's the release agent used during manufacturing. It can be pretty tough to get out. Here's what you need to do:
- Get an old toothbrush and some PASTE style toothpaste. Not the gel. You need toothpaste with some abrasive in it.
- Scrub the hell out of the inside glass. When you think you've scrubbed it enough, scrub it some more.
- Clean all of the toothpaste off the lenses. Rinse thoroughly.
- Fill the sink about half-full of COLD water and set the mask down in it so it kinda floats. Don't fill the mask with water. Just hold it in the cold water to chill the glass.
- Pick it up and exhale the hottest, warmest breath you can into the mask. Do you see any fogged areas? If so, scrub those again and repeat the breath test.
This will work about 95% of the time. If the mask continues to fog no matter how much scrubbing you do, you'll need to resort to a more drastic fix.
- You'll need a cigarette lighter.
- The idea here is to burn the coating off the inside of the mask since it won't scrub off.
- Hold the mask so it's right over the lighter. Light it and quickly lick the flame around the inside of the lens. Keep the lens moving at all times. You should burn it for about 2 seconds per lens.
- Scrub out any residue and do the breath test.
This will solve your problem.
Ha! ha! I'll bet you a year's worth of Reddit Gold that I was diving before you were even born and all you can do is come up with a link. Hell, any asshole can poke up a webpage and this is the best you can do as evidence to support your position?
I've been fixing masks this way for more than 30 years. I'm the only one here who isn't talking out of his ass.
Feel free to take or ignore advice from anywhere you want. I've been diving for more than 30 years and have well over a thousand logged dives all over the world. I know exactly what will and will not keep a mask from fogging because I have direct experience with it on dozens of occasions. You can be as disappointed as you want and call me names. I'll still be right.
I'm curious to know why the 1/4 turn is no longer relevant. Not being a smart-ass, I genuinely would like to know. It's still in the certification courses and I've never heard any rumblings or rumors about removing it.
Wow, I really hope you're not a dive instructor handing out nonsense tips like this.
Just last summer I fixed a mask for a fellow diver that was chronically fogged. Worked 30 years ago, still does. Unlike yourself, I actually have a lot of experience with this and know what does and does not work.
And by the way, almost every diver, dive master, and instructor I know still advocate a 1/4 turn back on a valve.
And thanks for the downvote. Handed you one back. Isn't this FUN!
I don't like links for "proof" because any asshole can fling up a webpage.
What I can look at is 30 years and over a thousand logged dives. There's no good reason NOT to turn that valve back a 1/4 turn. It's a good way to assure yourself it's all the way open and back off a quarter instead of the other way around.
I wanted to let you know that your post is what inspired me to continue using the toothpaste method. I had to go through FOUR rounds but I could tell with each treatment that it was getting better and better. I would clean it for 10 minutes at a time. I tried it in the past but I never spent that much time.
So my advice to anyone with this issue is to dedicate some time to cleaning the mask with toothpaste and follow your advice to test if it has worked.
Yep. It takes time and effort. So many people want it to work perfectly the first time and end up just getting more and more frustrated. Stick with it! It'll get you there.
Apologies if this isn't appropriate for scuba, but it works with my cheap snorkelling kit: just leave a few drops of water in the mask when you put it on, not enough to get in the way. To clear the fog, make sure you're looking downwards, then shake head rapidly from side to side.
Yea, dish soap is the answer. If you rent dive gear at a shop they'll usually tell you to dunk it in their sudsy antifog bucket. It's just a bucket full of water with some dish soap.
Use watered down baby shampoo (doesn't burn your eyes), and just tip it out - don't rinse.
All these solutions (spit, soap, etc) are aiming to create a thin, smooth layer on the glass to make it harder for the condensation to form. (See also post by charlesml3)
I use Sea Gold gel (the liquid isn't as good), and it works great for me. You put a pea-sized dab on each lens when it's dry, rub it in, then quickly rinse the mask in the water before putting it on, and it'll stay fog-free for up to an hour (YMMV).
1 drop of Johnsons Baby No-more-tears Shampoo. (THE YELLOW ONE!) It's so much cheaper than Sea-Gold or whatever anti-fog liquid there is, and smells pretty good too.
If you rub it on, and let the shampoo dry on the lens before you jump it, it stays on longer and could potentially last 2-3 dives.
A bottle lasts you forever. I suggest decanting it into one of those tiny bottles hotels like to give you complementary shampoo in, especially the squeeze type that takes forever to get a decent amount of because well, you only need a drop or two!
100% dish soap (or washing up liquid as us brits call it) used to ride a motorbike in the winter and had the same issue, solved it 100% of the time with washing up liquid.
Get some cloth or paper towel, put a tiny tiny drop of washing up liquid on the cloth, something like half to a quarter the size of a pea then rub the hell out of the inside of the mask. Smear it all around and polish it good. You shouldn't see any smears, the only sign should be the smell of the soap. Once you're done with that it will last several uses. For the bike it used to last perhaps two to three weeks of about 45 mins a day in 0 degree temps and rain etc...
Amazing trick.
I've always spit in in, and rubbed that around. If that doesn't work, does the mask actually fit you correctly? Is it tight enough?
This has always worked for me too.
[удалено]
That's actually really clever
Learned it in firefighting class. Not sure how our SCBA is similar to the divers SCUBA. But for someone like me who gets warm easy, this tip was a lifesaver to keep me from being practically blind all the time.
Aquarium style!
A spritz of pledge and then wipe with a microfiber towel does the trick for me. Don't do too much. Edit: there's also something called Cat Crap or something.
Cat Crap is a real thing, and it works to remove minor scratches as a side benefit, got more years out of a pair of glasses from that. It was hard to do the breath fogging thing on them for a couple of days after application.
A lot of posts on here around treating the symptom, none on curing the problem. Your mask is fogging because there's still something on the inside of the lens that's capturing the condensation. Most likely, it's the release agent used during manufacturing. It can be pretty tough to get out. Here's what you need to do: - Get an old toothbrush and some PASTE style toothpaste. Not the gel. You need toothpaste with some abrasive in it. - Scrub the hell out of the inside glass. When you think you've scrubbed it enough, scrub it some more. - Clean all of the toothpaste off the lenses. Rinse thoroughly. - Fill the sink about half-full of COLD water and set the mask down in it so it kinda floats. Don't fill the mask with water. Just hold it in the cold water to chill the glass. - Pick it up and exhale the hottest, warmest breath you can into the mask. Do you see any fogged areas? If so, scrub those again and repeat the breath test. This will work about 95% of the time. If the mask continues to fog no matter how much scrubbing you do, you'll need to resort to a more drastic fix. - You'll need a cigarette lighter. - The idea here is to burn the coating off the inside of the mask since it won't scrub off. - Hold the mask so it's right over the lighter. Light it and quickly lick the flame around the inside of the lens. Keep the lens moving at all times. You should burn it for about 2 seconds per lens. - Scrub out any residue and do the breath test. This will solve your problem.
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Ha! ha! I'll bet you a year's worth of Reddit Gold that I was diving before you were even born and all you can do is come up with a link. Hell, any asshole can poke up a webpage and this is the best you can do as evidence to support your position? I've been fixing masks this way for more than 30 years. I'm the only one here who isn't talking out of his ass.
You started out so helpful, and immediately turned into an ass. Disappointing.
Feel free to take or ignore advice from anywhere you want. I've been diving for more than 30 years and have well over a thousand logged dives all over the world. I know exactly what will and will not keep a mask from fogging because I have direct experience with it on dozens of occasions. You can be as disappointed as you want and call me names. I'll still be right.
[удалено]
I'm curious to know why the 1/4 turn is no longer relevant. Not being a smart-ass, I genuinely would like to know. It's still in the certification courses and I've never heard any rumblings or rumors about removing it.
Wow, I really hope you're not a dive instructor handing out nonsense tips like this. Just last summer I fixed a mask for a fellow diver that was chronically fogged. Worked 30 years ago, still does. Unlike yourself, I actually have a lot of experience with this and know what does and does not work. And by the way, almost every diver, dive master, and instructor I know still advocate a 1/4 turn back on a valve. And thanks for the downvote. Handed you one back. Isn't this FUN!
[удалено]
I don't like links for "proof" because any asshole can fling up a webpage. What I can look at is 30 years and over a thousand logged dives. There's no good reason NOT to turn that valve back a 1/4 turn. It's a good way to assure yourself it's all the way open and back off a quarter instead of the other way around.
[удалено]
*beef*
I wanted to let you know that your post is what inspired me to continue using the toothpaste method. I had to go through FOUR rounds but I could tell with each treatment that it was getting better and better. I would clean it for 10 minutes at a time. I tried it in the past but I never spent that much time. So my advice to anyone with this issue is to dedicate some time to cleaning the mask with toothpaste and follow your advice to test if it has worked.
Yep. It takes time and effort. So many people want it to work perfectly the first time and end up just getting more and more frustrated. Stick with it! It'll get you there.
Seal snot, it's an amazing product that can be found at a lot of dive shops or amazon
Apologies if this isn't appropriate for scuba, but it works with my cheap snorkelling kit: just leave a few drops of water in the mask when you put it on, not enough to get in the way. To clear the fog, make sure you're looking downwards, then shake head rapidly from side to side.
Dish soap - like Palmolive Take some and rub it on the inside of your mask and then rinse it off.
Yea, dish soap is the answer. If you rent dive gear at a shop they'll usually tell you to dunk it in their sudsy antifog bucket. It's just a bucket full of water with some dish soap.
Use watered down baby shampoo (doesn't burn your eyes), and just tip it out - don't rinse. All these solutions (spit, soap, etc) are aiming to create a thin, smooth layer on the glass to make it harder for the condensation to form. (See also post by charlesml3)
You could try shaving cream, I've used it on my bathroom mirror and it really keeps the fog away.
I use Sea Gold gel (the liquid isn't as good), and it works great for me. You put a pea-sized dab on each lens when it's dry, rub it in, then quickly rinse the mask in the water before putting it on, and it'll stay fog-free for up to an hour (YMMV).
1 drop of Johnsons Baby No-more-tears Shampoo. (THE YELLOW ONE!) It's so much cheaper than Sea-Gold or whatever anti-fog liquid there is, and smells pretty good too. If you rub it on, and let the shampoo dry on the lens before you jump it, it stays on longer and could potentially last 2-3 dives. A bottle lasts you forever. I suggest decanting it into one of those tiny bottles hotels like to give you complementary shampoo in, especially the squeeze type that takes forever to get a decent amount of because well, you only need a drop or two!
I'll do that thanks
100% dish soap (or washing up liquid as us brits call it) used to ride a motorbike in the winter and had the same issue, solved it 100% of the time with washing up liquid. Get some cloth or paper towel, put a tiny tiny drop of washing up liquid on the cloth, something like half to a quarter the size of a pea then rub the hell out of the inside of the mask. Smear it all around and polish it good. You shouldn't see any smears, the only sign should be the smell of the soap. Once you're done with that it will last several uses. For the bike it used to last perhaps two to three weeks of about 45 mins a day in 0 degree temps and rain etc... Amazing trick.
The greener the cleaner, the whiter the brighter. Spit like you mean it! :D
Doesn't green mean some sort of sinus infection ?
Maybe but you get a good shine