Laundry and cleaning

DRYSUITS

The drysuit should not be cleaned with solvents or strong detergents. Chemical substances might damage the drysuit and lead to equipment failure during diving.

After diving, if the drysuit is dirty, you can use the following steps for cleaning and disinfection:

• To keep the suit clean, rinse the external part of the diving suit with clean water (especially after diving in salty water). This will remove the salt and mud from the fasteners and will limit the formation of mold, as well as the development of bacteria. Rinse with a strong stream of running water.
• After rinsing, dry the diving suit. Drying the diving suit is necessary in such circumstances, where the diving suit has been flooded with water. First completely dry the inside of the diving suit followed by the same procedure with the outside. When drying, the diving suit should be hung on a wide hanger with the fasteners unzipped and all other parts of the suit hanging freely Avoid drying in the sun, near chemical substances or open fire, as well as heaters, electric engines or other devices that produce ozone. The effect of these can cause color – fading and damage elements of the diving suit.

A Few tips:

• Always rinse the latex seals with clear water and use talcum after drying.
• Before diving check if the valves are tightly screwed.
• After putting on the suit, verify id the dry zipper is fully closed.
• If you cut a neoprene seal it is quite easy to repair. Use needle and thread to stitch it inside and use some glue from the outside.
• Read the instruction very carefully after receiving your drysuit.

UNDERSUITS AND THINSULATE™ PRODUCTS

If cared for properly, your undersuit with Thinsulate™ insulation will provide years of service.  Special Note: You can wash your SANTI undersuit as frequently as you need. The insulation used to produce our undersuits does not change during washing and the way we made our undersuits gives you possibility of multiple washing even in industrial conditions. Repeated washing is even recommended to restore excellent insulating qualities of Thinsulate™.

We recommend wearing thermal underwear beneath your undersuit. This liner will absorb odors and perspiration from the body. Avoid using cotton underwear because it saturates with sweat easily and conducts heat away from the body when wet.

LAUNDERING RECOMMENDATIONS

Machine-wash in cold water at the temp. of 40⁰C. Hand washing is not recommended since it is difficult to work the water into and through the undersuit to flush away dirt and it is also difficult to remove the water by hand without damaging the insulation. The undersuit should be washed separately to avoid crowding in the machine and to maximize the cleaning action. Add detergent for the first washing, then wash the undersuit again – this time without any detergent.

Warning: Spinning should be on low circle.

To dry, lay the undersuit flat or tumble dry using a delicate cycle (low temperature) or air only.

For the first drying cycle, turn the undersuit inside out. Repeat, if the lining is still wet, but for the second drying cycle – turn the undersuit right side out.

Warning: Do not hang to dry!! The weight of the water in the garment may cause the Thinsulate™ Insulation liner to separate in shoulders area.

When you need to do some minor cleaning of the undersuit that has not been washed before, please follow these recommendations:

• Salt crystals – wash in clear water without detergent.
• Disinfect – it may be required after long-term diving (saturation diving) or to remove mold if the undersuit was stored wet in a dark place. Add some liquid non-chlorine bleach (follow bleach label instructions) at the beginning of the wash cycle. DO NOT add detergent.
• Odor – if odor is the only problem, wash the undersuit using one cup of white vinegar then put the undersuit through one complete wash cycle with water only.

If the undersuit has already been washed using a detergent and you have problems with water absorption, it is probably because all of soap has not been removed. Putting it through 2-4 complete washing cycles without detergent should restore the insulating properties of the undersuit.

Warning: Use of chlorine bleach can cause color change or spotting and may damage the insulating layer.