What is your experience with o-ring grease. Are some samey and are some very different? Has anyone been brave enough to use anything else than the yellow-blue tube on Sea & Sea:s blue o-rings? What's your take on this?

cheers

Christian

what you want is Fluorosilicone grease, the standard "silcone grease" (usually a suspension of silica in polydimethylsiloxane oil, so there ) will sharply reduce the life of silicone o-rings. I believe it acts rather like a solvent on the o-ring material. Not good.

Have a look here
Lovely Greases

Martyn

I know a chemist who tells me that vaseline is what Sea&Sea 'O' rings need - although I've never had the courage to try this on any (it is soluble to some extent I believe) - and he uses it to good effect! I also believe that they are silicone rubber - which originated from food industry requirements. Whatever they are I have never quite figured why they should be considered any better than 'ordinary' 'O' rings - especially given the fair possibility of people using the 'incorrect' grease to lubricate them, if this really is a problem.

I've not come across the grease Martyn refers to but can say that the viscosity of various lubricating greases does vary considerably and some are decidedly thicker and stickier than others!

Given the low cost of lubricating grease (in the overall scheme of underwater photography) I'd suggest sticking to recommended lubricants unless you have a very good reason not to - at least for warranty periods and perhaps longer depending on your neurosis!

It would seem that every manufacturer has their own proprietary lube for their products. Sea and Sea suggest that using the wrong one of their's will cause the o-ring to swell and not seal completely. Floods that I have heard of have been caused by this mistake.

Others (Aquatica most notably) now use Chisto-lube with thier product line. This synthetic white grease is fantastic and not sticky as the traditional silicone would be. I only use it on those o-rings though and haven't been brave enough to try it on the Subal . . .

HI ALL,
just to add my two pennorth worth I use three types as per the manufacturers
instructions which are SeaCam, InOn, & Sea&Sea. I try not to let water flood anything
as the manufacturers are the experts, I use their knowledge.
Andy

As Paul Kay said, O ring grease is cheap. A small tube will last a lifetime. So pay the <$5 for a tube from the manufacturer and don't over-analyze this.

Ikelite housings require very very little lube--only a bit on the port o-ring. I still have plenty that came with the ports.

Well it's not a cost issue, it's just that I was in a situation where I couldn't get Sea&Sea grease and had to use something else... So it was just one quick, side step. Didn't mean anything and now I'm back in line

cheers

Life is much easier if you get rid of all those different colored o-rings & replace them with the standard black Buna-N compound. Plain old generic silicone grease is all you need. My S&S strobe & sync cord blue o-rings were history on day one. I found them to also be dust magnets. The only colored o-ring I have on anything is the red silicone seal that came on the Gates video housing. No grease on this one - spit works just fine. YMMV but I haven't had any o-ring problems in 30+yrs.

Great suggestion jc,

I had been wondering about doing a global replace on my gear, so it's interesting to hear that you've had complete success with doing it. Oh and that spit works on the main ring.

Cheers,

Martyn

Ask yourself why you need to grease O-rings? If an O-ring is going to need to move (piston O-ring) it will need lubrication. A port that rotates to lock in place will need its O-ring greasing (lightly). A compression O-ring needs no grease. That includes the one at the camera back that is simply compressed as you squeeze the back shut. Many manufacturers advise against using any grease because it attracts dirt that jeopardise O-ring surfaces. Now you are confused!

Don't confuse "grease" with "lubrication". Most o-rings need some degree of lubrication - it could be grease, water, spit, etc depending on o-ring compound. (Like the red silicone o-rings - they need some lub but not in the form of grease.)
Buna-N seals need a little silicone grease from time to time as a lubricant & because the surface tends to dry out over time.

I reckon that many 'compression 'O' rings move a bit as pressure increases, so I'd certainly apply some lubrication to ensure that they will move easily if they need too. But following manufacturer's recommendations is by far the best policy on 'O' rings - they are after all the barrier between salt water and elecronics, so a few minutes spent prepping them properly is good insurance!