Greasing the 'O' ring

I just found this forum and its awesome. I just purchased a PnS Canon and a waterproof housing WP-DC3 to be precise. How often should I be applying the silicon grease to the O ring. I am going to Mexico in three weeks and intend to spend every day in the water, each morning do I apply a fresh coat of grease to the ring. Cant wait, never shot underwater before, figured this was an inexpensive way instead of the housing cost to a Nikon D2hs.

Hi and welcome - this forum is a massive resource and has a great group of people on it.

To answer your question - don't over do the silicone grease. The grease does not provide any part of the seal at all - the O Ring does that. All that the grease does is allow the O Ring to move about a bit in its grove without getting pinched and damaging the O Ring.

So when you do grease the thing use a tiny amount of the grease on the tips of a couple of fingers and gently pull the ring through.

The Grease that you got with the housing should last a few years !

As for how often, again personally I would not over do it - once at the start of the week would be fine for me.

Use the time that you save to have a good look at the seal each time that you close the housing to 'see' that its is OK rather than pinched or extruded the ring someplace ( aided by too much grease probably ! ).

Enjoy and post back some great pictures.

Paul C

Hello,

I agree that less is more. I find that that over time I have been using less and less grease with excellent results.

The one thought I had on "how often" is that sometimes you might dive in places that can be sandy (with currents, etc.) and then I find its good to check much more often as bits of sand can get stuck on the o ring and it creates a little leak if you don't stay on top of it and keep it clean. In this case be really careful as you touch the o ring not to damage it by scratching it with the sand.

Good luck and have fun.

-- Justin

Just to add to what everyone has said; when you remove the o-ring, look at everything under good lighting, the groove, the seating surface, and the lubricated o-ring. Look for salt, sand, lint, fuzz, hair or anything else that may cause a leak. Look at it again after placing the o-ring in the groove before closing the camera. For some reason lint and fuzz seem to appear from nowhere.

To flog a dead horse, so to speak, re-read all the advice again as it was all excellent. I had a partial flood in a pool for crying out loud. Had I not been able to salvage everything completely, it would have made for a lousy afternoon. I still to this day do not know what caused the flood however, I did find a piece of lint that I suspected was the culprit. I do clean the Oring with warm, fresh water to rinse off any gunk before my trip, and after a dive where I know I had it on sand. I always inspect the Oring while preparing the camera for a dive and finally, give it the bathtub/rinse-tub test before taking it diving. PS...use a lens cloth to wipe down the O-ring and the groove on your camera because they don't leave any lint behind. One other piece of newbie advice...those moisture packets are golden in high humidity. If you don't use one its likely your camera will fog up on a dive. Later,

Gary

Thanks for all the great advice, going in the pool tomorrow before my trip, get use to this great new hobbie

And one more important tip.

When ever you open the housing for any reason, check and or clean the orings. I have never lost a camera in over 10 years of taking them underwater from being tossed around in the surf to countless jumping in entries with it rolling.

Most floods are due to human error, but not all....

One other piece of newbie advice...those moisture packets are golden in high humidity. If you don't use one its likely your camera will fog up on a dive. Later,

Gary

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What kind of moisture packets are you talking about? Where do I get them?

Do you put them inside the camera houseing with your camera, somewhere that they will not interfere with buttons?

Thanks

My input on the grease. I've used my WP-DC70 on about a dozen dives and only greased it once. From what I have read, the grease should be used for long term storage so the O Ring does not dry out. Also grease will attract more sand particles and lint.

I've seen many a sand particles get on my o ring while out diving and if I can brush them off with my finger I let them go until back at the hotel room where I can clean the O ring with a soft toothbrush and water. I do make sure to remove any hair or lint particles while out diving though. So far no leaks. Now if I could completely prevent my case from fogging from time to time I'd be real happy

Vortexted,

They're what appears to be silicon packets and came with my Olympus Housing. I've heard other people say there are other brands and a few even use their own home brew. For me, the stop my housing from fogging up in humid environments. In my housing, they fit snuggly under the camera. Sorry...I don't have a vendor but Ryan's Reef Photo should be able to hook you up.

Later,

Gary

Look at the out side of your main 'O' ring with a magnifying glass. See that real fine line around the outside - that's the parting line when the 'O' ring was moulded. What you don't want to do is twist the ring around when pushing it into the groove.

Also go to the drug store and get womens make up applicators - they are foam Q-tips and don't leave lint residue.

When removing and replacing the main 'O' ring, m