Flooded my Ikelite housing

So, it was my turn to flood someting... D70 and Nikkor 105 are gone.

I decided not to be cheap on orings. I've thrown away all old ones and ordered two sets of brand new orings.

I installed 6" dome port with new oring and it worked flawlessly for 2 dives.

Then Vandit recommened macro setup for the next site so I installed flat port (using the same oring that worked fine for 6" dome). I was supprised to notice that the port was completely loose after I locked it. You could see that the oring was not pressed enough to seal.

I installed an oring from the second set and it seemed to be ok (port was not loose as before and the oring looked as if it was sealed properly.

I took it underwater. I did not notice anything wrong just below the surface. But at 8-9m it began to take water quite fast. By the time I got to the surface the housing was almost full. When I inspected it I could see that port's oring was not sealed properly. That port did work fine with this housing (and old oring) in the past.

I later continued to use the same housing with 6" dome and an my backup D70 for the rest of my trip without any problems.

That leaves my confused about what actually happened. Are there different sizes of orings for different ports?

I thought it was just one standard size.

How come port is completely loose with one oring and 'almost' sealed with another one (I ordered two identical sets)?

I can defiantly feel your pain. I flooded the same setup a couple of years ago.

The port o-rings should all be of the same size. There is a different sized one that is close to the port o-ring, but that is for the 8" inch dome.

My flat port is always a little loose, but still seals well. My 6" dome became deformed a while back (I could barely install it without an o-ring) and haven't used it since I got the 8".

Have you compared diameter of the dome to the flat port? After the deformation, my dome was noticeably wider at the base.

Andrzej,

One word, grease........If you switch ports and don't re-apply a shiny (NOT gloppy!) amount fo Ikelite o-ring grease, you can likely force the port closed, but possibly with one part of the o-ring twisted or folded over. I'd bet this is why your housing flooded, not o-ring diameters

Especially since the same o-ring sealed for two dives..........

In the Ikelite manual they tell you the port o-ring is one that really, really needs to be lubricated to "slide in" the bore type housing seal......

Hope this helps!

dhaas

I don't think grease was an issue in this case. I greases it just before I changed ports.

The thing is that 6" FE dome is tight (with this oring).

And 105mm port is loose with the same oring.

The I have another o-ring that makes 105 port almost tight.

I was too busy after my holidays to check it precisely. Maybe there is some deformation of the port.

Andrzej - atleast your response was a lot more controlled and dignified than mine, when my housing flooded.

Sorry I missed you on the way out - do let me know when you have the photos online.

Cheers,

Vandit

If you have a micrometer, measure the lip of each of the ports to make sure they are the same. If the flat port lip is thinner, it could cause the o-ring not to be pressed tight against the housing.

If there is a difference in port tolerance, I would think that this would reflect poorly on Ikeite quality control and a replacement of one or the other port would be in order.