How to flood Subals

I am pleased to say that this is a story with a happy ending, but no lack of stupidity along the way. So I thought I would share it.

I have three times had water in my Subal D2x housing. And three times it has been my fault. Two of these leaks have been so minor that they have tripped the leak alarm at over 1 hour into dives. The most recent was more catastrophic and only immediately turning my camera dome down and racing for the surface allowed my camera to escape unharmed.

Since all have a similar route cause I thought I would share my experiences firstly to help others avoid the same fate, but more importantly, that writing about it my help me get it into my thick skull.

All three floods have been caused by me using non-Subal ports. Ports accurately machined to the same size as Subal ports, but out of different materials. I am always keen to exploit lenses that other photographers aren't using as so I often have to use specially manufactured ports and extension rings.

The problem I have been having is mixing metal (aluminium) ports with Subal's plastic (delrin?) extension rings. Most of the time these seem to work fine - but when used in very warm environments I have had a few floods. This I have been told is because of the greater thermal expansion of the plastic relative to the metal. Just enough to make the ports leak.

My last flood was caused by using a fisheye domeport, designed and built by Peter Scoones and made on a metal mount, fitted onto a Subal plastic extension ring and then used in very warm conditions in Thailand. Which was very nearly bye bye D2X (thank goodness for weather sealing). I had used the port previously without problems directly on the metal mount on the housing, but on the extension ring with all pieces up to ambient temperature it was glug, glug!

Anyway I hope I can learn from this process, and thought it was worth sharing!

Alex

A very smart mentor once told me "It's the pioneer that gets all the arrows" Thanks for being out front and coming back to tell about it. Glad you're still dry.

Steve

Who would have thought that using non-Subal ports would have the capacity to cause such damage?

It's very interesting that temperature differences are enough to cause problems when the ports are made of different materials.

Since I'm a Subal user, it's good to know these facts.

As they say "Knowledge is power".

Thanks for increasing my knowledge

All the best,

Ellen

Interesting topic, Alex. For the last five years, I was diving a Sea&Sea housing. The housing was polycarbonate, as were the dome port and flat port. However, the extension rings were aluminum. Never had a problem. I plan to use the same ports with my new Seatool housing. The housing is aluminum, the adapter ring that allows me to use the Sea&Sea ports is plastc (I assume Delrin or something like it), the extension rings and ports are the same as before. Will get it wet soon . . .

Mike

My therapist would say that your sub-conscious psyche secretly wants you to by a new camera. Have you been eying up any new camera's lately

But then again, that is Murphy for you. One of his laws state that "If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which something can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will spontaneously develop".

Cheers,

Mike

Had drips of water in my Subal CE50 when using Subal housing, Subal extension ring and third party dome. Dome direct on housing was always fine, only a prob when added extension. Water temp was around 24-25 degrees C.

I have three times had water in my Subal D2x housing. And three times it has been my fault.

Alex, I remember a few years ago you wrote that your Subal never flooded which is one of the reasons I bought one. Good to know that technically is still the case. Thanks for the heads up. Great info.

A question for you. Thanks to a wetpix member I was able to modify my ND20 to fit my D300. Everything works great so I'm tickled pink, which ain't easy for a black guy from Seattle. But in the process of the mod I had to remove a few of the plastic buttons that extend thru the backing plate. Does that automatically mean I need to replace what looks like teflon seals under the buttons? (Naturally i am going to dive with it empty first). The housing is 1 year old and has been on about 50 dives in the tropics and Pacific NW. How often should it be sent in for "authorized" service?

Sorry, I guess that's 2 questions, but you're the man!

Andy

Hi Andy,

Housing servicing is a difficult one. With so many buttons on them these days people don't get them serviced much because the labour cost is so much higher than with the old film housings. I would say that you should consider a service every 2-5 years - but only if buttons and controls are sticky/don't feel how they used to.

Regarding the "teflon seals" I would not worry about those. They are inside of two o-rings in the push button - so I doubt they are going to effect anything.

Of course, dive the housing empty first (with 4lb of lead inside, wrapped in bubble wrap) to be sure of any modifications.

Alex

First off I have not stripped a Subal myself - but have a bit of background in the mechanical area.

If I understand you correctly you have the plastic button then the washer then the O-Ring which then inserts into the housing ?

If so then this is a fairly conventional backup set-up on an O-Ring to help stop the O-Ring 'sticking' to the button. Myself I would not bother replacing them as long as they the surfaces are not scarfed up with sand ingress or similar.

Always a good idea to dive the housing empty and give the buttons a good workout near the surface.

Paul C