First time cleaning O-ring

I've read that some people grease their O-rings after every dive, and others who hardly ever do. I also remember hearing that for Olympus housings, the O-ring should only be greased once or twice a year, regardless of the number of dives. I read that on a photography forum I believe.

What is really recommended for maintaining the O-ring? I will probably be practicing with my rig in the pool over the next few months, but won't be taking it into salt water until October. Should I grease the O-ring after a certain period of time, regardless of how many times it is used in the water?

Thanks.

The Official Answer - "The owners manual for the housing is God do not disobey it!!!"

I normally clean mine off at the end of the day of when I disassemble my housing. Then I may or may not re-grease it depending on how much grease camp off when I was cleaning it. If it is still glossy after I clean it or it still feels greasy, I normally let it alone. If it's dull, and sticks as I slide it through my fingers, then I re-grease.

Also, I always give it a good cleaning and greasing at the beginning of any long trip. Just remember to test the housing before you start your next dive after servicing the o-rings.

Hey McKev, I think your answer is as always in this underwater stuff, "It depends" If your opening your housing in your nice clean dry filtered room to download your shots after a couple of hours in the pool. A quick visual check for proper seal should suffice. If you live at the beach (salt air, sand, etc.) and your o-ring comes out as you take the back off I'd check it throughly. If you're like me and have two golden retrievers who leave little tiny fur balls everywhere, you'd need to clean it every time you open anything. That's one reason you'll see different responses to your question. We all have different circumstances and different comfort levels with what "clean" means.

Steve

Hi

I fall into the "don't fiddle unless necessary group"

I fully clean and grease the O ring at the beginning of a trip, in a dry air conditioned room. Then whilst on the trip, just visually check at the end of each day, after rinsing with fresh water when back in my hotel room (I don't need to open my camera between dives, so never need to open it anywhere near sea water).

This interfere little policy derived from a time when I used to take out the O ring and clean it at the end of each day. One day this inspection revealed a tiny crack in the O ring - good job I checked daily eh...well actually no! I kept the camera out of the water for the rest of the holiday (10 missed dives) and ordered a new seal when I got home. 2 weeks (and many photo-dive days) later when the seal arrived I replaced the ring, and rechecked the old seal - no cracks anywhere, clean as a whistle and perfectly sound. I missed all those photo-ops for apparently nothing. I now believe that by over frequent checking I was becoming increasingly paranoid about the seal and was seeing flaws where none existed. So hence my new policy of few but thorough checks

As Steve says "We all have different circumstances and different comfort levels with what "clean" means. "

Cheers

Hal

Expatdiver,

Thanks for the advice....and great pictures in your gallery.

Steve,

Point well taken...love your gallery as well. Awesome shots!

Hal,

I tend to be probably a little too paranoid about my camera equipment above water. So I think I would be extremely paranoid about taking one of my babies underwater. That's why I bought a used C-5000. I will will take good care of it and the housing, but I'm not going to go overboard.

I think it's good advice to perform the necessary checks, but not to over-maintain the housing. I'm sure with time, I'll get a better feel for what that means.

Thanks.