How to store housing?

Hi, new to this forum and new to underwater photography (though not new to diving or photography...)

I have a Fujifilm F100fd and the corresponding housing which includes two large o-rings. How should the housing best be stored between trips? Fully closed (with pressure on the o-rings) or open but in a clean place?

Best regards, Henrik

Pressure on the O-ring is a legitimate concern, so I would understand that you would want store it open, but in my opinion, you will never find "a clean place." When the housing is open, there are too many opportunities for the O-rings and other internal machinery to attract fibers, sand, and other particulate that you may not find in your predive check. Personally, I would opt to store the housing closed, lessening the opportunities for "stuff" to get to the inner workings of the housing. As for pressure on the O-ring itself, I beleive that you should replace your O-rings about every year. This practice would hopefully keep the o-ring from squishing to an unusable form, which I think would take quite some time (years) to develop.

I take the o-rings out of the seal grooves / flanges and place them inside the housing, which I then close without the O-rings in place. I've been doing this for the last three years, and haven't had any problems yet. Being inside the housing means that very little (if any) dust gets on to the o-ring, and in any case I service the o-ring before putting it back into the seal grooves / flanges before the next time I use the housing.

Another solution is to put the o-ring inside a (clean) zip lock bag. This might also help prevent / lessen dessication of the o-ring if that is a problem in your environment (i.e. hot and dry).

Either way, I think it is valuable to store the o-ring without the pressure of being locked in the seal of the closed housing.

HTH!

Just close the housing without the orings like Graham said. I put all my orings in a ziplock bag, slightly greased.

I also take the o-rings out and store greased in a zip-lock bag. The housing is then stored closed in a protecked bag.

Shane

Thanks all for the advice!

I'll go with the ziplock option.

Just close the housing without the orings like Graham said. I put all my orings in a ziplock bag, slightly greased.

I'll 3rd that!

I also take the o-rings out and store greased in a zip-lock bag. The housing is then stored closed in a protecked bag.

Me too

Hal