EEEEK -- housing leak on test dives

Well, I've been testing my Aquatica S2 housing on various shallow and deep dives, and yesterday on a deep dive (90+ feet) I noticed drops on the inside of the display glass. I couldn't tell if it was coming from the function buttons or somewhere else. Inside the housing I had a soft 2-lb weight wrapped in crumpled brown lunch-bag paper. At the time I was using a macro port with extension ring for the 105 Micro, and it looked like there was a wet "bubble" in the seal between the glass where it seats on the inside of the port. When I got topside I noticed that there was some wetness around the fitting between the macro port and the extension ring.

So my question is whether I should take the housing on another dive to try to find exactly where the leak is coming from. If it's the o-ring between the port and extension ring, I think I can remedy that with a good lubing and cleaning, but if it's the macro port/glass fitting that's leaking then I should send it back for Aquatica to look at. I'm also not sure where the water on the back display came from. Problem was that I didn't stuff the housing all the way with paper so the soft weight was moving around a bit and may have distributed a few drops. Should I not risk further seawater damage by taking it on another dive?

Thanks.

I would recheck the o-rings; maybe trying new ones if I had an extra set (which I would always have). All of my leaks have been o-ring problems except the time an airline cracked my dome port (stress fracture which didn't show up until the 3rd day of diving).

If it doesn't leak I wouldn't worry about it. Especially since it's not my camera.

Do the ports on your Aquatica S2 screw on? The only time I have ever had problem with my Aquatica A3 housing was when I first owned it and did not screw my macro port down tight enough. Since then I have never had a problem with my housing (which is built like a tank and nearly the same size). But by all means check your o-rings one more time and do one more test dive and go from there. Good luck, Keith

Yes, the macro port and extension ring do "screw" on to the housing and to each other. I made sure they were tight the night before, but didn't check before the dive, so that could be the issue. I also checked the o-rings the night before in rather dim light, so the whole mess might have been user error given all the dust floating around my room. I think I should develop and routinely follow a checklist for diving with the housing.

To me a housing that leaks once is like a dog that bites once. I would never trust either again.

Or at least if was my housing I would need to find the smoking gun or send it back to the factory for a thorough checkup. Stated another way, just because it doesn't leak on your next test dive doesn't mean it is all better.

And finally, speaking from a bad experience with an Olympus 5050 housing, there is nothing worse than seeing your housing filling with water at 60 feet.

Bottom line, find the smoking gun or send it back to the factory. And ether way get get insurance. All other courses of action are just playing with fire.

Not sure I buy the dog analogy! The behaviour of a dog depends mostly on the behaviour of the owner.

The same is true for an UW housing.

The majority of floods are caused by human error / carelessness.

Make a checklist and follow it religiously on EVERY dive.

I might suggest as a general testing procedure, an anle weight outside the housing, on the handle, vs a bag moving around the inside.

If you are sure it's not human error, send back to Aquatica for testing.

They strongly beleive in customer service.

And yes, you get insurance hoping that you never have to use it,

so don't gamble, get insurance if you don't already have some!

Good luck,

8)

I flooded my Subal D10 housing in my pool on it's first dive.

This was because I did not know how to put it together properly.

If it leaks without your camera in it it will leak at some point with the camera in it.

Unless you are absolutely sure why it leaked (and you don't seem to be) send it back and get it fixed.

If you're not absolutely confident about assembling the housing get someone who is to show you how.

Here here on the pre-dive checklist at least until you have it down as an automatic response. The time you are going to have a problem is when you either are rushing and forget to check that you did not pinch an o-ring, or check that the o-rings are clean, or you have tried to eek out one last trip before having your housing overhauled as part of it's maintenance schedule. Now with about 400+ dives on my housing, I have not had a problem. Aquatica seems to make a very reliable product. I would be curious to here from others who have had floods and if they found the cause. I just wonder how common it is?

Keith