Housing care - post rinse

As a follow up to all the techniques being shared on the "Housing rinsing techniques" thread...

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=51431

I was wondering if people would mind sharing housing care techniques for after you've rinsed. Do you dry off your ports? Do you disassemble and store, or if you're diving again in a week do you leave it all together? How often do you attend to orings?

I really appreciate everyone sharing. When you're not surrounded by underwater photographers on a day to day basis like me, this is a great way to pick up some tips and learn from the experiences of others.

I dive pretty regularly, so don't tend to take everything apart. I also dive a lot in fresh water, which solves many of my rinsing issues.

After diving/rinsing I air dry the housing.

I do polish ports periodically (mine are glass) and have rinsed the insides of my dome ports on occasion.

Before each day's diving, I clean, inspect and if necessary lubricate o rings.

Adam

Rinsing aside I soke my housing for a couple of hours just for GP. Every year I pop the buttons apart (Ikelite houseing) to inspect them, clean everything, and replace the O-Rings if needed. The housing O-Rings are changed every 200 dives or as needed. One of the things I do to help the O-Rings out a bit is to leave the housing open, same thing with the batteries of my strobes.

Sending it periodically to get serviced and pressure tested isn't a bad idea either.

Jeff

After a dive trip, i keep the housing/ports/strobes etc dunked in fresh water for 36-48 hours for the salt inside to dissolve. Post this i air dry or fan dry so no water remains. after this i use pure silicone oil and put a drop on each button, lever, knob etc. so that all is lubricated and smooth. This i have seen, also helps for the next dive trip, as the silicone oil helps keeps the salt water out. I use something like this http://www.amazon.com/Muchmore-MMS50-Silicone-Shock-Weight/dp/B001BHI9AE/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1381316367&sr=8-4&keywords=muchmore+silicone+oil

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Diggy

After every rinse, I use a Rocket air bulb to quickly blow out the water from the buttons. Next to each button is a small access hole to let water in and out during actuation. A quick puff of air gets 90% of the water out. The less water left in the hole, the less residual salt will be deposited when it drys. I also blow water out of the gap between the back plate and the housing. I then towel dry everything. The more water you get out, the less likely you are to drip when you open the housing. If I am not diving for a week, I usually remove the ports and the back plate. I always remove the strobe cables and dry the connectors because they are prone to corrosion.

Diggy, thanks for the silicone oil tip. That sounds like a great idea.

Aquatica says not to use any lube other than their lubebecause it make cause o-ring swelling. I wonder if using silicone oil on buttons if a problem for Aquatica housings.

That is a good question. A few years back I bought the Aquatica service kit and replaced all of the o-rings in my 5D housing. It isn't particularly hard but you have to be meticulous. The buttons use x-rings and I damaged one during the service. Since the kit only gives you the exact number that you need I bought a bunch of spares from Mcmaster-Carr. X-rings only come standard in Buna-N and Viton. I am pretty sure that they use Buna-N but both materials are fine for use with silicone oil. Even so it would be prudent to check them periodically. A safer alternative would be to pack some of the Christolube into a gluing syringe and squirt the outside of the button seal with extra grease.

Almost all housings have black o rings as far as the buttons/dials/knobs/levers are concerned. Leave aside the main o rings for the housing and ports which could be colored. In cases where black o rings are used pure silicone oil is never an issue. I have been using this method now for over two years on my nauticam housing with no problems.

Diggy

Sorry for the revival but, just a related question....

Do any of you REMOVE the o-rings from the housing after rinse and only put them back when you're ready to use it again? Or do you leave them on the housing?

If I do not use the Housing for a longer time, then yes.

We dive with cameras everyday, using 1 or 2 cameras (Patima housing Cannon 450D, and Cannon 60D with Aquanaught housing) the cameras are put in a tub of fresh but normally stale ( days-weeks old) water, for about 5 minutes somettimes just a quick dunk and rinse, and maybe O-rings are checked daily but only removed to check about every month or so,

So far we havn;t had any leaks in the 4 1/2years due to failing parts (a couple due to the moisture muncher being over the seal when re assembling in the morning).

Perhaps using it daily is better as it doesn't let the salt crystalise in one place for long, maybe someone can clarify.

We assemble the cameras in an Airconditioned boat so humidity isn't such an issue for us, convenient as we live in the tropics.

Gary

Sorry for the revival but, just a related question....

 

Do any of you REMOVE the o-rings from the housing after rinse and only put them back when you're ready to use it again? Or do you leave them on the housing?

If your dive trip is over and your housing is going to hibernate for a couple of weeks or more, then yes i remove the o rings. If i am changing ports or opening the back in between dives, then yes i do remove them and put them back on after lubing. The rule for me is if you open the housing then you check the o ring!

Diggy

While nitrile o-rings are mostly OK with silicone oil, not all black o-rings are nitrile; I would personally use something like Tribolube 221 since it is OK for all types of o-rings.

Bill

Ikelite has some specific instructions for their housings. One is never, ever use any type of liquid silicone on the buttons (I wouldn't do this on any housing, you want a lube that is solid at room temperature).

As for post-dive use, at the end of the dive day, I first dip (never leave in a communal barrel) the housing, then soak it. Do not be tempted to look at pix on the dive boat trip back, as the salt is making crystals that wear on the seals. Then, get back to shore, and gently wash off the housing (and your dive gear). I then soak the housing for at least an hour in a tub (might have to remove strobes). Then, swish it around in the tub. Better yet, take a turkey baster, or kids "nasal bulb" (aka snot remover), and blow water into the buttons on the housing, while in the tub. Finally, remove the housing from the tub, and gently dry it off. Be careful in using a towel on an acrylic port, as they can scratch (you can use Novus brand no. 1 and no. 2 acrylic polish to remove scratches, available on Amazon).

Finally, after the water droplets are off, carefully open the housing back. Make sure you have toweled off the edges of the housing, where the gasket is, as capillary action will hold water in that gap. A tisssue to the edge will suck out the water from this gap.

I then take the entire rig apart, including the ports. I carefully clean all gaskets on the ports, take a Q-tip and clean out the port grooves, inspect with a lighted magnifier (or under a very bright light with a magnifying glass), regrease the O-rings, and reassemble with the port selection for the next day. I never, ever change ports on a boat (unless a live-aboard), as that introduces way too many variables (and wet air into the housing) that are too easy to overlook (like a hair or sand speck in the gasket).

I don't ever store my rig with the O-rings in. A flat o-ring will leak as easily as one twisted or with a piece of trash in it. Also very important to "pull" the o-ring between your fingers when LIGHTLY lubricating. Too much silicone can "blow out" of the groove, so go easy on it.

Based on use of high pressure piping systems, I must respectfully disagree with the comments on silicone oil. Viscosity of the lubricant is very important on the o-rings, as well as being chemically compatible with what is in your rig. Stick with the manufacturer's recommendations, as they are telling you what works best (leaking housings from customers is bad for business!!).

I know the above may seem a bit overkill, but I haven't had a leak in over 5 years, since I started using this protocol.

I want to take the time to say thank you for everyone's responses (I know this is quite some time later) - I have taken everyone's advise in housing maintenance and it has been going pretty well for me so far!

Dpaustex, I have more or less adopted your way of post-dive washing and disassembling/reassembling minus the turkey baster part for the buttons. I kinda just work the buttons while its in the bath every so often during the hour or so that its sitting there.

Maybe a silly question, I am not sure if I am being majorly paranoid about leaks or not, but every time I am getting the housing ready for a dive, I put all main o-rings under a light and gently pick off even the smallest pieces of lint... I remove pretty much all of them but the task is really tedious. Do you think leaving some of these could result in a leak?

Thanks for your help, as always

i dive every weekend (4-6 dives on average), after the dives i rinse the housing off with fresh water then leave it on my porch to dry (windy, shaded spot)

I replaced all of the seals when i got the housing 2 years ago and haven't had an issue since (150+ dives). While ikelite's aren't the best they sure are functional and can certainly take a beating.

as for the buttons, a little bit of lube every now and then works fine.

as for the buttons, a little bit of lube every now and then works fine.

I usually apply a bit of the manufacturer grease to the stem from the inside of the housing using a toothpick.

This helps greatly to make the buttons moving more freely and can help to avoid/free sticky buttons.

Ikelite housings have a very tight space between the button and the hole where they are mounted in and water get easily trapped inside.

To avoid standing water inside i usually shake the backplate hard to work all the water out.

Chris