Help needed. The dome glass fell out of my Zen dome....

Somehow the glass in my Zen WA-100 - EP fell out during transport. My guess is that the housing cover was shut due to pressure flying. I am in Asia on holiday until February, and I would like some advice how to remount it. There is a groove for the O-ring, and what I would like to know is if I shall put silicone grease on it, and in what order I can get it together, glass first.? O-ring second? Sending it to Zen is no option right now, and I'm still optimistic about getting some underwater shots in Thailand and the Philippines before my holiday ends....

Glass first. O Ring second. I had exactly the same happen on the same dome a couple of years ago.

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Do not use silicone it will enable the o-ring to slip out again. Use a soapy water solution to lubricate everything and a wooden popsicle stick to help out with the replacement of the o-ring.

Blibecap

Thanks guys! I'll follow your advice and hopefully I will get it assembled!

Update:Got the glass mounted! No leaks! Thank you guys! :-)

Wow, incredible. can you please post pics of the glass off and let us know how exactly you got it back on? Did you check it or hand carry?

This can happen when you transport the housing all sealed up. Housings are meant for keeping pressure out not in. It's especially true on the plastic Oly housings. Just take the oring out of the back door and put in an oring inside the housing before you fly.

Jack

Can't post pic with the glass off, since it's already back in place...just be careful when you pry the O-ring back, just a little bit at a time. And, I let the back door on the housing stay a bit open, not fully closed when flying, so I guess the pressure shut it more closed. No carry on, as we have 2 kits, and it's getting heavy hauling all the equipment as carry on. We pay for sports equipment, and put the housing and strobes in the regular suitcase, in cooler bags, with our clothing stuffed around it. The camera bags are our only carry ons....

And, yes, we will not travel with o rings in the housing any more. ..

I am extremely skeptical that the internal pressure of a housing closed at sea level and then flown to 6000 ft would have enough delta P to blow off the dome. Does that mean if I drive to Denver with a sealed housing, my dome port will fall off? that seems like a really really bad design if that is true.

Bill

Hi Bill

The difference is at 0' there is 14.7 psia and at 6000' there is 11.8 psia. That is a difference of 2.9 psia. But the deal is if it was sealed up at 0 feet sea level then at 6000 feet altitude it would be 3 PSIA pressure inside it. I agree something is not correct here. The housing / dome should be able to at least handle twice that. Once you get enough pressure inside the main housing seal usually leaks.

When mine came apart, I too had flown with it closed.

The O-Ring appears only to be a) the only seal and b) the 'stopper' to hold the glass element in place.

Sold it years ago, so can't remember the precise design.

These things are designed to cope with external pressure. I wouldn't risk exposing them to the opposite.

How big a dome? there can be a lot of square inches there, 3 psi over a dome 10" across is 78 pounds of force.