How do you clean your housing

Hi,

I'm having water stains (white marks) on my nauticam housing and i'm trying to wipe them off but they keep staying there.

Also how do you clean the buttons? Despite some thorough rincing in clear water, i still have some salt stuck in the gaps!

Curious as how you do it!

Thank you

49 minutes ago, waterpixel said:

Hi,

I'm having water stains (white marks) on my nauticam housing and i'm trying to wipe them off but they keep staying there.

Also how do you clean the buttons? Despite some thorough rincing in clear water, i still have some salt stuck in the gaps!

Curious as how you do it!

Thank you

Hey!

I'm not sure there is a a way to remove those spots completely. At least, I've never succeeded. Getting the housing into fresh water as quickly as possible helps of course; and not letting salt water dry on to the housing.

You could try either a product like Saltex on the housing which is supposed to breakdown salt crystals; or a mild solution of white vinegar and water.

I've tried all of the above on the 6 housings I have owned over the years and, as I say, never really found solution. Salt seems to gather in nooks and crannies. Generally though if you rinse the housing in fresh water quickly after the dive, it doesn't get too bad. 

I would add to what TimG said. Soaking the housing is the only way I've learned over the years to truly get the salt crystals. Rinsing does not work. When I get home from a trip, I put weight on or in the housing and let is soak for a minimum of 24 hours. I use "mineral free" water (water softner) to soak and final rinse. Aluminium naturally reacts to salt water. As TimG said, it is relatively impossible to prevent or remove. Salt to fresh as soon as possible.

Good Luck!

Hey Bill

I tried denaturalised water soaking some time back - maybe after I read you writing about it? I can't honestly say I thought it made any difference though. Certainly not in the hard-to-get-to spots where salt accumulates. But worth a shot for sure.

Hi

Soaking and pushing several times all the push buttons. Is is critical to grant the flow of the still water through the button grove and the o-ring.

Grant the all the air that might be "stucked" in the button groove gets out and still water gets into it. 

A good soaking for prevention.  I normally keep mine covered with a towel so it doesn't dry out and put it in the sink when I get home for an hour's soak after a local dive.  Getting water out of the buttons helps, if you press all the buttons before going in a drop of saltwater comes out - when you immerse it it is replaced by fresh.  I press them all several times while it soaks.  

My INON strobes get the same, though the soaking water just doesn't get under the rim of the battery cap and even after an hour's soak still there.- I know because salt crystals will form if I don't change out the batteries straight away.

Interestingly my INON torch which also has a screw on cap does not get water between the edge of the cap and the o-ring as when you screw it down the edge contacts and external o-ring - it's a great design - contaminants never seem to get in that gap so I can just screw it off change batteries and when I check there's never any dust, grit or hair on the sealing o-rings, so it goes straight back on.

I coat and polish my housing with silicone grease to prevent water spots and damage.  
Careful drying of the glass surfaces, viewfinder and housing immediately after each dive is most important to prevent water from drying and forming deposits or white spots. 

Before a dive trip, I lightly coat the housing with inexpensive silicone lubricant, the kind sold for swimming pools and mechanical use, and polish it with a soft cloth. The silicone protects the finish, fills in microscopic pores and gaps, and gives the housing a nice glow.

After diving I dunk the housing in cheap vinegar.  I buy a gallon (4 L) of inexpensive cooking vinegar, and after diving, sink the housing with viewfinder and port in 50/50 vinegar/water for a day or so. This dilute vinegar can be kept and reused. 

Once dry, I again lightly coat the housing with the inexpensive silicone lubricant and rub it with a soft cloth. My Nauticam and Subal housings look like new, even after several years of use. 

Thank you all for the great replies!

I'll try to be more diligent the next dive as well as give a go on the silicone lubricant !

After soaking and pushing all the buttons a few times, still under water, use a rocket blower on all the buttons and levers and hard-to-reach areas.  It works a treat to get rid of water that would otherwise dry and leave spots.  

10 hours ago, troporobo said:

After soaking and pushing all the buttons a few times, still under water, use a rocket blower on all the buttons and levers and hard-to-reach areas.  It works a treat to get rid of water that would otherwise dry and leave spots.  

This is also important - allowing drops to dry will leave marks I blow down  and wipe down my housing with a large microfibre cloth.

While soaking, I push all buttons repeatedly (as most others). At home the housing is assembled with a domeport and washed in the dishwasher (at lowest temperature!). Every six month I lubricate all mechanical connections (buttons, levers) with this fluid that has very low surface tension and is supposed to creep down to the O-rings (when I was using the fluid for the first time on my, second hand bought, housings I could recognize that it worked, since the buttons/levers were working smoother afterwards): https://www.unterwasserkamera.at/shop/catalog/en/product_info.php?info=p6154_d-d-top-secret-o-ring-fluid.html

The ports are completely tried with a towel, immediately after soaking, to minimize the chance of waterstain formation. Upon every assembly they are cleaned inside and outside with computer screen cleaner spray using disposable spectacle cleaner paper and lens tissue for final trying.

The lenses are cleaned upon every assembly with blow brush and Hama lenspen/brush. Every few monthes I check the sensor for dust and in case there is some, I clean the sensor according to the procedere in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0PKXtZ7dmY

Wolfgang

Wolfgang, I think you are a first with the dishwasher thing!

What make of dishwasher, eh? Do you leave salt in the rinse cycle or Sparkle?  

7 minutes ago, TimG said:

Wolfgang, I think you are a first with the dishwasher thing!

What make of dishwasher, eh? Do you leave salt in the rinse cycle or Sparkle?  

Hi Tim,

Make is unimportant (we have Miele). Salt I leave (we have extremely hard water here), but no detergent or sparkle, just pure water at the lowest temperature...

Wolfgang

Brilliant, Wolfgang!

(Gotta say, I think Miele appliances are THE best!)

It's a wicked idea

Does anybody uses the product "Silicone Pump from McNett" for care of the button o-rings (as stated on the "Post-Dive Maintenance" section off the article http://www.divephotoguide.com/getting-started-with-underwater-photography/underwater-camera-maintenance/)?

How does it compare with the "D&D Top Secret O-Ring Fluid" that Wolfgang uses?

Hi,

as I read the posts all I can say I follow manufacturers instructions, for me I re-assemble my housing once at home leave it to soak

in cold water ( I live in a hard water area). press all buttons, then dry it off, once dry give a light coat of Seacam oil which soaks into

the metal which leaves it perfect ive just sold my D800 housing which was spot less, now I've a D850.

This is the way Seacam promotes their customers to look after their housings.

Andy.   

I would be wary of attempting to lubricate any O rings in situ with sprays and the like.

The problem is that these lubricants can actually draw sand and dust into the O ring and damage it. It is (almost) impossible to lubricate the internal surface of the O ring without the lubricant also offering a path for external contamination. The pump sprays that are recommended in the quoted article are marginally better in that they are water based, so will wash off, however this will also limit their efficacy as a lubricant!

A thorough rinsing, in preferably warm water to dissolve salts, along the the buttons being used while rinsing should deal satisfactorily with salt build up. I actually tend to dive with mine is fresh water, which has the same effect.

This should be combined with a regular maintenance regime that regularly replaces O rings with new (and perhaps most critically) lubricated O rings.

Just to add on this topic be weary of the water source you use to rinse esp when u are away from home or in some cases at home.

At some resorts their water source can contain some salt water within. For that I normally buy those Hugh water bottles for my soaking purpose.

I normally use white vinegar and water 1:50(ish) and then wipe the housing in an silicone oiled cloth - that keeps stains away!

Interesting answers. I will have to come back to this page when my water housing arrives.