Why has your sealed equipment (e.g., camera) flooded underwater, how to prevent that?

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kr2y5

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I would be interested in the possible or suspected reasons, especially the less obvious ones or based on your own experiences, why electronic equipment protected with O-rings, such as cameras, canisters, dive lights, Nautilus Lifelines, etc., would flood underwater, and what precautionary steps to take to minimize the chances of that happening. I'm posting it in the basic forum, since it's not necessarily just camera-specific, and might be of broader interest.

I am pretty meticulous as far as equipment maintenance, and yet I somehow managed to flood my camera a few months ago. I usually take more time preparing camera for diving each day than all other equipment combined. It starts with rinsing it in fresh water to get rid of any residue, washing O-rings in warm water, giving them time to dry thoroughly, wiping the groove if needed with a cotton swab, re-lubricating O-ring with silicone grease, spreading lubricant with my fingers while feeling the O-ring for any defects, and reseating the O-ring in the groove. I would think that I am pretty thorough, and yet, I must have made a mistake somewhere...

I have never come up with a convincing explanation, but among the ones that crossed my mind: (1) too frequent maintenance without replacing the O-rings, I have been using the same O-ring for 30-40 dives across 2 dive trips => maybe they need to be replaced more often, (2) the giant stride, which was a 9-10 foot jump, causing the water to hit the housing at the wrong place and at the wrong angle, and possibly dislodging the ring => maybe I need to use a protective pouch during water entries, (3) while de-moisturizing the camera before closing it in front of A/C, some microscopic dust might have accumulated on the surface of the O-ring => perhaps I need a better way to avoid fogging (but nothing has ever worked for me for defogging as well as an A/C in the hotel room), (4) applying too much silicone grease on the O-rings (not sure why that would be an issue) => apply less (how little is too little?), (5) accidentally scratching the plastic O-ring groove while pushing a possible grain of sand with a cotton swab along the groove => maybe rinse with a stream of water before wiping it with a swab, (6) leaving fiber from cotton swab or cloth on the groove or O-ring => use some other fabric?

Thoughts, ideas?
 
I personally would never use a cotton swab near an o-ring for reason #6. My buddy had a slow leak once. Caused by one single hair (not even his) crossing the o-ring - one thread of cotton off a swab would be thicker. Same buddy flooded a couple of cameras - I feel at least part of the problem was that he kept opening them to remove/change/review the memory card sooner than needed. He'd even do it at lunch between dives. On the boat but inside.

You can also over-grease an o-ring. Makes it more likely for stuff to stick to it. I usually apply grease then pull it thru my fingers and wipe most of it off.

One other factor you may not have considered is a slight warp in your plastic housing. Some years ago Canon's were known for that - the mating surfaces weren't flat. Someone here actually published a fix for the problem.

What do you use to remove the o-ring? I have something similar to this - it's hard plastic not metal. I would prefer something softer but it's not really a priority - 2 different video housings since 2002 and I haven't had any leaks. Amazon.com: O-Ring Pick Tool - Plastic (No Scratch): Home Improvement
 
Thanks. What sort of fabric do you use for cleaning? My leak may have been a similar one. I noticed water collecting at the bottom of the housing at maybe 30-40 feet during descent, and in a recovered memory card, I could later hear a high pitch hissing and wheezing sound for the 20 seconds or so it took me to notice the leak and turn the camera off. I got maybe a quarter inch of water in the housing by the time I hit the target depth at about 100 feet, and maybe 2-3 times as much by the end of the dive. As far as O-ring, I normally remove it with just my fingers, there is usually a small gap on one side that's just enough to pull. Over-greasing is likely, I probably overdo it. How often do you replace the O-ring with a new one?

One thing that probably helps is to test, although this particular dive was not from a boat, so there wasn't a water bucket to submerge the camera in, and I don't always book a room with a bath tub. Do you think a slow leak can be detectable in a sink or under a running stream of water?
 
I never stride into the water with my camera. Boat crews will always hand them to you. The shock of hitting the water could certainly be the problem. FYI, I have also had 1 hair cause a flood.
 
In my experience, things flood because the owners fiddle with the orings too much. There is no need. Every time you fiddle you have a chance to screw up.

I clean and lube my gear once per dive trip, at the start. After that it is just fresh water rinse. I would replace orings once they show signs of compression. But that has not happened yet. Still on my original set in 3 cameras and 6 underwater lights. The flashlights are over 15 years old, the cameras over 7. all with hundreds of dives. And since I use a P&S I open the housing after every dive in order to swap battery. Same with my strobes as I tend to take a lot of pictures.

Qtips are bad. You can find triangular "makeup sponges" in your local women's beauty section. Use them instead.
 
Years ago I flooded a Sea and Sea MX 10 film camera in Fiji because I got lazy, and did not pay attention to a lice of debris adhering to the greased o ring after changing film between dives. SO now am VERY careful to look, touch and feel seals on my Sealife digital photo video camera. I think most flooding, whether a light or a camera, is due to operator error, being too casual after time, and not attending to the equipment as advised in the materials that came with it.
DivemasterDennis
 
1. Silicone grease is a lubricant, not a sealer. It keeps the oring pliable and supple. Too much can present a path for a leak.
2. Never Giant Stride with your camera in hand.
3. Resist the urge to constantly open your camera after each dive. Every time you open and close is another invitation to a flood.
4. Dependent on the cost of your camera and housing you might think about a vacuum system. The cheapest I have seen is at UnderwaterCameraStuff.
5. Again dependent on your camera housing cost, send it in to the manufacturer for yearly maintenance. You usually can't clean or lub control orings and they can get gritty causing leaks. Usually at 100 ft right after you've taken a killer shot.
6. Use a lint free cloth for cleaning oring and oring groove. Inspect both carefully prior to assembly
 
I have seen hundreds of one-atmosphere housings flood over the last 50 years. Even housings assembled by professionally-trained ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle) and saturation diving system techs that were closed in class 100,000 clean rooms have failed. Granted; failures are less frequent than on mass-produced housings used by recreational divers, but they still happen.

Very high value and/or mission-critical housings are tested in a pressure pot or at least by vacuum before entering the water. For example, virtually all of the IMAX and cinema quality camera housings have vacuum ports. Critical housings on manned deep submersibles often see full pressure in a pot before getting mounted on the boat.

Unfortunately, I recently had a friend loose a Hasselblad on his first dive at Truk. The housing had a vacuum port but no electronic vacuum or water sensor. The vacuum port was a simple Schrader valve similar to ones used on tires. He suspects that the cap on the Schrader valve leaked since the housing held a vacuum for days after the flood.

The relatively recent introduction of vacuum leak sensors goes a long way to reducing risk. Is that risk zero? Of course not, but it makes it very low.

I have also seen O-rings with visible nicks that sealed just fine, much to everyone’s amazement. It just happened that the nick wasn’t on the side in contact with the sealing surfaces and the differential was nowhere near extrusion pressure.

A lot of people don’t really understand how O-rings work. They move in the groove, which makes them susceptible to leaks at one pressure and not another. Here is an illustration from the Parker O-ring Handbook. The primary function of the lubricant is to reduce micro-abrasion and resistance to the O-ring movement. Using excessive lubricant doesn’t hinder the function of the O-ring… but can make a mess of everything around it.

http://www.parker.com/literature/ORD 5700 Parker_O-Ring_Handbook.pdf
 

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My flooded case was my fault and I should have known better. When I started diving with a camera, I took the "less is better" approach with silicone grease. Bad approach, at least the way I did it. Greased once, possibly twice, per week. That was fine for boat dives into clear water. However, one shore dive taught me to be more careful. The dive was into very stirred up water with all sorts of particulates in it. They adhered to the silicone during the dive and several days later, after several case openings/closings, the flood occurred. Inspection revealed granular particulates adhered to the o-ring and I speculate that the back and forth rotation of the o-ring with case opening/closing eventually worked a grain into a leakable position between o-ring and case.

Now, every time I open the case, I prepare it fully for re-sealing prior to the next UW use. This means wiping the o-ring clean with well-worn terry cloth, then wiping the two o-ring surfaces on the case with a Q-tip (note that I have never had an unattached cotton fiber adhere to the case from a Q-tip, but I also take close care that there are no rough surfaces on the case to pull one loose; I also use only new, unraveled Q-tips). This is a quick, but carefully done procedure and is followed by re-placement of the lightly greased (no excess, but the entire surface is shiny) o-ring. Finally, the case is closed, latch snapped shut and the latch is double checked to ascertain that it is positively latched.
 
The only time I had a leak was when I got a pack of silica gel caught in the o-ring. Entirely my fault for not being more careful.
 

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