Cleaning the hero 3 underwater housing question.

[Limey72]

Hello I am new to these forums and also to the gopro. On the issue of cleaning the housing I have being cleaning it after every salt water dive but should I still do this at times when I am ocean diving every day or just clean the housing every few days in that situation?

thank you very much in advance for any tips.

 

[yarik83]

You should ALWAYS clean, inspect and lubricate (with proper grease for oring type) your housing. I always fill up a 55 gallon or a shower tub with fresh water and let stuff soak there through the night. I then slosh it in fresh water and rinse it off. Salt eats into everything so cleaning your equipment is always a good idea.

 

[Sea Dancer]

Close up the housing and dip it in fresh water after every dive. Shake it around and press the buttons, to clean out the salt.
When on a live aboard, I always bring a hard cooling bag and a 5 liter bottle of water. A cooling bag is brilliant, as a portable housing cleaner station.

Dont leave the housing in over night, as you want it dry when you install the camera the next day.

I usually don't lubricate the O-rings before every dive, as you put a bit of stress on it every time you pull it out. Remember that the O-ring should be moist, but NOT full of grease. Run it through your fingers after applying silicone, to remove excess grease.

Kjeld Friis
MSDT - Photographer
www.seadancerdivecenter.com

 

[Limey72]

So my next question is should I remove the o ring every time I clean the housing as gopro is a little unclear on this, I also don't know what kind of lubricant is appropriate.

And thank you very much for the replies.

 

[yarik83]

There is a funny science to o-rings... something in lines of... you are not allowed to use same type grease on same type o-rings... ie you cant use silicone grease on silicone o-rings.

I do not know what gopro has but after I dive I just leave the o-ring in place and take a wet finger and follow the o-ring. By doing that it collects any debris (ie sand) on the o-ring. I do my camera check on land because doing it on boat is not the best experience with boat rocking and all. I know my hero3's have white o-ring and it sits there pretty snug but every time I open it I always find grains of sand there.

Here is what I do with all my cameras:

End of dive-come home/hotel. Fill up tub with fresh water and soak cameras there. About 2 hours later I slosh them in tub.
I take out memory chips, do a quick glanceover on inside of housing to make sure no water is inside. I flip cameras upside down and rest them on towel.
As they dry I go ahead and charge batteries.
1 hour later I take a wet finger and follow the o-ring and let it dry again.
If o-ring looks weird (ie it starts developing tiny cracks <---you have to eyeball it and make sure o-ring is still in decent shape) I take my good old pool o-ring lube tube (made for rubber o-rings) and VERY VERY gently pry o-ring out of housing. I apply a tiny dab of grease and spread it over the o-ring. I let it airdry a little and then put it into the housing making sure if sits snug. I then close the housing without camera and submerge it in tub for an hour. Come back and check to make sure its not leaking. Air dry in closed position.

Done.

Entire process sounds a lot more complicated than it is but if it becomes routine you don't even notice it...between doing all kinds of other house chores.

 

[Limey72]

Excellent tips thank you so much.