I am afraid my housing will flood again! I am diving tomorrow, need help.

[divebrasil]

Hi, thanks for checking my message. I have a Olympus housing for the Olympus 350. I had it flooded before in another trip, and I thought it had been my mistake for not taking good care of the o-ring.

I bought new o-ring and Oly silicone. Cleaned the housing, and bought a new camera.

I did a test on the pool with paper inside the housing.

Result: After about 10 minutes in the water, moving the camera around, pressing buttons and shaking it, I noticed some micro water drops inside. There weren't many, but did get some spots of the paper wet.

I hate to admit the housing is dead, so I am wondering can I still dive with the housing like that? Should I apply more vaseline to the o-ring?

I am diving tomorrow in Cabo and would love to take some pics.

Thanks a lot

 

[Ben_ca]

I use the manufacturer's lube with my housing o rings... I'm not sure if Vaseline is the proper lubricant for those O rings... Maybe someone else has an answer for you

 

[divebrasil]

Sorry, I corrected my post. Meant to say silicone, and its olympus specific silicone.

Thanks

 

[tc]

Silicone grease would be better- but you only need enough to make the O ring shiny- too much can actually cause a leak. After rinsing and drying the O ring use a bit about the size of a grain of rice.

Check channel the O ring sits in and make sure it is spotless with no old grease or debris in it. (a single hair or grain of sand is enough to cause a flood.

Do these inspections in a well lit area and inspect everything carefully, any debris on the O ring- it gets cleaned again. Any bends or creases in the O ring- it goes in the trash or marked and used as a spacer in the housing for transport or storage only. (If possible don't store the housing with the good O ring in it for long periods)

If you're not confident take the housing on a dive without the camera to see if it stays dry.

I have a simple rule for myself- if I find myself in a hurry to put the camera and housing together or taking shortcuts in cleaning it I stop, put the whole thing away and don't take it on that dive- I've flooded one camera and two strobes- I don't need to flood any more.

And when all the above fails- thats what insurance is for.

 

[Jorgy]

What TC said............

Do the first drive without the camera in the housing and push all the buttons at depth.......

The other thing I do, is have lots of memory cards, I change them out after each day of diving, that way if the camera floods on day 5 I don't loose all my pictures......

M

 

[Interceptor121]

The lubricant is only meant to protect the O Ring when you store it as the rubber may crack, IT IS NOT a sealant to protect the housing from flooding. You just need to apply a tiny amount to the O-Ring.

This is the procedure I use at the start of a trip, there is no need to repeat this each time you replace batteries.

Assembly procedure
0. Wash your hands properly and dry with a non fluffy tower
1. Remove the O-Ring from the housing
2. Check all parts are dry especially housing interior
3. Clean the housing carefully especially where the O-Ring goes with a hair free cut tip, the sponge type, put the housing away, open on a clean surface without air conditioning or fan blasting on it
4. Clean the O-ring with you fingers and lubricate lightly.
5. Assemble the O-Ring onto the housing
6. Put the camera in the housing (obviously the camera was cleaned prior to that)
7. Final inspection and closure of the housing

Test Procedure
0. Follow assembly procedure steps 0-5
1. Place some toilet paper into the housing (non hairy)
2. Close the housing
3. Submerge the housing 3 ft or 1 meters, you should see initially some little bubbles coming off and then stop
4. Press all housing buttons 2-3 times, no bubbles should be coming out
5. Leave the housing submerged using a weight if needed for at least one hour, again you should not see any bubbles
6. After one hours take the housing out and inspect the paper it should be dry

This test is as good as taking the housing on a dive because flooding happens in the first meters, after that the pressure is so high that even small particles would be squeezed and the housing sealed, so you can spare yourself a dive with some paper in the housing if the test procedure works

If the test fails:
1. Check the O-Ring for crack and replace if found
2. Chech the housing for cracks with a magnifier lens all around the O-Ring area, if found replace the housing

Good luck!

 

[diver 85]

The oring seals it ---not any grease.........Off the top of my head I would say (1) you're using too much grease OR (2) you've got a small leak somewhere assoc. with your housing.....

In 15 years of diving with cameras, I've never had a flood----KNOCK ON WOOD....The 1st 12 years I used a S&S 35 mm MM II---the last 2.5 years I've used my Canon A570 with Canon UW case.....In both cases I have always just BARELY put a touch of silicone grease on the orings---both when opening it up to change the film (back then) & batteries now----When storing it for months, I take the oring out & LITELY grease it as mentioned above.....Always clean with a Q-Tip the grove it fits in & nothing more.....good luck---my very 1st impression is you have a housing problem, you'll just have to experiment----without the camera in it of course...

 

[djanni]

The oring seals it ---not any grease.........Off the top of my head I would say (1) you're using too much grease OR (2) you've got a small leak somewhere assoc. with your housing.....

I use an Oly housing and would probably be in the TOO MUCH grease camp too. The grease is just to keep the o-ring pliable and if you can see signs of grease, like a shiny film, you may have used too much.

 

[Brewski]

I agree with the advise to use the grease sparingly.
Always check for hair, sand, and threads from the Q tips!

Definitely get insurance!!!

Check with your homeowners insurance agent for a rider. Or contact DAN, or DEPP, your choice but please don't go without it.

 

[drbill]

I had two minor "floods" in mine (about a tablespoon of water each, neither affected the camcorder, just the housing's internal PCBs) before I took out flood insurance. Not a single flood in the years since I took out DEPP.