O-ring lubricant VS spit or vaseline

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

Hello:

I justpurchased an IKElite housing for my Canon Rebel and the store that sold me stressed that the only lube I should use on the O rings is the IKELITE lube. I asked what is the difference between IKELITE o ring lube and anything else and he said since you never know what goes in that lube,it could eat away the seal.

Before having this camera housing I had a cheaper housing and vaseline did its job. If not vaseline than even spit did the job. Yo Ikelete owners, do you only buy Ikelite lube or any o ring lube would work?

Thanks -

 

[diversteve]

Vaseline is petroleum based. I can't see how that would be good for o-rings. So in that case this statement might have some merit:

it could eat away the seal

I would hazard a guess that any silicon based lube might be acceptable. It's what I use on my Amphibico housing - IIRC my dealer told me only use theirs also when I bought it.

 

[Superlyte27]

I agree. Petroleum based products break down o-rings.

 

[redacted]

How do you know what really goes in the Ikelite lube.

 

[mjh]

Folks the simple fact is mfg don't all use the same grease, why who knows, why can't they all use AA batteries and the same charger!?!?!?!?!?!? We see case after case were someone has used a third party grease and it made the o-ring brittle or melted the o-ring. So PLEASE just use the mfgs provided grease. One of those little tubes should last you a Year, lol.

 

[redacted]

If you really need to know what the mfgr is providing you to use, request the mfgr provide a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS).

 

[Larry C]

Use the recommended grease. It only takes a dab and it doesn't cost that much. Petroleum products will cause most o-rings to expand if they're not designed for petroleum. The food grade silicone that you use on dive stuff will degrade silicon o-rings. Are you willing to lose a $500 or more camera/housing combo to save $5.00 on o-ring lube?

 

[ozziworld]

I agree 100% with Larry. There are so many formulations of o rings and o ring lubes. Just not worth it. That little o ring is responsible for a lot of dollars worth of equipment. Keep it happy.

 

[Gilligan]

I'll second what Larry states.

From my own experience I once used dive shop "silicone grease" on an Olympus housing o-ring. It stretched out the O-ring.

Sea & Sea O-ring grease is safe for several different brand housing O-rings. I posted a link to the site that listed them but I can't find it. Guess I did not bookmark it. Sorry about that.

As explained to me by a knowledgeable rep at Backscatter.com several years back there is definition lost in translation to English on the Olympus O-ring lube. It stated Silicone Grease but it really meant grease for silicone O-rings not a silicone grease as found in dive shops. The Backscatter rep told me that was why my O-ring stretched out.

 

[fdog]

The saying in chemistry is "like dissolves like".

Nitrile (also known as "Buna or Buna-N") is a petroleum based material. Thus, Vaseline is bad.

Most colored o-rings are silicone. Thus, silicone grease is bad.



The one grease I've found that is "universal", meaning that it doesn't degrade o-rings of any flavor, is either Christolube MCG-111, or (my preference) Tribolube 71. I didn't just take the manufacturer's word for it, I've tested Tribolube 71 against Nitrile, Viton, Silicone, EPDM, polyurethane, Butyl, Latex (natural rubber), and Teflon. Over the two months I had these o-rings slathered in Tribolube, I measured no change in dimension or durometer.

The biggest mistake I've seen with lubing o-rings, besides using incompatible lube, is using waaaay too much lube. All that does is attract sand and hair and eventually leak. Back in the Nikonos days, I was taught "slick like a trout" for o-rings, and it's still true today.


All the best, James