Alternatives to Olympus O-Grease?

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Ryan B.

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HI
Besides Sea & Sea blue cap, is there any other silicone grease yall use for Olympus housing o-rings?
 
Get some Tribolube 71; it is good for all your o-rings. Be careful about using the cheap silicone grease for the S&S o-rings, they might swell a bit.
Bill
 
Thanks Bill, I had never heard of that.
 
In general you want a slightly different grease material than your o-ring (talking silicone). For silicone o-rings use fluorosilicone grease and vice versa. Or just get some tribolube/christolube/krytox and don't worry any more.
BVA
 
Get some Tribolube 71; it is good for all your o-rings. Be careful about using the cheap silicone grease for the S&S o-rings, they might swell a bit.
Bill

What Bill said here. Tribolube 71 for everything :)
 
Hi Bill went looking for some and came across this tech tip. The last sentence is interesting.
Tech Tip

How Much and Where to Use Lubricant
Some people very sparingly lubricate the SPG swivel-pin air-spool O-rings, but you should know that SPG and hose assemblies from our suppliers are never lubricated. If you do choose lube the SPG swivel-pin airspool O-rings, take care not to be so generous that lube might migrate up into the Bourdon tube mechanism and cause your SPG to become inaccurate.


Some people also sparingly lubricate the threads of valves before they are installed in the cylinder neck. Do NOT lubricate the neck O-ring itself, and do not lubricate the valve/regulator seal O-ring or DIN threads.

Most lubricant is used with dynamic seals in regulators and other equipment with moving parts. As a general rule, the O-rings used with static seals in SCUBA applications should not be lubricated at all. The lubricant just causes contamination to stick to the surface of the O-ring and results in more problems with a static seal than any dubious benefit the lubricant might provide
 
Hi Bill went looking for some and came across this tech tip. The last sentence is interesting.
Tech Tip

How Much and Where to Use Lubricant
Some people very sparingly lubricate the SPG swivel-pin air-spool O-rings, but you should know that SPG and hose assemblies from our suppliers are never lubricated. If you do choose lube the SPG swivel-pin airspool O-rings, take care not to be so generous that lube might migrate up into the Bourdon tube mechanism and cause your SPG to become inaccurate.


Some people also sparingly lubricate the threads of valves before they are installed in the cylinder neck. Do NOT lubricate the neck O-ring itself, and do not lubricate the valve/regulator seal O-ring or DIN threads.

Most lubricant is used with dynamic seals in regulators and other equipment with moving parts. As a general rule, the O-rings used with static seals in SCUBA applications should not be lubricated at all. The lubricant just causes contamination to stick to the surface of the O-ring and results in more problems with a static seal than any dubious benefit the lubricant might provide
No idea what genius wrote that but the swivel orings are in fact dynamic O rings and IMHO should be lubricated, and I am very generous from the oring to the center on both sides. The lube won't migrate up into the gauge.

I lightly lube the tank neck ORing and I lube my DIN threads. Has worked well for me for 25 years in the game
 
Cerich beat me to it. The name swivel means to move and as such I lube them. I also lube camera housing o-rings to keep them soft; they can dry out. As for migration the vapor pressure of Tribolube is in the 10 to the minus 6 range so it is unlikely to migrate via the vapor.
Bill
 
Thanks guys, always interesting to hear what your thinking. I used to be real old school with o'rings grease them well and leave em' alone and this worked for more than 20 years back in my Nikon days. Then the o'ring designs changed and I had give up that idea due to drying out.
In housings, I think drying out is a bit of a problem as the small ones are nearly impossible to grease unless you know exactly what you are doing.
Never had a housing leak until last year when my Oly housing for EM5 mk1 developed a small leak 'out of nowhere' after 4 years.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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