Are viton o-rings really necessary?

[ams511]

That's why I do my own car maintenance too. I let a mechanic replace my rotors once because I was in a time crunch and my power assist hasn't worked right since.

I took my truck once to one of those quick-lube places for an oil change. After they were done I went to the grocery store and when leaving noticed there was oil underneath the truck. I drove back to the lube place and told the man something was leaking. He said they sprayed some degreaser under there and was I was seeing was just runoff. Long story short after leaving a puddle everywhere for a few days I climbed under the truck to find the oil drain plug a few turns from falling out. I never went back there again and always changed my own oil when I had a place to do it.

 

[Couv]

Why do I get the feeling that you make $$ by servicing regulators?

I don't get that feeling at all. At least I hope not.

snip....All I wanted to know is the same thing as the origional post, are Viton rings really necessary? Not to be insulted and for everyone to thump their own chest about how smart they are or how stupid everyone else is. Stick to the subject.

OK, OK....if you're going to take all of our fun away.....

Necessary? Probably not. A good idea? In my view it is a very good idea to use a quality o-ring (EPDM or Viton) in places that are difficult to reach.....places like a piston head or stem or any such place on the inside of a regulator where if you had to change it out it would be time consuming or require more than 1 wrench or tool. Otherwise, places like port plugs and hose fitting it's no big deal because the fault will be apparent and easy to resolve. Having said that, because I order my o-rings in bulk to save on shipping and price, I pretty much use aviation grade Viton on everything.

Every now and again I see a statement like, "in aviation, they use Nitril/buna/etc" for oxygen use" I've worked in aviation for over 35 years (military fighters and commercial airline....no general aviation experience) and I do not ever remember seeing any o-rings in a breathing oxygen system. That is not to say there are not any, I just do not ever remember seeing any. Most of the sealing surfaces are metal to metal, with the exception of a Teflon seal here and there.

For a cheap bastard like me, the main advantage of Viton and EPDM is the indefinite shelf life. Most other compounds have a shelf life so I don't want to be second guessing if the o-rings I bought a few years ago will be ok to use today.

c

 

[fppf]

I don't get that feeling at all. At least I hope not.

And what does that mean?

I will second the shelf life, I don't know if its indefinite, but its a long time. When you buy a bag of 100 its nice to use them up. Even it the bag is only $10.

 

[Couv]

....just poking a bit of fun, trying to get a rise out of you, that's all.

Sorry,

c

 

[fppf]

....just poking a bit of fun, trying to get a rise out of you, that's all.

Sorry,

c

No worries, didn't know how to read it. As in, to dumb, or to smart for that.
I know you meant to smart

 

[richerso]

I love this thread. btw, I had to take my regulator in for service last month. It was time for its' scheduled tri-annual . . . quad-annual. . . . or was that quint-annual service

I know this because the regulator started sending me little signals that it was time for service. So I took it in for service. Simple.