Cleaning silicone grease off o-rings

[happy-diver]

A nice soak in hot water may rid you of your simple green overdose to much better than NASA standards

and remember The uninitiated, lifespan of quality orings in car engines is seven years but can last longer


Porous my arse, put a black light on them

 

[Couv]

If I understand correctly these seals will only be used on regulators & gauges that handle 40% O2. If this is correct you should just wipe them off and use them. If over 40% use new seals and move the "contaminated"* seals to your low O2 use save-a-dive kit.

*They are not really contaminated, if fact they are lubricated (with a lubricant very suitable for 40% or less O2 use.

 

[Snoweman]

So..., let me get this straight...

You have O rings, that you normally would have lubricated with silicone now soaked in silicone. Why wouldn't you just keep them, and finger wipe them off when installing them. What am I missing here?

 

[mc42]

If over 40% use new seals and move the "contaminated"* seals to your low O2 use save-a-dive kit.

You have O rings, that you normally would have lubricated with silicone now soaked in silicone. Why wouldn't you just keep them, and finger wipe them off when installing them.

They're mainly yoke tank or DIN O-rings that I'd normally fix in the field anyway (mostly for others, it seems...), and while I'd probably leave them unlubricated normally to keep dust off, wiped off should be just fine for <40% O2 especially if it's a choice between diving or not! Glad you feel that way.

Same for the ones for port plugs as well, which I would lightly lube anyway. My initial concern was mainly for the SPG spool, which I have now removed the old o-rings, cleaned, and stored in the Viton o-ring kit away from any lube in case I need to use it on my deco regs.

 

[scubaalblake]

Thanks, all. I did do a scrub in Simple Green followed by water and the o-rings still feel a little slick (much improved though) and smell faintly of Simple Green, so some slight absorption happened, so no go for breathing gas use.

I’ll save the metal part of the SPG spool as suggested and use the o-rings for other projects.

But surely thats what we all do with new orings in kits that we are going to use for 100% oxygen anyway? I've always been told to clean *new* parts with SG and then multiple rinses to get rid of the SG - as you cant trust that new orings havent been contaminated. (not the same as actually smearing them with silicone I know).

Do I have that wrong?

 

[happy-diver]

Fifty years of the oring guy fingering the orings into the bag then me fingering them into the reg

Orings come clean, you can see they are
Sometimes I clean them more with saliva