lubrication

[silverfish88]

I have a question for the experienced divers out there. I have an ikelite camera housing. Up until now, I have been using the small tubes of silicone lube that came with the box for the O rings. I always lube them up for the first dive of a trip and just about every second or third time I dive also. However, the samples that they gave me are finally running out. My question is: Do I need to buy more ikelite silicone lube or is there some substitute for it? What is the equivlanent in the hardware store and does anyone know if it is as good? Thanks.

 

[OceanObsessed]

I believe this topic came up a long time ago and the concensus was to use the manufacturers brand of grease.
Either way, those small Ikelite tubes are dirt cheap. Call up Ikelite and you can order a bunch more with a credit card. It's so easy to just order more I would not take any chances using another brand

 

[Warren_L]

I have a question for the experienced divers out there. I have an ikelite camera housing. Up until now, I have been using the small tubes of silicone lube that came with the box for the O rings. I always lube them up for the first dive of a trip and just about every second or third time I dive also. However, the samples that they gave me are finally running out. My question is: Do I need to buy more ikelite silicone lube or is there some substitute for it? What is the equivlanent in the hardware store and does anyone know if it is as good? Thanks.

It's generally best to stick with the manufacturer's recommended silicone lube since some o-rings can swell up if the wrong lube is used. As you can imagine, this could cause problems leading to flooding. Also make sure you're not using too much lube as well - when I had my Ike housing, I didn't even come close to using up all the tubes that came with the housing and my strobes. Too much lube can also cause problems. As mentioned in various threads already, the lube should be enough just to make the o-ring shiny. The lube simply allows the o-ring to slide into it's correct position and does not create the actual seal.

Lube is cheap. I think you can buy 4 tubes for a dollar or two directly from Ikelite.

 

[philmayer]

Yeah, the tubes are very cheap -- 4 for $1. You can get them from Ikelite or any Ike dealer. They're too cheap for me to think about using anything else.

Make sure you clean and lube your o-rings before every day of diving.