O-ring grease brands

[MMM]

I have a myriad of o-ring greases...I have several from Olympus for various camera housings I purchased from them. Then I have one from Sea and Sea that came with my strobe. And now, with my new Nauticam housing, I have the o-ring grease that came with it.

Do I really need to keep all of these straight (and separate) or are they all pretty much inter-changeable?

 

[tbone1004]

should be interchangeable. check the ingredients list to make sure they're comparable

 

[ColoDale]

I use the OEM grease and carry it all with me for the OMD-EM5 and Nauticam housing. I have asked this question to photographers, dive shops and vendors and the concensus is to use OEM grease. I think it's the safe answer. They only way for me to determine if it doesn't work on my own is to use different grease for a long time and see if it damages the o-ring which I am not going to do. I suspect I could get away with using one type for all but the vendors say it could damage them. I have had nitrile O-rings in the past. This all could be a way to sell more grease (like Apple and their power cords). Further, I have flood insurance and if I have a flood who knows what they will do for a claim if they knew. So I play it safe and carry different grease. They don't take up that much space and are all clearly different in markings and colors.

 

[MMM]

should be interchangeable. check the ingredients list to make sure they're comparable

The Olympus grease says "silicone". The other two just say "Made in Japan".

 

[KeithG]

The Olympus grease says "silicone". The other two just say "Made in Japan".

the silicone grease maybe
- grease FOR silicone orings
OR
- grease made from silicone
very different things.

I believe you have only the following choices:
- stick with the oem grease and hope to not mix things up
- use a universal grease like tribolube or christolube

I now use tribolube on everything: regs, cameras, lights,...

 

[bvanant]

Tribolube or Christolube are for ANY kind of o-rings, The Nauticam stuff is Tribolube (or equivalent) and is good for all o-rings. If you get Tribo get the 71, best bet. If you use the wrong stuff you can swell the o-rings and lead to a flood. In the underwater world you lose the camera, in the world of implantable medical devices you might lose the patient (a lot worse than a flooded camera).

Bill

 

[PatW]

I use 2 kinds of grease. There is the basic silicon grease. It is a clear grease and I use it on the standard black o rings. My nauticam housing has grey o rings. They use a white grease. I understand that the wrong grease can degrade o rings over time. So I use the 2 kinds of grease. Fortunately, a little grease goes a long, long way. The nauticam grease comes in tiny tubes but in over 200 dives and regressing all o rings daily, I have only gone through a couple of tubes.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

The issue you need to be concerned with is that silicone grease will cause silicone o-rings to expand in both length and diameter. The increase is diameter is minimal, but the increase in length will cause enough issues with fit in the o-ring groove that you can get a leak.

So...if your o-rings are silicone (rather than nitrile rubber, EDPM, etc), you need to avoid silicone. In that case, Christolube or Triboilube are better choices if you can't get the manufacturer supplied lube.

 

[Larry C]

I've got 3 brands of eqpt. and lots of little tubes of grease. I use whatever the mfg. says to. Fortunately, every time I buy a new Sea & Sea product they send me a tube of grease with it, so I have a lifetime supply of the stuff. Similar with Olympus. Olympus specifies DON"T use silicone grease, as their o-rings are silicon and will soften.