O-ring, in or out?

[driftin' by]

I'm sure it's been beat to death but how do you fly with your housing.... with the O-ring in or out? Common logic tells me to fly with it out to prevent any undue pressure from altitude change although it's pretty insignificant compared to the pressures while diving. Also to prevent the O-ring from becoming deformed.

With that said... anyone transport their camera in the housing during flight?

 

[Gilligan]

I transport both my Oly cameras in their Oly housings to save space. The O-rings are out. I use a carry-on soft bag for the cameras/housings and extra lenses etc. I have some bubble wrap in that bag.

That said, I believe Ikelite recommends not transporting cameras in their housings.

As respects the main O-ring, I keep them in zip-lock bags all the time to keep them as clean as possible.

 

[seaducer]

I travel with the camera in the housing, and I leave the oring in. Been to 150 feet with my rig, no worries.

 

[hutterw]

I travel with o-rings in and store with them out. I also carry my housing on the plane.

[FONT=&quot]At 34000 feet you’re at 0.25 ATA, so you expose your system to greater stress diving.[/FONT]

 

[Bubbletrubble]

I tend to carry-on my housing without the o-ring installed. I have also put a small piece of foam/cardboard to prevent the case from closing completely. Nevertheless, I don't think it really matters much -- o-rings in or out. I have inadvertently left the o-ring in place and the housing closed on several flights...without any subsequent flooding issues.

@hutterw: It's my understanding that in commercial aircraft the cabin is pressurized to an effective pressure of 8,000 ft, even though the plane is traveling at 30,000+ ft. Still, I'm not sure how this translates into "stress" on the housing/o-ring system.

 

[Charlie99]

Common logic tells me to fly with it out to prevent any undue pressure from altitude change although it's pretty insignificant compared to the pressures while diving. Also to prevent the O-ring from becoming deformed.

With that said... anyone transport their camera in the housing during flight?

The pressure may not seem all that great, but the potential problem is that the housing seal geometry is such that air will ooze out through the seal when pressure decreases as cabin pressure is reduced, and then it seals up as pressure increases as the plane descends. Just a psi or two of pressure differential will make the housing very, very difficult to open. (The pressure difference between sea level and 8,000' is about 3.6psi.)

The problem won't occur with all types of housings, and won't happen every time, but it is something easy to avoid by simply removing the o-rings.

 

[Rickg]

The pressure may not seem all that great, but the potential problem is that the housing seal geometry is such that air will ooze out through the seal when pressure decreases as cabin pressure is reduced, and then it seals up as pressure increases as the plane descends. Just a psi or two of pressure differential will make the housing very, very difficult to open. (The pressure difference between sea level and 8,000' is about 3.6psi.)

The problem won't occur with all types of housings, and won't happen every time, but it is something easy to avoid by simply removing the o-rings.

I saw what Charlie99 describes above to a diver on one of our LOB trips. He had one helluva time getting his case open. He didn't have his camera in the housing - just had the housing (with O-ring inserted) closed and latched and he was quite worried for a while.

Personally, since I use the same camera for above and U/W I don't travel with the camera in the housing. Nor is the O-ring in the housing when traveling because I keep the O-ring stored in a Ziplock bag when I'm not using the housing and it stays in the bag until I get to my destination.

 

[hutterw]

Leaving on a trip tomorrow and I am taking out my o-rings!

 

[Diver Dennis]

My housing has ports so I check the housing with the o-ring in, no port installed. Cameras are carried on.

 

[driftin' by]

Thanks all... good info. Out is what I thought. In the past, I flew with my Canon WP-DC50 without the o-ring in place. This trip I'll be escorting my new G9 with Ike housing. I struck me as odd when I received the Ike housing shipped with the o-ring in place.