Remove O-Rings for Storage??

[davehicks]

Removing and replacing orings frequently will likely increase the odds of failure, damage, and loss. This is completely unecessary.

I am a card carrying member of the Don't F#ck with O-rings club. Keep them clean, only lube the ones that slip or slide, and stretch or handle as little as possible. A microfiber cloth to wipe them clean and tribolube grease to lightly lube active rings are your friends.

And don't use alkaline batteries in dive gear.

 

[TheRealScubaSteve]

I don't remove them, but I do remove batteries and tighten loosely when in storage. Check over each season and replace if necessary.

 

[OTF]

I leave o-rings in place. Even the big ones on camera housings (which, by the way, also have a dozen little hard-to-service o-rings anyway that nobody removes). I think leaving o-rings in place is the better choice given the effort, risk of damage, and risk of loss if you take them out every time. Man it would suck to forget to put one back in...

However, o-rings do have a shelf life and should be discarded and replaced with some regularity especially if they're experiencing lots of movement or hard compression. I admit I don't always replace them if they look and feel fine, but they definitely should be replaced every couple years or sooner if there is any sign of permanent deformation, stiffening, or physical damage. They're cheap and easy to replace, so replace them before they are at any risk of failing.

Keep o-rings very clean, often inspected, and lightly lubed. There's a whole super informative guide thread on o-ring care somewhere on the board.

Come to think of it, this has me wondering about some of the o-rings in my older lights...

 

[carrythatweight]

I am a relatively inexperienced diver so please take my comment with a grain of salt. In my experience, you should be ok so long as you ensure that the o-ring(s) in torches and photo/video gear are inspected from time and time and properly lubricated with silicon grease (I also think that it's best to remove batteries from gear when storing for months at a time). There are videos on YouTube that give you a rough idea as to how much grease you should be using. Here's one:


Something to consider: If you are a holiday diver, and intend to only dive a few times a year, you may want to look into sealed torches, specifically the Apeks Luna range--you wouldn't have to worry about o-rings or removing batteries for that matter. The Luna Mini is fantastic as a backup or primary. You would still have to ensure that you're removing any residual salt after saltwater dives--that goes for all gear going into saltwater. I hope this helps. Cheers.

 

[Diver With Altitude]

With regard to the batteries, I have kept the little disks that interrupt the electrical circuit during shipping and I will use those and store the batteries inside the lights, as well.

I was referring to rechargeable lithium batteries here. I would not leave alkaline batteries in the lights.

 

[SixtyFeetUnder]

...I am a card carrying member of the Don't F#ck with O-rings club. ...

Hah! I'm filling out my application for that club as we speak.

...Something to consider: If you are a holiday diver, and intend to only dive a few times a year, you may want to look into sealed torches, specifically the Apeks Luna range...

I didn't even know sealed torched existed; the design makes a lot of sense for occasional use where a battery's gonna take a long time to wear out.

 

[GJC]

I think you should leave your o rings in place, but not compressed. Leave your camera or lights open or disassembled.

Some camera o rings come out easily and you may want to remove them to clean out salt, sand and dried algae. But for most lights, you have to dig an o ring out of a recess and drag it over metal threads to remove it. Better to leave it in place than risk stretching, puncturing or nicking it during removal and replacement.

 

[OTF]

The risk with leaving the housing open is that dirt, dust, and stray pubes will get in there and cause equal problems. A single hair can compromise an o-ring seal.

 

[admikar]

I'd say it depends.
I lightly screw on my lights, so there isn't much compression on o-rings and keep them in dedicated case.

 

[Alaskan Scuba Dude]

After getting back from my first SCUBA vacation with my very own gear and then looking around the basement saying to myself, what am I gonna do with all this stuff, I happened across the below article on what NOT to do when you store your SCUBA gear.

It states, among other things, don't leave O-Rings in specialty gear like flashlights, video and photo equipment. The reason stated is they could get warped by heat or dry out.

Now, I'm no mechanical engineer, but I do know that creep is a thing for materials under long-term compression. I might have assumed that O-Rings in a typical application would be designed with the right interference fit to avoid creeping and causing a leak over normal usable life. It also seems to me that every time I futz with an O-Ring putting it on or taking it off, I run the risk of damaging it. On balance I'm not sure I buy this guidance.

Have any of you ever heard of taking out your o-rings for storage? Do you do it?

How NOT to Store Your Dive Gear - Underseas Scuba Center Blog

I've been told to run air through your regulators once a month. Apply food grade silicone grease on your lights/camera housing O-rings, and keep the lid open.