Sealing dive flashlight with silicone sealant instead of grease

[Scuba-guy]

Has anyone tried this yet?

I have a 7000 lumen skywoods with external magnetic charging and was wondering if this can be done and if it was a good idea.

 

[Zef]

Unless you have a dive torch that is required to be filled with silicone grease (unlikely), then the silicone grease does not seal your torch, the o-rings do. The grease lubricates the o-rings so they suffer less wear and tear when opening/closing the o-ring sealed chamber.

Could it be done?.....sure.
Should it be done?.....my opinion, no.

Not sure the adhesive will work well with the o-rings...it may cause them to breakdown prematurely or cause them to become embritled. It will also be a pain to clean off if you ever need to open the sealed chamber in the future.

Any reason in particular you are thinking about doing this?

-Z

 

[Scuba-guy]

Unless you have a dive torch that is required to be filled with silicone grease (unlikely), then the silicone grease does not seal your torch, the o-rings do. The grease lubricates the o-rings so they suffer less wear and tear when opening/closing the o-ring sealed chamber.

Could it be done?.....sure.
Should it be done?.....my opinion, no.

Not sure the adhesive will work well with the o-rings...it may cause them to breakdown prematurely or cause them to become embritled. It will also be a pain to clean off if you ever need to open the sealed chamber in the future.

Any reason in particular you are thinking about doing this?

-Z

I just want it permanently sealed, so I don't need to think about it. Less maintenance. Many lights get flooded.

 

[Scuba-guy]

Also, I do think that the grease prevents water entering because Orings without grease will leak if taken scuba diving under pressure but not leak in low pressure.

 

[lexvil]

Grease does not seal, if you never need to unscrew the light it’s pretty much permanatly sealed

 

[davehicks]

This is a terrible idea.

 

[Johnoly]

...so I don't need to think about it.

 

[Scared Silly]

A pedantic pet peeve. There is no such thing as silicone grease. There are lubricants such as grease which is oil based and there are silicone lubricants. But there is no silicone grease unless one mixes them together. Which makes as much sense as the OP’s question.

 

[lermontov]

A pedantic pet peeve. There is no such thing as silicone grease. There are lubricants such as grease which is oil based and there are silicone lubricants. But there is no silicone grease unless one mixes them together. Which makes as much sense as the OP’s question.

 

[lowwall]

A pedantic pet peeve. There is no such thing as silicone grease. There are lubricants such as grease which is oil based and there are silicone lubricants. But there is no silicone grease unless one mixes them together.

You have made at least 2 incorrect statements here. First, grease is not a lubricant, it is a mixture of a lubricant or lubricants and other materials, most notably thickeners. Second, the lubricant in a grease can certainly be silicone oil or any number of non-petroleum lubricants.

Here's what the National Lubricating Grease Institute has to say about this:

What is lubricating grease? | NLGI

www.nlgi.org

"Lubricating grease is a mixture of three main components: lubricating fluid, performance enhancing additives, and thickener. The lubricating fluid can be petroleum-derived lubricating oil, any of various synthetic lubricating fluids, or vegetable-based oil. The lubricating fluid is usually the majority component in the grease formulation. The additives are typically present in relatively low concentrations, and are added to the grease to provide enhancement in one of multiple performance areas. The thickener is what sets grease apart from liquid lubricants. This component gives the grease the property of consistency, making the product semi-solid rather than liquid. Many different chemical compounds can be used to thicken grease."