What Oring grease do you use?

[Germie]

I have a TG6+housing and have used till now the olympus grease. But, and this is a very big but, this is soooooo extremely expensive for such a small amount that I want to use other silicon grease. I know, not all silicone grease is the same and some will make the Orings longer, bigger, etc. But to pay 14 bucks excluding shipping for such a small amount which has been used in less than 3 months with my amount of diving, I want to use other brands.
So what brand of grease do you use?

I have at home: Inon grease, also expensive, but half price of Olympus, Isotta grease, also expensive but also half price of Olympus, Molykote which I use for my rebreather O rings and never had problems with swelling, growing, blowing, or whatever with the orings.
The very cheap silicone grease you can buy on diveshows will swell all orings very fast is my experience.

So what do you use?

 

[BalekFekete]

I use Trident silicone grease myself.

 

[d^2b]

I bought the 40g container ("PSOLG-3") of Oly grease for about USD30 a few years ago. Not sure how that compares to other options, but it is certainly a better deal than the little tubes.

 

[Audsred]

I use the same brand of grease as the oring. I noticed the grease is different by the brands. I would not recommend using a different brand than the oring. How much is it going to cost you if the housing or strobe floods? Just my opinion.....

 

[Germie]

I use Trident silicone grease myself.

And no problems with swelling Orings? Great to read.

The bigger amount of Olympus grease is not available in my country, it is not on stock in shops. Even not over Olympus directly. But also, 55 euro for a small container, this is ridiculous.

And about flooding: the grease will not flood the housing. If the oring is clean and it fits, then it will be watertight. If the oring swells, you cannot close the housing anymore (I have had this with my isotta housing for another camera). I have not had shrinking Orings. The swelling Oring I had was with the very cheap grease. And then I did not have only a swelling Oring of Isotta, but alsof from my inon strobe. So this grease is a nogo. The problem I have with Olympusgrease is the price. For inon you pay already 8 euro for the same amount as you pay 14 euro for with Olympus.
And even Molykote is expensive, but here you get 150ml for 42 euro.

 

[lowwall]

For this purpose all silicone grease is the same. The o-ring does the sealing. The only purpose of the lube is to ease the seating of the o-ring into its groove so it doesn't get scuffed or abraded.

Edit - Maybe not. The exception is if the o-ring is made of silicone. I assumed there weren't because the Olympus lube is labeled "Silicone Grease" but some sources state the o-rings are silicone as does the color.

Fluorosilicone grease (including some of the Molykote greases) and Christo or Tribo Lube are compatible with silicone o-rings. But none of these are cheap. A mineral oil based barium grease may be the inexpensive solution.

McMaster - Lubricant with Barium Thickener, 4 FL. oz. Tube - "...Mineral-oil-based grease, derived from petroleum, is more economical than synthetic-oil-based grease. Grease with barium thickener is for use with silicone rubber O-rings and seals in open systems."

Barium-Based O-Ring Lubricant - 4 oz. Tube

Extends O-ring, seal, and gasket service life by preventing drying and cracking. Mineral oil based grease is more economical than synthetic oil based grease. Recommended for use with silicone rubber.. Base Oil: Mineral. For Use With: Silicone Rubber. Lubricant Type: Grease. Size: 4 oz...

www.fixsupply.com

 

[happy-diver]

I replace those soft spongy prone to swelling junk with quality orings and use Molycote 111 thick non running

and not at all like other silicones

absolutely minimally oring only applying none to the grooves

 

[GF99/99]

I replace those soft spongy prone to swelling junk with quality orings and use Molycote 111 thick non running

and not at all like other silicones

absolutely minimally oring only applying none to the grooves

Agree DOW Molykote 111 is a far superior silicone grease.

And no not all silicone greases are the same. If you have ever used Molykote 111 you will instantly feel a difference compared the generic silicone grease like Trident, etc.

Molykote 111 is all I use on all my O-rings for cameras, lights, DPV's, Rebreathers, regs, ect. Only exception is for o2 clean or silicon o-rings then I use Christo lube 129

 

[lowwall]

Is Molykote 111 different from other silicone pastes/greases that use silica as the thickener? Most things labeled silicone grease are thickened with lithium soaps.

 

[BalekFekete]

And no problems with swelling Orings?

Not swelling per se, but I have had the o-ring for the PT-059 stretch out from removal, cleaning, and lubing to the point where it needed to be replaced. I haven't attributed that to the lubricrant, but rather just the repetitive stretching from taking it off over time.