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February 22nd, 2009

I recently did the annual service on several O2ptima units and I was amazed at the amount of oxygen grease being used. Grease is not the best lubricant for all applications. It is designed for high pressure use, not the ambient pressure seals on a rebreather breathing loop. The use of oxygen grease has gotten way out of hand, almost as much as the use of Viton o-rings.

For the best performance on your O2ptima use silicone lubricants on all the ambient pressure seals on the breathing loop. It will go together easier and the silicone will not attract the dirt and grit like the oxygen compatible grease. We carry the Tribolube 71 and use it when servicing the O2ptima as well as regulators.

3 Responses to “Tribolube 71 Lubricant”

Hi

This is very interesting! We have been told to use ONLY O2 lub on the machine. Please confirm if the correct procedure indeed is to use silicon on seals like canister head/center/cap and CL T-piece etc. Which seals required to use O2 Lub ?

Petter Moge, March 4th, 2009 at 11:31 am

O2 lubricant is required for any pressure application – like the hoses on your oxygen regulator – You don’t need to use it on any of the ambient pressure seals, the breathing loop. This has always been the case but it wasn’t worth the battle against a tech industry that couldn’t separate ambient and pressure related applications.

I am clarifying my blog about the use of silicone lubricants on the O2ptima breathing loop because I received some questions that made me realize I needed to give you more information.

I posted the first one out of frustration with what I had seen on units coming in for annual service. We were cleaning enough Christo-Lube from the head and loops to lubricate over 100 regulators. It was simply unreal. One unit could not pass the negative canister test due to the debris attracted to the seals from excess lubricant. You can use Fluorosilicone lubricant commonly known as food grade silicone on the head seals without problem. If you use non food grade silicone on the silicone seals of the head it could lead to the o-rings swelling because it can be absorbed by silicone o-rings. So use either food grade silicone lubricant on the loop or Tribolube 71, which is an inert lubricant.

If you can see the lubricant you have used too much and it can actually prevent the seals from sealing properly because the excess will attract debris. The most common debris found is hair strands which will prevent a good seal.

Remember more is not better when you are lubricating the seals on your breathing loop. If you have too much lubricant and it gets in the loop, guess where it goes. It’s your breathing loop.