No, never had a failure, as such. And, O-rings don't keep hatch and 
    mating surfaces from touching, that would be a gasket. The O-ring itself is 
    slightly compressed in the O-ring groove, water then squeezes in against it, 
    compressing the ring further against the upper, lower and inner surfaces 
    (looked at in cross section) of the groove, thus keeping the drips out. I've 
    never seen double O-rings on a certified submersible--we had 'em for the 
    reactor head out at the nuclear plant, but not on a temporary seal.
    
    
     I have no doubte that single O-Rings are successful in 
    sub hatches, as well as numerous other applications. One item I was thinking 
    about, was that if you have two O-Rings in your hatch flange, of the same 
    thickness as the same hatch with a single O-Ring, wouldn't you have twice 
    the resistance in the double O-Ring hatch in keeping the mating flanges from 
    touching (bottoming out). Also some custom O-Rings are spliced together, and 
    if that outer O-Ring splice fails, you would have a back-up O-Ring to 
    protect you. If your hatches are machined correctly, and the outer O-Ring 
    fails by extrusion or cracking from very cold or hot tempertures, old age 
    and/or manufactures inconsistency in material or process, then the second 
    O-Ring might work perfectly. Many subs are left out in the hot sun, which 
    can get the steel hulls very hot. This can be hard on plastic and rubber 
    products. I've 
    seen a number of double O-Ring designs used in aquarium pump connections and 
    covers. Perhaps this is better for stopping leaks in lower pressure system, 
    like is used in most aquaria. Does anyone here have a story of a hatch O-Ring 
    failing?
    Regards,
Brent 
    Hartwig
> Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2007 09:09:02 
    -0700
> From: 
clientes@tolimared.com> To: 
    
personal_submersibles@psubs.org> 
    Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Double O-Ring On A Hatch
> 
> Hello 
    Oystein,
> 
> Very good link - thanks,
> 
> I see 
    your point what concerns difference to normal hatches - in fact 
> i 
    am considering the model of the scuba gear seal as a model for a 
> 
    deep diver - hatch i have in mind - could go to ocean bottom - based 
    
> on concrete spheres...
> 
> In any case the point seems 
    to be that the mecanism that makes a 
> o-ring fail is extrusion 
    trough a gap. As long as you avoid this 
> properly a o-ring will hold 
    hundereds of bar = thousands of meter of 
> waterdepth...
> 
    
> If you have several rings and a big gap due to deficient machining 
    - 
> ALL of them will fail at the same depth.
> 
> In 
    hydraulics that normally work at that kind of pressure you have all 
> 
    kind of single o-rings...
> 
> 
> Cheers, Wil
> 
    
> 
> Quoting Øystein Skarholm <
skarholm@gmail.com>:
> 
    
> > In scubagear the seat for connenction between tank and the 1st 
    stage is
> > spesial in that manner that the oring is in a deep 
    groove and the 1st stage
> > seat goes into this groove, unlike one 
    on a hatch. Having said that there
> > are plenty off hi pressure 
    applications seald off using single o-ring.
> >
> > 
http://o-ring.info/en/technical%20manual/ERIKS%20-%20Technical%20Manual%20-%20O-Ring%20Sealing%20Principles.pdf> 
    >
> >
> >
> >
> > On 8/8/07, 
clientes@tolimared.com <
clientes@tolimared.com> 
    wrote:
> >>
> >> In a scuba gear the first stage - 
    is attached to the tank with a
> >> single O- ring this single 
    o-ring takes some 200bar in this
> >> configuration - or i am 
    wrong on this? - So i also see no need of
> >> double ring in 
    any application in a submarine.
> >> Cheers, Wil
> 
    >>
> >> Quoting 
MerlinSub@t-online.de:
> 
    >>
> >> > No idear why they make that.. one is just 
    fine with lower
> >> > cost for rings, trench and paint 
    maintance issue.
> >> >
> >> > I just 
    pressuries my diverchamber with a
> >> > singel o-ring to 32 
    atmosp..
> >> >
> >> > Think better one with 
    bigger diameter than two smalls.
> >> >
> >> > 
    best regards Carsten
> >> >
> >> > "Brent 
    Hartwig" <
brenthartwig@hotmail.com> 
    schrieb:
> >> >>
> >> >>
> 
    >> >> I finally found a double o-ring on a sub hatch. The sub on 
    ebay
> >> >> right now called the Great Lake's Submarine 
    mentioned earlier, has
> >> >> one. Here is the 
    picture.
> >> >>
> >> >> 
http://www.frappr.com/?a=viewphoto&id=4001713&pid=7375620> 
    >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> 
    Regards,
> >> >> Brent Hartwig
> >> 
    >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> 
    >
> >> >
> >> > 
    ************************************************************************
> 
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> 
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> >
> >
> > --
> 
    > Best Regards
> > Øystein Skarholm
> > 
www.ubat.no> 
    >
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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