I have long been a fan of silicone oils for hydraulic power transmission, dielectric, and compensating applications in submersibles. Regardless of whether you have oil systems inside your passenger compartment, the reality is that you will likely be unable to completely avoid incidental contact with oil during pre-dive procedures (filling compensators, venting air, etc.). Hydrocarbon vapours in an enclosed space are risky both because of toxicity, and because of flammability (elevated in the case of WD40), and the subsequent toxicity of the products of combustion in the event of a fire. Using silicone oils instead of petroleum oils eliminates these risks. The only real drawbacks are cost and availability if you have specific viscosity requirements.
-Sean
On Sep 29, 2009, Emile van Essen <emile@airesearch.nl> wrote:
Alan,
What is a vail? One way plastic bottle? Till now I have good result with WD40 and plastics.
New material:
Somebody ever considered Silicone DOT 5 brake fluid as used on motorbikes? Yes, DOT4 is aggressive for paint etc. DOT 5 not and is thin as water.
First drawback is that it is expensive..
Emile
Van: owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org [mailto:owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org] Namens Alan James
Verzonden: maandag 28 september 2009 1:01
Aan: personal_submersibles@psubs.org
Onderwerp: [PSUBS-MAILIST] WD 40 compensating oil
Hi all,
I was experimenting with various organic oils & WD 40
for oil compensating my motors & linear actuators.
I had a number of differant oils in small plastic vials
& was mixing them with water to see how it separated out.
Just found that after a couple of months the vial with the
WD 40 in it went soft, cracked & leaked. Can't tell you
what the plastic was but its got me looking for alternatives.
Alan