Can I Jerry-rig a Jabsco O-Ring?

[Zanshin]

I have an O-ring on my Jabsco toilet (electric pump 37245-1694) that lets water drip out (on the effluent side, of course). I'm in the BVI and none of the chandleries carry that particular spare. The O-ring looks OK and is still soft. Are there a Jerry-rig methods to prevent a drip and let me use that head until I get to St. Martin where the maintenance/repair kit is in stock?

[a64pilot]

I'd try putting silicone on it and giving it a try

[dlymn]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

I'd try putting silicone on it and giving it a try

silicone grease works well as a sealant in static situations (eg the big O ring on my pool filter) and might help here. Places that carry o rings: hardware stores, car parts, bearing and seals, hydralic supplies, maybe irrigation supplies

[JPA Cate]

If it is just for a short time, if you can't get the silicone grease, you can try vaseline. It will soon eat the "o"-ring, but may allow you to use the head for a few days.

There are also "o"-ring making kits you can buy, but the homemade ones seem to do better in static settings.

Something else we've done is to make a gasket to put under the "o"-ring, so you can compress it slightly more. If you have no gasket material aboard, try using a slick magazine cover, and use grease on it, too.


Ann

[a64pilot]

I was actually thinking silicone sealant, you know aquarium sealant.
But the grease is also good and a whole lot easier to clean off

[ErikFinn]

Jabsco recommends petroleum jelly vaseline to be used during the pump reassembly of their manual toilets, I reckon the electric ones should be the same.

[thinwater]

As far as I know, all of the seals and jokers in Jabsco products are neoprene, which should be fine with silicone grease or Vaseline for a good while.

[rbk]

If you have silicone tape on board (i always have some) you can make o rings by finding the same diameter pipe or round object and put a length of silicone tape around it, then roll it down and off the pipe, viola, makeshift o ring. Might work and if it does it beats cleaning off a bunch of sealant IMO

[Zanshin]

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I neglected to mention that I'd tried O-ring grease as well as lanolin (lanocote) but that didn't stop the leak. I might try silicone sealant and put a small amount in the recessed groove for the O-Ring, then replace the O-Ring and hope that the little extra volume will seal it off until I get to a location where I can get a real repair done. I just hope that if I do effect a temporary fix that I won't be making it permanent!

While the suggestions about finding hardware stores and the like might work elsewhere, this is the BVI and stores like that are neither plentiful nor well-stocked; most things are ordered when required.

[a64pilot]

Silicone will clean out of plastic pretty easily. I seem to default to the clear stuff, it seems to be more adhesive and pliable than the colored although that may be just in my mind.
I also think the kind sold as aquarium sealer seems to be better.
I'd put the silicone in, use quite a lot on both sides of the O ring, gently tighten the bolts finger tight but leave a small gap and let the silicone cure a few hours, you want it to ooze out a little , then finish tightening, but do not over tighten, that can sometimes cause a plastic part to distort and cause a leak.
You will be able to disassemble it, 5200? Maybe not.

[jamhass]

If you put a thin film of Vaseline or silicon grease on the surfaces before you apoly the silicone sealant, it will disassemble easily.

[Zanshin]

Update - I just spent a couple of hours looking for either an O-Ring splice kit or an O-Ring collection kit to no avail; I checked out most of the stores on the island. One of the chandleries has a collection of O-Rings for sale singly, starting at $1 which is a pretty good margin. I got some silicone sealant and am going to give that a try

[a64pilot]

Amazon and others sell 400 piece O ring kits for about $12. I have two one metric and one SAE. Often even with that many to pick from it doesn't fit right, but may be worth getting.

[Cheechako]

You can cut and glue orings to the size you want. I think it's Iso 5 sec glue you use. (In my former work life we used pressurized water to bulge form metal aircraft tubular parts. The neoprene orings we just made up to the size we needed. Sometimes 4ft diameter etc. They hold to 5000 psi +.) So just buy some orings that are oversize, (but the right cross section diameter)cut with a sharp razor blade and glue.

[frankv1205]

Get a cheap toilet wax ring at a local Hardware store that should buy you some time to get the right part