Source of O-Rings

[lpdsn]

Hi,

Can anyone recommend a good supplier of O-Rings?

 

[sarabande]

Lidl and Aldi do box sets of 100 to 200 rings from time to time.

 

[AngusMcDoon]

RS.

 

[Iain C]

Lidl and Aldi do box sets of 100 to 200 rings from time to time.

^This. For some bizarre reason, I took this box off my own boat to go cruising on a friend's for a fortnight. When we somewhat alarmingly saw water above the cabin sole boards at 0100 off Portland one evening, the magic Aldi box sorted a badly leaking log impeller fitting. Never has £2.99 been better spent!

 

[vyv_cox]

To some extent it depends on the service. Most O-rings for engine use are nitrile, although for petrol it would be better to use Viton. O-rings for water, such as Jabsco domestic pumps, are EPDM. Neoprene is usually used where water and oil are likely, such as bilge pumps, although nitrile will probably do well enough. The hardness is also important. I use Simply Bearings for any that I need.

 

[pvb]

Another vote for Simply Bearings, who have an excellent range. However, they're not cheap but if you have a particular size requirement chances are they can match it.

I've found that the bargain boxes of O-rings usually don't have quite the right size for lots of applications.

 

[elton]

O ring "splicing" kits are sometimes handy. eg http://na.henkel-adhesives.com/product-search-1554.htm?nodeid=8797926064129

 

[coopec]

Well I bought a box of 240 (?) 'O' rings from a reputable supplier on Amazon.

I was wanting to buy a lip seal for the top of my rudder stock. I've got a nitrile(?) one (but anyhow it was what was recommended by the bearing supplier) but I had trouble getting one with a ss spring. Can you buy lip seals with ss springs? Actually it is 12 months ago since I was working on that so details are a bit hazy but I know I was dealing with a large UK supplier of bearings and seals. The Rudder shaft is 2 in. and the outside diam. of the lip seal is 3 in.

In the end I decided as it was a seal above the water line and if it did fail I would get warning I accepted a non ss spring seal

 

[Poignard]

(...)

I've found that the bargain boxes of O-rings usually don't have quite the right size for lots of applications.

I've found the same with bargain boxes of fibre washers and copper washers.

 

[earlybird]

Sealforce, of Dundee, stock o-rings in an extensive range of sizes, metric and imperial and a number of types of rubber. They have an ebay shop.

 

[Norman_E]

^This. For some bizarre reason, I took this box off my own boat to go cruising on a friend's for a fortnight. When we somewhat alarmingly saw water above the cabin sole boards at 0100 off Portland one evening, the magic Aldi box sorted a badly leaking log impeller fitting. Never has £2.99 been better spent!

I keep a selection taken from one of the Aldi/Lidl boxes on board for just such jobs.

 

[NPMR]

Talk to your local high pressure hose maker. When I needed a fat 'O' ring, I was given a few as the parts man did not want to do the paperwork for such a small sum.

 

[CCJ]

Hi,

Can anyone recommend a good supplier of O-Rings?

What shore are they

 

[lpdsn]

Thanks for all the input. It would've probably helped if I'd said why I was asking. Apologies for that.

I bought some replacement seals from Harken to stop water dripping through the winch into the motor and gearbox below. Stripped one of the winches today and found they'd sent the wrong parts. I'm going to get back to them, but in the meantime I thought I'd look at generic o-rings as a fallback.

A normal o-ring with the right ID & OD would be fine for the top seal I reckon. The lower one takes the weight of the moving parts so would probably need to be of harder plastic - the Harken seal that didn't fit is.

 

[lpdsn]

What shore are they

East coast (of Ireland)

 

[CCJ]

East coast (of Ireland)

granite or muddy

http://mykin.com/oring-design-guide

 

[ghostlymoron]

I usually get them off eBay for a few pence. Selection boxes are quite good but as someone has said they never seem to have exactly the size you want. Fortunately you can usually stretch a slightly smaller one to fit in an emergency until the proper one is obtained.

 

[lpdsn]

granite or muddy

Varies.

 

[Spyro]

Another vote for Simply Bearings, who have an excellent range. However, they're not cheap but if you have a particular size requirement chances are they can match it.

I've found that the bargain boxes of O-rings usually don't have quite the right size for lots of applications.

Second that, they have a huge range of sizes and materials depending on what you want them for

 

[yimkin]

Screwfix have an assortment of boxes of o rings. I have a set of nitrile rings from them. It is surprising how many I use.
If an annual replacement of an o ring keeps water from entering my fuel tank via the filler cap it is money well spent. My fuel filler is located on the cockpit sole with the cockpit drains at the high end of the cockpit. A triumph of design!