How do you check your Pelican case for waterproofness??

thatmguy

thatmguy

Joined
Mar 26, 2000
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Recently I found a couple Otterboxes were not "proof", but more like "resistant" as the seal was not 100%.

I found this by putting water inside, closing, then drying the boxes off. I then tipped them and slowly rotated so the seams were tested.

I just did this on a Pelican 1010, FAIL.

Anyone else test theirs??

Will I ever find a truely waterPROOF container??
 
have you tried Hardigg Storm cases? http://www.stormcase.com/

apparently Pelican just bought them. . . If you can't beat them, buy them I guess.

They are the toughest cases I have seen, I wouldn't be surprised if they were the most waterproof too.
 
The most no-brainer foolproof way to check is to empty out the case, put a brick in it, and throw it in water that's deep enough to cover it completely. Leave it for as long as possible, take it out and dry the case thoroughly on the outside, and when you open it you'll see.

I've never tried that with a Pelican case, but I do it with any dry bags I get.
 
I haven't found anything that small that is waterproof. In fairness to Pelican, they don't advertise the micro cases as being waterproof. Rather, they label the micros water resistant and warn against submersion.
 
CarpScot said:
In fairness to Pelican, they don't advertise the micro cases as being waterproof. Rather, they label the micros water resistant and warn against submersion.
Click to expand...
Indeed.
http://www.pelican.com/cases_detail.php?Case=1010
# GREAT FOR RUGGED SPORTS - NOT FOR SWIMMING OR SUBMERGING
# Water resistant, crushproof, and dust proof
Click to expand...

The only Pelican of mine that I have water-tested is my 1450. It passed with flying colors. I also couldn't sink the damn thing with any practical items that I might ever put in it (I.E. - not lead weights, ha), so it passed the buoyancy test as well.
 
Actually, that's weird... I just realized I have a 1010 in the drawer and when I pulled it out, there's a sticker on there that clearly says "watertight." So I tested mine (albeit briefly) and it was fine. If I am more motivated, I will do some more extensive testing of it tomorrow.

But then I reread the original post... putting water INSIDE is a poor test if you think about it: the boxes have purge valves. They are SUPPOSED to let things out if they have to. They aren't supposed to let things IN.

Like anything else, make sure it's in good working order. Are the seals wiped down and in good condition? Depending on what you are storing in there, you might even consider taking a very small amount of silicone grease (nothing petroleum based) and smearing it on the seals of the box if you really want to go the extra mile, just like you would for o-ring seals on anything else.
 
Think I'll see about a weighted submersion this weekend. I'd be comfortable with tight at 1' submersion.
 
Just a thought - since water pressure compresses the case and perhaps its seals, a case may be better at keeping water out than keeping it in. Maybe the dunk test is better than the fill with water test.
 
Water doesn't compress things much if we are talking about the bottom of the bathtub. ;)

Considering how stiff and tough those cases are, dimensional distortion isn't going to be a factor at the depths we are talking about. As mentioned. bounancy limits how deep a Pelican or Stormcase will go.
 
Water, H2O, is a very small molecule. This is what makes many types of water filters possible. But, it really is hard to stop it completely. The "seals" on most "water proof" cases are less then 1/4 of an inch wide, and that's just not enough surface area to truly get a water proof seal. At most, any of these O-ring sealed cases will be water resistant.
 
Just finished running a rough test with my Pelican 1010. My methodology was as follows:

I made sure my 1010 was clean and free of debris (or other things that could compromise the seal) but did not use anything to try to improve the seal (such as o-ring grease). Then I took enough coins to fill the case and wrapped them in a paper towel. I wanted to make sure that if even one drop of water penetrated the case, it would be apparent, hence my choice of the paper towel which would show a wet spot.

Then I filled my sink to approximately 5.5 inches (didn't have the patience to fill the tub) and submerged the 1010. The coins provided enough weight to hold the case down.

I checked on it at 5 minutes (did not bring it up, but just gave it a visual check through the water) and did not see any indication of leakage. I had seen no bubbles escape and the paper towel appeared dry inside the case. So I left it in another 25 minutes (for a total of 30) and then brought it out of the water.

I did not find any indication that water penetrated the case. Granted, I didn't exactly take the thing to submarine depth, but it was fully submerged and had plenty of time to be compromised.

I was pleased with the test results, even if the test wasn't very extreme. I am not stating in any way that my testing represents real world conditions: I have no idea what any given user may encounter or try to prepare for.
 
ThinkOfTheChildren said:
But then I reread the original post... putting water INSIDE is a poor test if you think about it: the boxes have purge valves. They are SUPPOSED to let things out if they have to. They aren't supposed to let things IN.
Click to expand...
I totally agree with this. Keeping pressure/liquid out and keeping pressure/liquid in are very different, especially with regard to how you design gaskets and fittings. Placement of the gasket which improves the seal against outside pressure can easily make the gasket less able to seal against inside pressure. I think the "dunk" test has much more validity than the "fill" test.
 
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