Penn Precision Reel Grease

[Busanga]

Is this grease safe for O rings and rubber seals etc

[Dominick]

There are lots knowledgeable members on the site who will respond to this post.  I see its been a few days since you posted.  I tried to research the grease and could not come up with a definitive answer for you, though I don't see any reason why it should not be okay.  Dominick

[Brewcrafter]

Apologies!  Like Dominick I know lubricants are a "highly debated topic".  And if you have insomnia, the lubricants link is full of GREAT information.  But to answer your question: Penn Reel Lube (blue?) will be fine in all fishing reel applications and will not degrade the O-rings or seals in pretty much ANY reel application (okay, excepting that MagOil stuff...) sorry it took so long for an answer - but I do heartily recommend the Lubricants thread if you really want to get into the "soup" on the subject. - john

[jurelometer]

[Note to moderator -should this thread be moved to the lubricants board?]

  Like many lubricants resold as reel specific products, the actual underlying product for Penn Precision grease is obscured, and the product ingredients  are not provided. 

The actual manufacturer  is X-1R according to Penn's SDS. X-1R does not list a grease with the same properties under its own label. 

If you know what the base oil and thickeners are, you will have a good idea about material compatibility, and serious lubricant manufacturers often publish material compatibility tables for their products.


Here is a chart that shows compatibility as mentioned above:

https://www.thelubricantstore.com/rubber-seal-compatibility-chart


As John (Brewmaster) noted, you should be fine for reel use.  Penn is not going to sell a grease that is incompatible with their reels, and lots of Penn reels have rubber seals.  Most general purpose greases are compatible with most types of rubber, one exception being silicone based lubricants, which should not be used with silicone seals.

I would't sweat it too much for reel use, but for something more important like seals on dive equipment, I would stick to a better documented product.  I prefer documented products in all cases myself, including reels.

-J

[Dominick]

It is under Tools and Lubricants.  Dominick

[Hytekrednek]

i though silicone based lubes were the only ones safe for o-rings and most plastics. I know I never use anything but silicone paste/grease on o-rings myself after seeing what a regular petro based oil did to o-rings. It made them swell up and then degrade quickly. BUT, I know there are several materials O-rings can be made from, so I would think to get a correct answer, you would first have to know what the o-ring is made of, then pick a compatible lube.

[jurelometer]

i though silicone based lubes were the only ones safe for o-rings and most plastics. I know I never use anything but silicone paste/grease on o-rings myself after seeing what a regular petro based oil did to o-rings. It made them swell up and then degrade quickly. BUT, I know there are several materials O-rings can be made from, so I would think to get a correct answer, you would first have to know what the o-ring is made of, then pick a compatible lube.

Silicone oil is not compatible with silicone seals. But we probably don't see much silicone on reels.

But yeah, if you are looking for an o-ring specific lubricant for non-silicone o-rings, it seems that these products are silicone oil based.

I have always assumed (maybe erroneously) that reel seals tended to be nitrile, which is pretty good in terms of compatability with most base oils, and that general pupose greases would be safe with nitrile, as it is a common seal material and grease around seals is pretty common.

I use Super Lube for drag and general purpose on reels- they publish a compatability chart that shows good compatibilty with the common plastics and most likely seal rubber types.

https://www.super-lube.com/Content/Images/uploaded/documents/Compatability%20Charts/Super%20Lube%20Multi-Purpose%20Synthetic%20Grease%20with%20Syncolon.pdf

I am sure that there are other well documented choices out there. Just another advantage to avoiding magical mystery reel specific lubricant products.

-J