My ISIS BB dies after about 12 months of use. 7 months of those were hard commuting. The initial install was poor and that allowed water to penetrate into the shell. This caused a failure of the drive side bearings and a near failure of the non-drive side.

The reviews on ISIS are mixed and that most people complain about water getting into and behind the drive side seal.

Can I use a a bead of silicon to help with the seal? Is there a good way to dry the thing after a rain because I live in the Pac NW and it does rain here on a regular basis.

Should I change the BB in the end? I have a 68 English.

i would move away from the isis drive system unless you want to shell out big money for the fancy bbs

In my opinion, an Isis Bottom Bracket is a simple maintenance issue. Some people would regrease cup and cone bottom brackets as part of yearly maintenance. if you took it to an lbs that would be a 20-$30 job around me. A new Isis BB is also $20-30 and I can replace it myself in about 15 minutes. If you do a lot of riding in wet conditions, I'd just suck it up and replace it as needed.

Also, not sure what you mean about the initial install being "poor" I use PLENTY of grease on the threads of the bb to make sure that sucker will come back out should it need to and I haven't had any problems. other than that, just be careful when torquing it in and they are very easy to install.

This is my .02 but there are others with far more experience than I.

I agree with Motobecan69. I get plenty more life out of my ISIS bbs but its not nearly as wet here in Virginia. I do use antiseize on the threads because I find it holds up better than regular grease. Some peole use tephlon plumbers tape.

Irrespective if how well the cups are sealed, there are other ways for water to get into the shell if you are riding in the rain. Even if there is no drain hole in your shell, if there is a cable guide on the underside of the shell, the hole for attaching that is not water tight; nor is the seat tube. So you are going to get water down in the shell if you are riding alot in wet conditions; making sure the shell is draining adequately might help. If there is no drainage hole in the shell and you dont want to drill one, try removing seat and post after wet rides and hanging bike upside down to allow the water to escape.

I like the hang upside down thing.
There is a hole in the BB for a cable guide, but i am not sure if that will be sufficient.

Plumbers tape is a good idea. I may do that.