Is increasing oil cleanliness on your 2021 to do list? It should be. Maintaining oil cleanliness is vital to the performance of lubricated equipment. Oil contamination from particulates accelerates the rate of component wear and leads to premature component failure. In a globally competitive market companies that can maintain a superior level of machine reliability and uptime will be able to keep costs at a more competitive level. Clean contaminant free oil will extend the lifetime and the overall reliability of equipment.
Where should you start increasing the cleanliness? Let's consider sampling and inspecting your incoming oil. Ensuring oil cleanliness starts at the source is your new oil delivery. Keep in mind no manufacturing or delivery process is perfect. There is always a chance of human error coming into play. If there is a potential for your lubricants to be accidentally mislabelled or contaminated and you're not taking steps to check before putting the oil in the service, you're risking the cost of a new machine.
Why inspect your new oil?
New oil doesn't always mean clean oil. There is always a chance for contamination to enter your new oil as it moves through the delivery chain. Cross-contaminated delivery trucks, drums or totes can all be at fault. Mistakes can happen. Always inspect your new oil to ensure that it meets your plant's level of ISO cleanliness. The ISO 4406 cleanliness code should be clearly recorded and coded for all lubricated equipment.
For example: One construction dealer recently reported checking the delivery of new oil. A random particle count test while filtering the new oil revealed a problem. Upon investigation it was discovered the oil had been shipped in a tote designated for used oil. That "new "oil was actually more contaminated than the oil being replaced. It was commented that an earlier shipment from the same supplier that wasn't checked may have contributed to a costly warranty hydraulic pump replacement.
Did you know that cleaning your lubricants by as little as one iso cleanliness code can provide a 35% increase in equipment life?
Remember clean oil is vital to machine health. You should always sample, and filter well before putting it into use. Even if you clean your oil when you first received it, it can still get dirty before use. Many times new oil is stored in area where contamination is introduced. Filtering that oil will remove contamination and particles that could be in the oil.
Maintaining oil cleanliness is especially critical to the success of high-performance hydraulic systems. Well contamination from water and particulate matter accelerate the rate of component where and can lead to premature component failure. The length of time oil should be filtered will very considerably based on the lubricants initial cleanliness level, the filters beta ratio and a gallon per minute/liters per minute rating of the pump on the filtration unit. Ideally you should sample the world to figure out current cleanliness level in sample after filtering to get its new level. Always sample and if necessary filter the oil before it goes in the service to ensure top performance.
What can you do to inspect your new oil?
Invest in drums for tote months. Drum and tote mounts like Checkfluid's DT adapter will enable you to sample, monitor, filter and cleanly transfer your oil from a storage container. Quick connects, ideally flush face style, will let you cleanly connect your drum tote mount to your filtration system. You can monitor your new and stored oil. A high flow sampling valve option allows you to continually check on your oil without opening the drum to external contamination. The optional desiccant breather provides additional protection for moisture and particulate contamination without opening the system to dirt or moisture. You can transfer your new and stored oil in the same way.
