When working in an industrial plant where some or all of the equipment is open to the atmosphere (rain, mist, snow), wipe the moisture off your hard hat before taking or handling your sample. This is important even if the lube oil system is housed in an enclosed building. Walking from building to building, you can accumulate contaminant and moisture on your hard hat. All it takes is one unseen drop of moisture to contaminate your sample. (Larry Barnett, Maintenance Mechanic, Redbud Energy)

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Try this simple experiment. With notepad in hand, go out into your plant and walk around a sampling of your most critical machines. These are the ones that have high probability of failure and/or the greatest consequences of failure. They are also known as show-stoppers and, as such, generally merit a disproportionate allocation of reliability and maintenance resources.

Next, on your notepad make a list of all the lubrication-related enhancements that have been implemented on these same machines since they were commissioned. Take special note of those that have been applied in the past five years. Solicit any amount of help (from old-timers, for instance) you need to flesh out your list.

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Question: Mineral base oils that have a very high VI are more prone to dissolve additives. True or False?

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"We dehydrate our hydraulic systems with a vacuum dehydrator, which does a nice job. However, it has difficulty keeping up with the humidity in our area. I'd like to pursue instrument air as a dehumidifying option. The air is readily available, but I need some help making sure we properly vent the system, use check valves appropriately to keep from contaminating the air source, etc. Do you have any tips for setting up the process?"

Here are a few things to consider:

1. Ensure the air enters well above the oil level at one end of the reservoir – the suction side of the tank would be best.

2. Make sure the air exits (vents) through an orifice to the atmosphere at the extreme opposite end. A snorkel vent could be used for this and should consist of a pipe large enough to eliminate the risk of tank pressurization from the instrument air or hydraulic cylinder fluid return. If oil mist is a problem, a mist collection unit could be installed.

3. An air pressure regulator should be used to minimize the amount of air that enters the headspace. Air flow into the headspace can be synchronized to the amount of water contamination that needs to be controlled/extracted.

4. If the hydraulic system has cylinders, it would be wise to put a quality filter element in place of the snorkel vent. This allows make-up air to be filtered coming inward through the vent as the cylinders actuate, which is the only time the air will be traveling inward through the vent.

5. If the vent and air regulation are properly sized, a check valve may not be needed. However, a check valve could be easily installed as an added safety measure.

Jim Fitch, Noria Corporation

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