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In This Issue:

• Know Where You Are Going - Write a Lubrication Plan

• Book Bits: Grease Lubrication Guidelines

• Today's Tip: Reducing Aeration in Reservoirs

• Q&A: Engine Oil Performance Testing

Know Where You Are Going - Write a Lubrication Plan

If you've been reading Noria publications for very long, you already know the potential savings available from transforming lubrication to a best practices program. Perhaps you're already heading down that road. Not moving fast enough? Here's help.

You've heard it before: "If you know where you are going, you will get there faster and with greater success." Top-tier businesses use mission statements and business plans to unify and rally an organization around goals. Do you know where your lube program is heading?

If you are ready to champion the cause, job No. 1 is getting busy with putting your lubrication plan on paper. Involve as many people (and departments) as possible to both share in its creation and to communicate what's in it for them.

Need a jump-start? Machine reliability and oil consumption are two focus areas that can produce dependable short-term benefits. Are you trending MTBF and oil consumption ratios? How about lubrication-related failures?

Once you set specific improvement goals, you'll need a strategic action plan to reach them. Perhaps the action plan will include leakage control, better contamination control, or an expanded oil analysis program.

Even further, you'll need a plan of attack for your action plans. Maybe yours will involve documented lubrication procedures, upgraded oil storage areas, lubricant procurement standards, lube tech training, oil sampling procedures, better product labels or new centralized lubrication equipment.

Once you've mapped out your new program, your lubrication plan will help keep it on track and shorten your path to success.

Mike Ramsey
mramsey@noria.com

Book Bits

From "The Lubricating Grease Guide":

Grease Lubrication Guidelines

Most mineral-oil-based greases (of adequate dropping point) will operate successfully to about 250°F (121°C). A smaller number can handle 300°F (149°C). A few mineral-oil-based greases can operate to about 350°F (177°C). Around this temperature, synthetic fluids are preferred or required. As service temperature rises, frequency of lubricant addition and relubrication must increase.

In industrial service, the following may be considered reasonable relubrication intervals for rolling bearings (assuming eight work hours per day):

• 180°F (82°C), 6 months

• 220°F (104°C), 3 months

• 300°F (149°C), 1 month

• 380°F (193°C), 1 week

• 460°F (238°C), 1 day

These guidelines assume reasonable-size bearings operating at usual speeds and loads. If speed is high, bearing large or load severe, relubrication intervals could be even shorter. Where service is severe and/or contamination is unavoidable, relubrication is best carried out with a centralized lubrication system, and lubrication intervals may be measured in hours or minutes."

Click here for more information about "The Lubricating Grease Guide".

Today's Tip

• In circulating systems, the aeration of reservoirs can be reduced substantially if diffusers are used to "ooze" the oil back to tank. Locate the diffuser well below the oil level and select diffuser designs such that flow velocities are reduced to three feet per second (fps).

Each tip published will earn the sender $25. Click here to submit your tip.

Q & A

Engine Oil Performance Testing

"I have seen a number of lubricant manufacturers refer to the 4-ball wear scar test as an indicator of how well the oil will protect an engine. Other larger companies tend to brush off the results of this test indicating that it isn't representative of actual engine conditions adding that because it is cheap to run, the results aren't worth much. What are your thoughts on this?"

The 4-ball test (ASTM D4172) is often used as a screening test for many different lubricant types that contain antiwear additives or similar base oil properties. Other tribo-mechanical bench tests are often used as well, including the Timken Test (ASTM D2782) and the Pin and V-Block (ASTM D2670). Because engines have different contact geometry, loads, metallurgy and speeds, numerous bench tests and test protocols are needed. It is not uncommon for several oils to be tested using two such methods and to find that the performance rankings between the oils to reverse (no correlation). This is why, among other reasons, Passenger Car Motor Oils and Heavy Duty Oils (diesel crankcase) are tested in actual engines using controlled methods such as ASTM D5533 Sequence IIIE and D5302 Sequence VE.

Jim Fitch, Noria Corporation

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Lube-Tips is published by Noria Corporation. Oil Analysis and Lubrication Experts