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In This Issue:

• Up Front: Avoiding Gearbox Fill Problems

• Book Bits: Water/Heat Destroy Additives

• Today's Tip: Don't Rely on Color Alone

• Q & A: Dealing with Washdowns

Up Front

Avoiding Gearbox Fill Problems

I learned a valuable lesson filling a gearbox last week: make sure you have proper ventilation when filling with a pump with quick-disconnects attached. We installed quick-disconnects on top of gearboxes, then installed a 3/4-inch T. The desiccant went on top, and we installed a female disconnect on the T with the purpose of filling from there.

On the bottom of the gearbox we installed a disconnect to drain the oil. After two minutes of filling the gearbox from the top disconnect, the desiccant blew off. Oil squirted up out of the gearbox and went everywhere.

We were lucky, because the seals could have blown out of the gearbox instead. (The gearbox becomes pressurized when filling.) We filled from the bottom of the gearbox (intended for drain purposes) and air escaped up through the desiccant.

Blown seals would have caused considerable downtime for repair. We were certainly lucky! (Submitted by Scotty Lippert, Planned Maintenance Tech., Clopay Corp. Thanks Scotty!)

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Book Bits

Water/Heat Destroy Additives

From "Filtration Technology"

Combined with a high operating temperature (above 140° F), water reacts with and destroys zinc-type antiwear additives. For example, zinc dithiophosphate (ZDDP) is a boundary lubricant that reduces wear in high-pressure pumps, gears and bearings. When this additive is depleted, abrasive wear accelerates rapidly. This will show up as premature component failures, resulting from metal fatigue and other wear mechanisms.

More information about the book "Filtration Technology"

Today's Tip

• Using color-coding can be an effective way of setting up a lubricant management program, but don't use color as the only designation for which lubricant goes into what equipment. A significant portion of the population has partial or total color blindness. In labeling lubricants, colors should be supplemented with either shapes or text. The percentages of the population which experience some degree of color blindness look something like this:

  • Male Caucasian - 8.0%

  • Female Caucasian - 0.5%

  • Male Asiatic - 5.0%

  • Female Asiatic - 0.5%

  • Male Other - 3.0%

  • Female Other - 0.5%

(Submitted by Ron Behnke, Reliability Engineer, General Mills Operations. Thanks Ron!)

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Q & A

Dealing with Washdowns

"The equipment in my plant is routinely washed down. To reduce water ingestion. We installed desiccant breathers, but they became saturated. Do I have any options?"

Yours is a common scenario. Here are some suggestions:

1. Train the washdown crew to avoid direct spray onto the breather.

2. Install passive deflectors to direct water away from the breather.

3. Locate the breather in a dry area and connect it to the tank with a hose or pipe.

4. For systems with a stable fluid level, employ an expansion chamber. Some of these have integral desiccant to dehydrate the sump's headspace.

5. Use non-desiccant moisture blocking breathers that inhibit the entrance of moisture, particularly free water.

Drew Troyer, Noria Corporation

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