In This Issue:

• Today's Tip: Site Glass Reading May Be Deceptive

• Book Bits: Grease Facts

• Lube-Trivia: Crankcase Contaminants

• Q & A: Cylinder Oil Drip Analysis

Today's Tip

Site Glass Reading May Be Deceptive

• Site glass tubes can get clogged at the intake and hold lubricant in the tube. Even when the oil or grease level in the equipment drops low, the site glass may continue to indicate the level is adequate. Use a wire or pipe cleaner brush at each servicing to make sure the site glass tube is clear from intake to glass. This applies to oil site glasses that can get clogged from contaminants, as well as grease applicators that can get dry grease bridges. (Submitted by Bill Morgan, Manager of Process Engineering, City of Vero Beach Water and Sewer. Thanks Bill!)

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Book Bits

Greasing Unsealed Applications

From "Fuels and Lubricants Handbook"

Lubricating fluids can account for as much as 95 percent of a grease. By far, the largest volume of greases in use today consists of those made with petroleum oils thickened with soaps. Many types of petroleum oils are used, including naphthenic, paraffinic, hydrocracked and hydrogenated.

More information about the book "Fuels and Lubricants Handbook"

Lube-Trivia

Crankcase Contaminants

This new section of Lube-Tips is a fun way to test your knowledge and prepare for ICML certification.

QUESTION: Name four sources of solid contaminants in crankcase oils.

For the answer, visit: http://www.lube-tips.com/trivia/20030820.asp

Q & A

Cylinder Oil Drip Analysis

"What information or views do you have about the effectiveness of cylinder oil drip analysis in conjunction with feed rate optimization for marine slow-speed engines?"

Thanks for your question Mark. We know of a number of cylinder oil feed rate optimization programs by major oil companies and OEMs. There is no doubt that many ship owners/operators have historically overlubricated the engine cylinders to be on the safe side.

This practice, as can be expected, has lead to additional operational problems such as bore polishing and ring sticking, apart from the additional expense involved in lubricant costs and maintenance.

Given that fuel quality and sulphur content can vary considerable in different parts of the world, it has historically been difficult to optimize cylinder lubrication. Cylinder lubricant base number (BN) can also vary by supply point.

Wear studies have consistently shown that optimum cylinder lubricator settings should be proportional to engine load and fuel sulphur content. Through analyzing cylinder oil scrapedown for wear metals and BN (amongst other tests), it is possible to balance feed rates with operating conditions and thus the cost of lubricant and wear-related cylinder maintenance.

It may be possible to blend high BN and low BN lubricants for cylinder lubrication when operating on low sulphur fuel and the MAN automatic optimization system will allow this. In my opinion, either scrapedown oil analysis or on-line cylinder monitoring is effective in providing significant savings in both cylinder oil usage and in controlling wear and scuffing rates resulting in longer engine overhaul intervals.

Hugh Lundin, Senior Technical Consultant, Noria UK Ltd.

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