In This Issue:

• Today's Tip: Grease Gun Caps

• Book Bits: Is Your Lube Room Missing This?

• Lube-Trivia: Using the Crackle Test

• Q & A: Dealing with Cold Start-up Conditions

Today's Tip

Grease Gun Caps

• To keep the end of your grease gun clean and prevent contamination from entering a bearing when lubing the bearing, place a plastic cap over the end of the lube head. These come in all sizes and the 1/2-inch gives a tight seal to keep out everything from dirt to water. (Submitted by Lane McGuffin, PdM Tech., Sealed Air, Cryovac Div. Thanks Lane!)

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Book Bits

Is Your Lube Room Missing This?

From "Lubrication Fundamentals"

An adequate cleaning facility is an oil house essential. Dispensing equipment (grease guns and the like) must be cleaned regularly for proper functioning. Airborne dirt and dust collect quickly on oil-wetted surfaces, so oil containers, faucets and similar equipment should be cleaned regularly to remove these contaminants.

More information about the book "Lubrication Fundamentals"

Lube-Trivia

Using the Crackle Test

Test your knowledge and prepare for ICML lubrication and oil analysis certification with Lube-Trivia.

QUESTION: How low of a concentration can the crackle test screen for water? What is the limitation?

For the answer, visit: http://www.lube-tips.com/trivia/20031001.asp

Q & A

Dealing with Cold Start-up Conditions

"We have problems with cold start-up with respect to the filters. How can we solve this?"

Typically, the problems associated with cold start-ups include the filter differential pressure exceeding the limit owing the higher viscosity to the cooler oil. This results in the pressure differential indicator tripping and the filter going into bypass mode allowing unfiltered oil to pass through.

If the system has a very short warm-up period, and there are no critical components, it may be worth considering allowing the filter to go into bypass mode for a short period, but remember to install an indicator that has either a thermal lockout or an automatic reset function. As the filter blocks-up in the normal course of events, the period of bypass will increase, and this can be monitored by the length of time the auto-reset takes to activate. However, regular particle counting is essential to highlight a problem with the bypass valve sticking in the open position.

However, on critical systems, possibly at an outdoor hydraulic plant with a longer warm-up period, ensure the filter is selected according to the worst-case viscosity conditions as a result of the lowest ambient temperature likely to be encountered. This will result in a larger-than-required element at operating conditions, it should result in a longer element life requiring less frequent changes.

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