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Unusual Particle Counts Confusing
Richard Hassebrock, Field Engineer, Castrol Heavy
Duty Lubes
At a minimum there should be some communication with the maintenance
personnel that draws the oil samples. Often simple misunderstandings
can be cleared up easily by asking the person who drew the sample
directly about the situation and drawing them into a conversation
about it. Maybe they misunderstand the direction of flow, or maybe
it is labeled incorrectly. If either is true the next sample will
also be incorrect, and now you will have two times the amount
of bad data and will be no closer to solving the mystery. Eliminate
the possible misunderstanding first to avoid this.
Also, it is just good practice to get the people involved in
drawing the samples involved in interpreting the results, so they
are aware of how important their function is, and they will be
more likely to take ownership of it and perform to the best of
their ability.
The scenario outlined does not indicate how well equipped the
onsite lab is and what other testing is being performed. All we
know at this point is there is an increase in particle count,
but we do not know what the particles are, making it difficult
to identify the root cause of the abnormal particle counts. Comparison
of the particle count to other test result data would help here.
The onsite lab should have a working relationship with an off-site
lab that is able to perform tests the on-site lab is not equipped
to do, i.e. spectrograph, ferrograph, etc. With the results of
these tests in hand we would be in a much better position to identify
the cause of the abnormal particle count.
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