April 21, 2004
Subscribers: 35,273
    Today's Tip

  1. Lube Specifications and Warranties

    Book Bits

  2. Selecting Tank Breather Filters

    Lube-Trivia

  3. Tests for New Turbine Oil

    Q & A

  4. Protecting Gearboxes from Moisture

    Post of the Week

  5. 5w20 Motor Oils

Today's Tip: Lube Specifications and Warranties

Don't let your equipment vendors force you to keep more types of oil on-site than you really need. We have several pieces of equipment that came with a specific recommendation for which lubricant should be used. Usually this lubricant specification was followed by a statement which implied that use of any other oil would void the warranty. This is not true. As long as an oil with equivalent properties is used, there is no effect on the warranty. By making the correct decisions, we have reduced our stock of on-site oils from 20 different types to 6 types which has reduced costs and the chance for accidental mixing of incompatible oils. (Submitted by Bill Jacobyansky, Maintenance Manager, Guardian Industries. Thanks Bill!)

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Book Bits: Selecting Tank Breather Filters

From the "Lubrication Excellence 2004 Conference Proceedings"

(An excerpt from the "Best Practices in Bulk Lubricant Storage and Handling" paper.)

Above the tank’s oil level and beneath the roof of the same tank lies the headspace. Every tank produces different conditions within its headspace as the contents of oil mist, dirt and water vapor vary considerably. A high percentage of moisture and solid contaminants that enter lubricating oils and hydraulic fluids in storage vessels must pass through the headspace.

Breathers are necessary to exclude contamination. The breather needs to have a particle size and capture efficiency similar to what the transfer oil filter is expected to have. For example, if the oil filter that is used when discharging the lubricant out of the tank has a 10-micron filter and 90 percent capture efficiency (Beta 10 = 10), then the breather performance should be the same or better. If the lubricant is a hydraulic fluid, then the breather usually requires fine breather filtration – around 3 microns. Gear oils by comparison may need only 10- to 20-micron filters at 90 percent capture efficiency.

More information about the book "Lubrication Excellence 2004 Conference Proceedings"

 

Lube-Trivia: Tests for New Turbine Oil


Test your knowledge and prepare for ICML lubrication and oil analysis certification.

QUESTION: What are commonly recommended tests for new turbine oil deliveries?

Get the answer here.
Q & A: Protecting Gearboxes from Moisture

"Our gearboxes operate in a humid environment. Is there any way we can effectively protect against moisture ingress?"

Common sense is the key to success. Here are some steps:

1. Educate maintenance staff to avoid direct jetting of water at ingression points such as shaft seals and breathers, etc.

2. If water spray is inevitable, use passive shields and deflectors to avoid direct water spray on shafts, dipsticks, fill-caps, breathers, etc.

3. Use high-performance seals that suffer less wear and offer better protection against contaminants.

4. Regularly inspect and maintain gaskets on fill-caps, hatches, etc.

5. Replace dipsticks with level indicators.

6. Keep hatches closed tight.

7. Replace basic vent breather with a desiccant breather, which dehydrates incoming air, or an expansion chamber, which allows the system to breath without ingesting external air.

Submit a question

 

Post of the Week: 5w20 Motor Oils

To reward the lubrication and reliability community for their participation in the Noria Message Boards, we've started the Post of the Week award. Every week, we award one lucky member $50 (USD).

This week's award goes to:

Abas (Gold Member)

Here's an excerpt from the post:

"In general, the manufacturers are recommending 5W20 to pick up some mileage points for the C.A.F.E. standards. That does NOT necessarily mean that 5W20 is inherently bad, as very good oil analysis reports come back, especially with Motorcraft 5W20. There are an increasing number of cars breaking 100,000 miles on steady 5W20 diets, so long term engine life is probably OK...though it is early to tell much there."

See the entire post here.

Resources

 


APRIL 2004

Oil Analysis I
26-27 Tucumán, Argentina
27-29 Mexico City, Mexico
27-29 Point Lisas, Trinidad
28-30 Sao Paulo, Brazil

Oil Analysis II
28-29 Tucumán, Argentina

Técnicas de Lubricación
30 Mexico City, Mexico

MAY 2004

Machinery Lubrication I
10-11 Cleveland, Ohio
12-13 Lima, Peru
18-19 Point Lisas, Trinidad
18-20 Orapa, Botswana
25-26 Monterrey, Mexico
26-28 Sao Paulo, Brazil

Machinery Lubrication II
12-13 Cleveland, Ohio

Oil Analysis I
5-6 Orapa, Botswana
19-20 Buenos Aires, Argentina
19-21 Daegu, South Korea
24-25 Austin, Texas
24-25 Barcelona, Spain

Oil Analysis II
26-27 Austin, Texas
26-27 Barcelona, Spain

Oil Analysis for Engineers
6-7 Sunninghill, Johannesburg, South Africa

JUNE 2004

Best Practices for Machinery Lubrication
9-11 Bangkok, Thailand

Machinery Lubrication I
7-8 Chicago, Illinois
8-10 Madrid, Spain
16-17 Antofagasta, Chile
22-24 Francistown, Botswana
28-29 Chester, Cheshire, United Kingdom

Machinery Lubrication II
9-10 Chicago, Illinois
June 30 – July 1 Chester, Cheshire, UK

Oil Analysis I
7-8 Francistown, Botswana
15-16 Sowa Town, Botswana
16-18 Gdansk, Poland
21-22 Chester, Cheshire, United Kingdom

Oil Analysis II
23-24 Buenos Aires, Argentina
23-24 Chester, Cheshire, United Kingdom

Técnicas de Lubricación
30 León, Mexico

Análisis de Aceite para Equipo Móvil
28-29 León, Mexico

Entire training calendar | Course links

 

Lube-Tips is published by Noria Corporation, 1328 E. 43rd Court, Tulsa, OK 74105 USA.
The presence of advertising in Lube-Tips does not constitute an endorsement of the products or services in such ads. Further, because results will vary widely based on a number of factors, Noria Corporation cannot warrant the results, the accuracy or the completeness of any material published herein.

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