Lube-Tips

Today's Tip: Advice for Overheating Hydraulics

If the hydraulic system is overheating on your mobile equipment, it may prove useful to scan the entire machine for the source. One of our machines was gradually building heat in the hydraulic system. It started at 130 deg F operating temperature and grew to 160 deg F operating temperature. After the thermography scan was complete, it became clear what the problem was. The auxiliary pump to the main pump was failing. This resulted in the oil reservoir maintaining a 200+ deg temperature. The reason the operators saw only a 160 deg F temp was due to a faulty gauge. (Submitted by John Sosnowski, District Maintenance Manager, Martin Marietta Materials. Thanks John!)

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From "How to Select a Motor Oil and Filter for Your Car or Truck".

If you’re going to pay a premium to get a high-performance filter, look carefully at the capture efficiency (particle size retention) of the filter. For instance, a filter that has a capture efficiency of 95 percent for particles larger than 10 microns will remove 95 percent of the particles larger than 10 microns on a single pass, and 5 percent of the particles larger than 10 microns will pass through the filter. It is worth noting that this performance property is a particularly large component of the premium price you’re paying for good filtration.

Message Boards: Lube Room Enhancements

Our Message Boards have had some lively conversation on hot topics recently. This week, Scotty Lippert of Clopay posted two new photos of updates made to his award winning lubricant storage and dispensing room.

Clopay's latest updates include new filtration and oil sample ports on oil dispensing stations.

Q & A: Reducing Moisture with Instrument Air

"We dehydrate our hydraulic systems with a vacuum dehydrator, which does a nice job. However, it has difficulty keeping up with the humidity in our area. I’d like to pursue instrument air as a dehumidifying option. The air is readily available, but I need some help making sure we properly vent the system, use check valves appropriately to keep from contaminating the air source, etc. Do you have any tips for setting up the process?"

Here are a few things to consider:

1. Ensure the air enters well above the oil level at one end of the reservoir – the suction side of the tank would be best.

2. Make sure the air exits (vents) through an orifice to the atmosphere at the extreme opposite end. A snorkel vent could be used for this and should consist of a pipe that is large enough to eliminate the risk of tank pressurization from the instrument air or hydraulic cylinder fluid return. If oil mist is a problem, a mist collection unit could be installed.

3. An air pressure regulator should be used to minimize the amount of air that enters the headspace. Air flow into the headspace can be synchronized to the amount of water contamination that needs to be controlled/extracted.

4. If the hydraulic system has cylinders, it would be wise to put a quality filter element in place of the snorkel vent. This allows make-up air to be filtered coming inward through the vent as the cylinders actuate, which is the only time the air will be traveling inward through the vent.

5. If the vent and air regulation are properly sized, a check valve may not be needed. However, a check valve could be easily installed as an added safety measure.

Jim Fitch, Noria Corporation