Oil Here's four quick tips for you to get the most out of THE most important component

of every hydraulic system - the oil: 1. Don't change the oil - filter it. Water or particle contamination rarely necessitates an oil change - unless the contamination has resulted in additive depletion or base oil degradation. These contaminants can be removed from hydraulic fluid by filtration. 2. Eliminate particle contamination to reduce breakdowns... Research has shown that maintaining fluid cleanliness at ISO 4406 16/14/11 will result in a tenfold increase in the average time between breakdowns when compared with a fluid cleanliness level of 24/22/19. This is based on the findings of a three-year study of 117 mobile and industrial hydraulic machines to determine the correlation between fluid cleanliness and breakdown frequency. 3. ...And extend fluid life. Particle contamination reduces the service life of hydraulic oil by stripping additives and promoting oxidation. Additives attach to particles, which are then removed by the filters or settle to the bottom of the reservoir. Wear metal caused by particle abrasion is a catalyst for fluid oxidation. 4. Keep it cool. Elevated operating temperatures increase the rate at which the oil oxidizes and this decreases its service life. By-products of the oil oxidation process - varnish and sludge, can cause reliability issues such as valve spool stiction and filter clogging. Contamination Control One of these is to control contamination. Studies have shown that it costs 10 times more to extract contaminants from hydraulic fluid than it does to exclude them in the first place. Three common points of contaminant ingression are: 1. Reservoir breather. Standard filler-cap breathers fitted to the majority of hydraulic reservoirs are not effective in preventing ingression of airborne contaminants. All air entering the reservoir should be adequately filtered. In damp environments (e.g. marine applications, tropical climates) desiccant breathers are essential to prevent the ingression of airborne moisture.

2. Cylinders. Worn or damaged rod-wiper seals and pitted or gouged cylinder rods give dust and other contaminants an easy path into the system. Fitting rod protectors (bellows) to cylinders operating in abrasive or corrosive environments can extend rod and wiper seal life and provides an extra barrier to the ingression of contaminants via the cylinder rod. 3. Plumbing. Where fluid leaks out, contamination can get in. The immediate rectification of hydraulic system leaks not only minimizes the cost of clean-up, disposal and replacement fluid, it also saves the hidden cost of removing ingested contaminants. 3. Connections The tangible, bottom-line benefits of maintaining hydraulic plumbing to eliminate leaks. Ideally, this begins with connector selection. NPT is the least reliable type of connector for high-pressure hydraulic systems because the thread itself provides a leak path. The threads are deformed when tightened and as a result, any subsequent loosening or tightening increases the potential for leaks. Replacing pipe thread connections with soft seal connections such as UNO or BSPP greatly improves 'no-leak' reliability. In the case of hoses, manufacturers estimate that 80% of hose failures are attributable to external physical damage through stretching, kinking, crushing or abrasion of the hose. To prevent hose damage, ensure all clamps are kept secure, pay careful attention to routing whenever a replacement hose is installed and if necessary, apply inexpensive polyethylene spiral wrap to protect hoses from abrasion. Myths With that said, here's the first untruth... Myth #1. Hydraulic pump inlet lines must have a strainer. A pump inlet or suction strainer is a 140 micron, mesh screen which is screwed onto the pump intake penetration inside the hydraulic reservoir. These strainers increase the chances of cavitation occurring in the intake line and subsequent damage to, and failure of the hydraulic pump. Piston-type pumps are particularly vulnerable. If the reservoir starts out clean and all fluid returning to the reservoir is filtered, inlet strainers are not required since the hydraulic fluid will not contain particles large enough to be captured by a coarse mesh screen.

The main argument for installing suction strainers is to protect the pump from debris that enter the reservoir as a result of careless maintenance practices. Fact is, nuts, bolts, tools and similar debris pose minimal threat to the pump in a properly designed reservoir, where the pump intake is located a minimum of four inches off the bottom. When you consider the damage that vacuum-induced cavitation can cause to a hydraulic pump, NOT installing a suction strainer is definitely the lesser of two evils. I generally recommend removing and discarding all filters fitted to pump intake lines. But you don't have to take my word for it. If in doubt, consult the hydraulic pump manufacturer. Myth #2. Creep in a double-acting cylinder is caused by a leaking piston seal. A popular misbelieve about hydraulic cylinders is that if the piston seal is leaking, the cylinder can creep down. Fact is, if the piston seal is completely removed from a double-acting cylinder, the cylinder is completely filled with oil and the ports are plugged, the cylinder will hold its load indefinitely - unless the rodseal leaks. What happens under these conditions - due to the unequal volume either side of the piston, is fluid pressure equalizes and the cylinder becomes hydraulically locked. Once this occurs, the only way the cylinder can move is if fluid escapes from the cylinder via the rod seal or its ports. If you grasp the theory at work here, you'll probably realize there are a couple of exceptions. The first is a double-rod cylinder - where volume is equal on both sides of the piston. And the second is when a load is hanging on a double-acting cylinder. In this arrangement, the volume of pressurized fluid on the rod side can be accommodated on the piston side. In this case a vacuum will develop on the piston side and depending on the weight of the load, this may eventually result in equilibrium that arrests further creep. Storage of cylinders Today I want to continue by talking about how to prepare hydraulic cylinders for storage - after they've been repaired. Here's what I recommend if you're storing spare hydraulic cylinders for an extended period: 1. Always store fully retracted. 2. Store indoors in a clean, dry area.

3. Smear the internal surfaces of eye/clevis bushes or bearings with grease - particularly if they're steel. 4. Protect any exposed chrome on the rod. Oil-impregnated tape such as Denso tape can be used for this purpose. Before applying, make sure the rod is fully retracted. If a product like Denso tape is applied to the rod when the rod is not fully retracted, subsequent retraction of the rod can result in damage to the rod seal. 5. Plug the service ports with steel - not plastic, plugs or blanking plates. 6. Consider filling the cylinder with clean hydraulic oil through its rod-end service port. Particularly if it's an expensive, large diameter or high pressure cylinder. I say "consider" because there are a few issues to understand before you carry out step #6. If the cylinder is not filled with oil it will obviously be filled with air. If this air is not perfectly dry, then as ambient temperature decreases the air can reach dew point. This results in moisture forming on the inside of the cylinder tube. This can cause spot rusting and pitting of the tube surface, which will reduce the volumetric efficiency of the cylinder, the service life of the piston seal, and ultimately, the life of the tube itself. Completely filling the cylinder with clean hydraulic oil prevents this from occurring, however there's a MAJOR CAUTION with doing this. I don't have room to explain it here, but I encourage you to read about online: http://www.insidersecretstohydraulics.com/storing-hydrauliccylinders.html Pump As a pump wears in service, internal leakage increases and therefore the percentage of flow available to do useful work (volumetric efficiency) decreases. If volumetric efficiency falls below a level considered acceptable for the application, the pump will need to be overhauled. In a condition-based maintenance environment, the decision to changeout the pump is often based on remaining bearing life or deterioration in volumetric efficiency, whichever occurs first. Volumetric efficiency is the percentage of theoretical pump flow available to do useful work. It is calculated by dividing the pump's actual output in liters or gallons per minute by its theoretical output, expressed as a percentage. Actual output is determined using a flow-tester to load the pump and measure its flow rate.

Because internal leakage increases as operating pressure increases and fluid viscosity decreases, these variables should be stated when stating volumetric efficiency. For example, a hydraulic pump with a theoretical output of 100 GPM, and an actual output of 94 GPM at 5000 PSI and 120 SUS is said to have a volumetric efficiency of 94% at 5000 PSI and 120 SUS. When calculating the volumetric efficiency of a variable displacement pump, internal leakage must be expressed as a constant. To understand why this is so, think of the various leakage paths within a hydraulic pump as fixed orifices. The rate of flow through an orifice is dependant on the diameter (and shape) of the orifice, the pressure drop across it and fluid viscosity. This means that if these variables remain constant, the rate of internal leakage remains constant, independent of the pump's displacement. For a detailed example, which shows how costly it can be if you don't understand this concept, read the rest of this story: http://www.insidersecretstohydraulics.com/variable-hydraulic-pump.html

Oil Temperature In your last hydraulic maintenance email, we discussed what causes a hydraulic system to overheat. Today I want to explain a technique that is very useful when you're troubleshooting a system that's overheating. This technique involves using an infrared thermometer - sometimes called a heat gun, to measure the oil's temperature drop across the heat exchanger. The heat rejection of the exchanger can then be calculated and when this is expressed as a percentage of input power, it will reveal whether the problem is in the cooling circuit or elsewhere in the system. The exact procedure for doing this is explained in detail on page 21 of 'Preventing Hydraulic Failures'. http://www.preventinghydraulicfailures.com Installed cooling capacity typically ranges between 25 and 40 percent of input power. So if a system has a continuous input power of 100 kilowatts and the exchanger is dissipating 26 kilowatts of heat, this means the efficiency of the system has fallen below 74 percent. If the system is overheating, this is a good indication that there is abnormal heat load somewhere in the system. On the other hand, if a system has a continuous input power of 100 kilowatts and the exchanger is dissipating 10 kilowatts of heat and the system is overheating, this means that there's a problem somewhere in

the cooling circuit or the system does not have enough installed cooling capacity. In your next hydraulic maintenance email in a few days time, I'll explain how to locate this abnormal heat load.