Sourcebook for Used Oil Elements

• Gas turbine engines
• Diesel engines
• Transmissions
• Final Drives
• Differentials
• Drive train components
• Large 2-stroke engines
• Grease thickeners
• Industrial gearing
• Compressors
• Aviation engines
• Industrial bearings
• Hydraulic system components

Unfiltered or poorly filtered oil eventually results in growing concentrations of wear debris. The problem is mutually compounding in that the dirtier the oil the more contaminated the oil continues to become from internal wear debris production and destruction to contaminant exclusion seals. While it is always good advice to maintain clean lubricants from a proactive maintenance standpoint (affirmative action), it is equally good advice for predictive maintenance (early wear detection). A failure to do so usually leads to the alarm signal effectively being "lost in the sauce." This concentrated debris results in a high noise threshold, and when an incipient wear signal occurs it will write "in the noise" and be lost (signal-to-noise is less than 1:1). This is a persistent problem with splash-fed gearing, crankcase lubes, and bath lubricated bearings.

Conversely, a clean oil provides not only a healthy and unabrasive lubricating environment but also allows the wear signal (incipient debris generation) to write above the noise level (signal-to-noise is greater than 2:1, for example). When the fluids are maintained clean and if sampling is carried out in live zones (before filters, on bearing drain lines, and at turbulent fluid zones) the early detection of wear anomalies is typically achieved. There is often a need for the routine use of portable filtration systems or retrofitted side-loop filters.