Lubricant formulations are constantly being modified and improved. This means it’s not always possible to have experience with new formulations in order to compare them with your in-service lubricants. While today’s formulations are designed to be superior to those developed 10 years ago, how can you confirm this? More importantly, what information is needed that will allow you to make comparisons between lubricants?
“I suspect our staff is mixing lubricants before they are even used. Is there a simple way to determine this?”
“Would you recommend measuring oil contamination using the ASTM E2412 direct trending method, or would another technique be more effective?”
Perhaps your facility has a well-established oil analysis program that is providing great results, but are you utilizing all of the information available in the reports? If everything in a report is correct and within the specifications, do you do anything else with the information? Do you still allow the time-based preventive maintenance work order to change the oil and filter? If you answered “yes” to this question, you could be wasting thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars per year on unnecessary oil changes. You could also be introducing human error and creating more problems through this needless maintenance.
There is no question that an effective oil analysis program lowers maintenance costs on rotating equipment. The trick is knowing how to run an effective oil analysis program. Organizations must be proactive so the solution to an oil-related problem is not always an oil change. The real benefit of oil analysis is using the data to steer you toward solutions to eliminate lubricant issues. This article will describe the best practices for using oil analysis to monitor your lubrication management program.
