When a lubricant becomes contaminated and is not dealt with expeditiously, that contaminated lubricant can affect the entire machinery system that it is part of, reports high-performance lubricant manufacturer and distributor Lubrication Engineers South Africa (LESA) national marketing manager Gavin Ford.

This can result in increased costs from downtime and equipment repairs, or worse, having to replace equipment entirely.

Dealing with a contaminated lubricant requires the whole system to be flushed to prevent further damage, meaning that for effective filtration, the right tools are essential, he notes.

Therefore, LESA recommends a kidney-loop filtration cart to treat contaminated lubricants in systems.

Kidney-loop filtration systems are primarily used in machinery with hydraulic or lubrication systems, such as industrial machinery and heavy mobile equipment.

Different sizes of filters are available, depending on the system, from 3 µ for hydraulic systems to 20 µ for engines or gearboxes, to avoid filtering out the beneficial additives in the lubricants used in these systems.

A filtration cart is often the first step when LESA is helping a client to resolve such issues.

“We will get complaints of machinery issues like loud operating volumes, high temperatures or excessive vibrations,” he says, adding that from past experience, LESA knows that most of these issues are linked to contaminated lubricants.

About 80% of the time, Ford says the oil needs to be cleaned, rather than replaced.

Whole System Approach

The kidney loop system mechanically separates out any particles or water from the system, which helps to prevent further damage to machinery.

Once the system has been decontaminated, Ford says it is then important to diagnose the issue of the contamination.

In this regard, he says contaminants can get introduced with the introduction of a newly installed part, like a pump or motor not having a breather installed with it, or water getting into the system during cleaning procedures.

“Once we have filtered the lubricant, diagnosed the problem and fixed it, we run the machinery and then do another analysis to check that everything has been sorted out,” says Ford.

In addition to decontamination, filtration carts can be used in a variety of applications such as dispensing or pre-filtering new oil, evacuating used oil, flushing new or repaired systems, collecting samples for oil analysis and topping off reservoirs.

The LESA kidney loop system is designed for filtering mineral-based industrial oils and most synthetic oils with a maximum operating viscosity range of ISO 680 at 38 °C (3 000 ssu/648 cSt), within ambient temperature ranges of -26 °C to 66 °C.

Although filter carts were designed for system decontamination, Ford says that they can also be a good method to cleanly dispense and transfer new oil to machinery or other transfer containers.

In addition, if a reservoir is appropriately equipped, oil additions or oil changes can be done without ever exposing the sump to atmospheric contamination.

Any sealed component that is lubricated should be flushed before or soon after startup, except for hydraulic systems, he says.

In fact, Ford says offline filtration can be much more effective at eliminating run-in debris than changing the oil at the first scheduled interval.

A tool like a filtration cart is an important component in solving lubrication issues, but Ford says these issues can also be mitigated through activities like regular oil analysis, using the correct lubricant for each application, and applying high quality lubricants that are designed to prevent contamination.