Whatever your industry, as an operator or owner of equipment that utilises any type of fluid – be it engine oil, hydraulic oil, gear oil, transmission oil, grease or coolant – you should know that these fluids are the lifeblood of your equipment.

​The oils protect and lubricate, reduce friction, clean vital parts, act as a coolant, maintain compression, lubricate seals, operate in high-pressure systems or where hydraulic parts are used and to maintain the life of the components. The grease is present to lubricate and stop wear occurring in bearings, pins and bushes and to ensure that all the components run smoothly and with minimum friction. The coolants are there to keep the equipment from overheating and to protect metals from distorting under extreme temperatures.

​Contamination causes over 85% of mechanical failures resulting in expensive repairs and costly machine downtime. Each moving part in an oil lubricated circuit has a normal wear rate. As these parts wear they introduce particles into the oil, generally these are very small but through an oil sampling and analysis program these can be monitored. If there is an increase in the amount or size of the particles the analysis will highlight these and help pinpoint the source. This gives you the opportunity to take preventative action before a failure can occur.

​Many machine manufacturers analyse and test their products over many years and millions of miles to failure point. During these tests regular oil samples are taken and a complete analysis over the lifespan of the components is built up. This is then broken down into a wear analysis record. This trend is then used by the oil laboratories to be able to monitor the machinery. Regular oil analysis is a low cost preventative maintenance tool that enables owners/operators to see what is happening inside the machinery.