Category: Reliability

The Ideal Lube Room

While many may think it is costly or impossible to transform their current lube room, there are a few low-cost adjustments which can be......

Mislabeling and Environmental Conditions in the Lube Room

Thus far, we’ve spoken about the effects of mainly physical contamination but quite a number of things also happen in the lube room. One......

Addressing Contamination in the Lube Room

When we think about the lube room, there can be a few images which come to mind. Either a pristine environment, with everything colour......

Hidden Failures in Lubrication programs: The Illusion of a Good Lubrication Program – Part 1

Typically, when lubrication programs are developed and implemented, everyone automatically believes that all lubrication issues have been solved and will never occur again. This......

Turning Air Measurements Into Reliability Insight

The Smart Bubble System, developed by Evamo, allows users to gain deeper insight into the behavior of air in their oil. It turns a general volume-based quantification into actionable metrics to improve your system’s reliability and performance...

How Is Air in Oil Measured?

When we think about measuring air in oil, the top-of-mind lab tests that are well known are the foam test (ASTM D892) and the Air Release test (ASTM D3427 & DIN ISO 9120). While these two tests can provide information on the tendency of foam to dissipate or for air to be released from the oil, they don’t give the entire story of what’s happening in the oil as it relates to air...

The Chemistry Behind Air in Oil

The oil’s chemistry also plays a significant role in determining its air content. All finished lubricants consist of base oil and additives. The characteristics......

How Does Air Get Into Oil?

Air is inert, so it shouldn’t affect your oil, right?! This is a concept that many people get wrong or don’t fully understand. Air......

Role of Condition Monitoring, Human & Organizational Factors in Oil Failures

Choosing the right oil for the system is just one part of the puzzle. How do we know the oil is performing when it’s......

Common Modes of Failure for Lubricants

Regardless of the oil selected, common modes of failure can occur with every lubricant. These include: contamination, improper storage and handling practices, and environmental......

Spec Sheet vs Strategy for choosing the right oil

Sometimes we can spend hours poring over technical data sheets, comparing oil performances, and finally selecting the “right” oil which aligns with the needs......

Varnish Badges of Honour

Varnish is widely known as a primary culprit of equipment failure. This sticky enemy effectively finds its way into most of our equipment and......

My MLE Journey

Some details about the MLE certification journey from online classes to online exam...

EasyRCA!

Recently, most of our concerns stem around getting stuff done faster but wanting the same quality result. For instance, when loading a web page,......

ICML 55 – the revolution in the lubrication sector

What is ICML 55? ICML 55 is revolutionizing the lubrication industry! It is so exciting to be around at this time when it has......

5 Habits of an Extraordinary Reliability Engineer – My review

Peter Horsburgh has essentially captured the 5 Habits of an Extraordinary Reliability Engineer in his book! His style of writing appeals to engineers as he keeps......

PROACT Review

Root Cause Analysis has always been dear to my heart. The procedure involved in finding the root causes and addressing them have intrigued me greatly......

No post found

Reliability / Storage & Handling of Lubricants

The Ideal Lube Room

While many may think it is costly or impossible to transform their current lube room, there are a few low-cost adjustments which can be made to help reduce the initiation of failure in this area.

As shown in Figure 2, these small changes can have big impacts on reducing the contaminants which get into the oils before they are added to the machines.

ideal-lube-room — Figure 2: Strategies for an Ideal Lube Room.

By implementing some of the aforementioned strategies, we can see an immediate reduction in the number of failures which occur at a facility. While many think about investing in predictive technologies which may range to the higher cost bracket, these simple adjustments to the lube room can easily solve a large percentage of the issues.

If we were to think about this in terms of the cost of the failures for gearboxes or other critical pieces of equipment, the investment in these strategies to upgrade your lube room is minimal. When investigating your next failure, perform a full root cause analysis and determine whether it’s stemming from your lube room. Chances are that you have the opportunity to prevent a lot more failures than you would expect.

Find out more in the full article, "Why Asset Failures Often Start in the Lube Room" featured in Precision Lubrication Magazine by Sanya Mathura, CEO & Founder of Strategic Reliability Solutions Ltd

Reliability / Storage & Handling of Lubricants

Mislabeling and Environmental Conditions in the Lube Room

Thus far, we’ve spoken about the effects of mainly physical contamination but quite a number of things also happen in the lube room. One major aspect of compromise is proper labelling of the lubricants. Many times, technicians are in a rush to get their lube route underway and will often not double check that they have the correct lubricant for the application that they are working on. In these cases, they may have picked up the wrong lubricant which is not the appropriate viscosity or suited for the application either!

This can lead to incompatible lubricants being mixed causing a series of failures. It can also lead to incorrect viscosity being applied to the equipment causing wear and tear or efficiency losses. Additionally, if the wrong type of oil is used, this can also lead to severe bleaching of the additives out of the oil.

Mislabeling and Environmental Conditions in the Lube Room

For instance, if a motor oil (which contains 30% additives) was placed in a hydraulic oil sump, this can lead to catastrophic events where the additives in the motor oil may trap water getting into the hydraulic oil making it emulsify rather than allowing the water to drop out.

As such, we need to ensure that there are adequate labeling systems in place to minimize the occurrence of a mix up with the lubricants. Colour coding can also help as this reduces the errors of “picking up” the wrong dispensing container especially when our technicians are in a hurry.

The environment has a huge role to play regarding the integrity of lubricants. If lubricants are stored outside in drums, they have the tendency to collect rainwater. They can breathe and draw in this rainwater which gets collected at the top of the drum. This breathing action occurs due to changes in temperature such as the change from a bright sunny environment to a rainstorm. This introduces water into the oil and contaminates it before it reaches the equipment. Lubricants should be stored at controlled temperatures between 0–25°C and in a sheltered area.

Reliability / Storage & Handling of Lubricants

Addressing Contamination in the Lube Room

When we think about the lube room, there can be a few images which come to mind. Either a pristine environment, with everything colour coded, neatly packed on the assigned shelves, dedicated storage and handling containers and a temperature-controlled environment (everyone’s dream!).

Or we can have a mix of dirty, oily rags, creatively designed dispensing containers where the welders were definitely showing off their skills and mislabeled (or no labels) on the lubricants. We can also have many images in between since there is a range of things which can be done (or not done) by those in charge of the lube rooms given their environmental conditions and constraints (budgetary or operational).

Unfortunately, the lube room is the place where many failures can begin if the conditions are not appropriate. It should ideally be the first line of defense for our assets but is often overlooked. Typically, this is the starting point of the journey for any lubricant and if it carries contaminants then we are exponentially decreasing the life of our lubricated assets before they have a chance to operate in our facility. This article explores the ways in which we can reduce these effects and some areas of improvement for any lube room.

Addressing Contamination

The ISO 4406 test is one that the industry is very familiar with as it governs the cleanliness of the oil. Typically, every system / OEM has a targeted cleanliness level. But how does the cleanliness level actually impact the lubricant and its functions? It is often said that the industry runs on a film of oil that is between 1–10 microns. Essentially, that means that any particle which is larger than this range interrupts the film and can cause damage and wear to the components.

For those not familiar with ISO 4406, this quantifies the number of particles into three categories, ≥4μm / ≥6μm / ≥14μm particles per milliliter of fluid. Each category measures the quantity of particles that fit the size bracket and then these are translated to a scaled number. As such, the numbers represented are not the actual quantity of the particles of that size.

Therefore, an ISO code of 20/15/13 represents:

20	between 5,000 – 10,000 particles larger than 4μm in one milliliter of fluid
15	between 160 – 320 particles larger than 6μm in one milliliter of fluid
13	between 40 – 80 particles larger than 14μm in one milliliter of fluid

New oil delivery in container sizes between a pail or a truck load, the cleanliness value can be excellent. Sometimes these values can be as clean as ISO 16/14/11, but can also be quite poor. A 16/14/11 score is great, but perhaps our turbines or hydraulic systems particularly those with EHC systems require something more stringent (due to their tighter clearances) such as ISO 14/12/9. The table below shows a comparison of what that actually means as it relates to the number of particles in the oil for these ratings.

As we see in Table 2, there is a major difference between the number of particles at the 4 micron level between what is being delivered to the facility as new oil versus what the turbine actually requires. When we translate that to the fact that bearings in turbines may run on a film of oil which is between 1–10 microns, and our new oil has potentially 640 particles that are bigger than 4 microns, then we can conceptualize that the oil film will most definitely be disrupted!

This ISO cleanliness level starts off from the entry of the “clean” lubricant into the plant. If we factor in drums which have been exposed to the atmosphere, dirty transfer containers which already contain contaminants or bad practices (leaving hoses open to the atmosphere), then the ISO contaminant ratings will significantly increase. This means we are literally pouring contaminants into our oils and our assets.

Thus far, we have only described the contaminants in the form of solid particles, but contaminants can also exist in the liquid form (fuel, water, other lubricants, process liquids) or gaseous form (air, process gases). These can all affect the lubricant either acting as catalysts or fouling the system.

The Unseen Failure Chain

When we think about starting from the lube room and tracing the chain of events which leads to failure, it will look similar to Figure 1 below.

In this case, contaminants start off in the lube room, and they enter the equipment, wreak havoc and then lead to failure. During many failure investigations, the analyst stops at the physical root causes and can easily blame the component. Since they did not investigate further, they missed that the source of contamination actually came from the lube room and possibly bad storage and handling practices.

Reliability / Storage & Handling of Lubricants

Hidden Failures in Lubrication programs: The Illusion of a Good Lubrication Program – Part 1

Typically, when lubrication programs are developed and implemented, everyone automatically believes that all lubrication issues have been solved and will never occur again. This is furthest from the truth! In this 3-part series, we will explore some of the hidden failures in lubrication programs. We will start off with dispelling the illusion of a good program then dive deeper into the failure modes which are not being monitored and finally, ways to design a resilient lubrication strategy.

How “good’ is good?

Many manufacturing plants have some form of a lubrication program in place. But many are not familiar with how to gauge this against best practices or industry standards. The following figure gives a brief description of the various stages of a lubrication program that can exist.

Figure 1: Varying levels of Maturity for Lubrication Programs

Although many plants may fall within the L2-L4 stages (and some in the L1 stage), there is still a lot of data missing on the documentation on lubrication failures and how these are being addressed (if they are being addressed at all). As such, there are no direct actionable items that link failures to strategies for preventing these in the future.

Industry standards attribute that around 33% of bearing failures are due to lubrication challenges. However, if our lubrication program is not capturing these lubrication related failures then the real root causes are not being addressed directly for these issues. As such, they are not being solved and we are adding to the overall unreliability of the plant. In these instances, our lubrication program is not adding value from a reliability perspective and is actually hiding some failures.

The real failures

Lubrication can account for a significant number of failures, but contamination also plays a crucial role. As per a study carried out by NRCC & STLE (National Research Council Canada & Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers), particle induced failures are responsible for approximately 82% of failures. This means that our equipment is majorly failing because of contamination.

In our “Defined” maturity level 3 program, contamination is not even addressed. Hence, we could be missing the opportunity to remove this from our system and by extension reduce failures associated with contamination. With our level 3 program, we also do not have alarm limits for our oil tests to help us understand if we are approaching dangerous levels or not. This will cause us to miss opportunities where we could have prevented components from failure.

Even with a moderately tiered lubrication program, we are missing a lot of opportunities for improvement of the overall reliability of our plant. This can lead to the lubrication program being viewed as unsuccessful when in fact, it just didn’t capture the right data.

Apart from capturing data, we also need to act on that data. Even if we have an oil analysis program in place, if we are not trending the data or coordinating with our maintenance teams to troubleshoot potential issues, then the lubrication program is not helping to raise the reliability of the plant. The program is in fact hiding some of these inefficiencies.

When was your last audit?

Even though we may have built a lubrication program, have we audited it? Creating a lubrication program may be an easy feat for many but implementing it is another story in itself. This is where some programs fail because they exist on paper but not in practice. If our technicians are not collecting the right data or observing proper storage and handling techniques, then the lubrication program is just another piece of paper in the drawer collecting dust.

For those who have managed to get the lubrication program off the ground and have the right people integrated into it, an audit on the program is still a good idea. Sometimes when these programs are launched, the personnel responsible are excited to implement the new strategies but complacency can easily step in. This is when the quality of the results of the program can erode.

Your program may no longer be catching your failures in advance, and this can lead to a loss in production, emergency repairs and even unplanned shutdowns. Performing annual audits on your lubrication program to ensure that it is delivering actionable results is highly recommended.

Many failures and incompetencies can hide behind a “good lubrication program” but with proper auditing and identification of where your lubrication program actually measures up, you can take actions to make it a successful program.

Stay tuned for part 2 where we will be diving deeper into the failure modes that are not being monitored.

Find out more in the full article, "Hidden Failures in Lubrication programs: The Illusion of a Good Lubrication Program Part 1" featured on LUDECA by Sanya Mathura, CEO & Founder of Strategic Reliability Solutions Ltd

Oil Properties / Reliability

Turning Air Measurements Into Reliability Insight

Bubble diameter
Air content in your system
Bubble count
Bubble size-distribution
Oil-Air contact surface
Transient bubble events

These metrics are directly related to what users see in the field. As such, it closes a gap that many users often experience when relating lab results to field integrations. Users can also trend whether the number of smaller bubbles increased, whether large bubbles began to form in their system, or whether there were transient spikes due to particular conditions in temperature, load, speed, or even return-flow conditions.

Here are a couple of examples that highlight how these values can be interpreted in the field:

If a rise in fine-dispersed bubbles occurs, then this can be indicative of persistent gas transport through the system. This affects the oil’s compressibility and can even lead to a stability issue.
If there is a rise in the number of larger bubbles, this can indicate that there is localized entrainment, return-line impact, free-surface interaction, and stronger ingestion events. If these are not addressed in time, they can damage your components.
If one detects an increase in oil-air contact surface, this can indicate that gas distribution has become more degradation-relevant in the system. This may be despite no dramatic change in the total air content.
If transient bubble events are present, this can directly point to issues related to specific operating states rather than a general system condition that needs to be addressed.
If smaller bubbles occur, this leads to much worse thermal conductivity. As such, higher operating temperatures would need to be cooled down directly with a high amount of energy, or this can lead to a much higher thermal oxidation rate. In each case, the system efficiency is reduced.

These observations set the stage for more in-depth analysis and contextual interpretation to determine whether the pattern is fluid-driven, hardware-driven, or operating-point-driven. A workflow can be easily implemented to reduce risks to your operation, as highlighted in Figure 3 below.

Figure 3: Suggested workflow for monitoring air in your oil

A robust methodology for the characterization and optimization of your system should follow a structured measurement and interpretation workflow:

Definition of the System Baseline
The first step is to establish a representative baseline condition by continuously measuring the system’s actual operating state. These parameters should include temperature, rotational speed, torque, flow velocity, pressure conditions, and load states. The baseline must capture the dependency of the oil–air behavior on these operating variables to provide a reliable reference for subsequent evaluations and further steps.
Detection of Deviations and Dynamic Transitions
Deviations from the baseline are identified using real-time monitoring metrics and transient analysis. Changes in aeration behavior, bubble content, or flow characteristics are quantified relative to the reference baseline state established in Step 1. In parallel, a prioritization strategy should be defined to identify the most critical deviations and focus optimization efforts on the parameters with the highest system impact.
Contextual Interpretation of Deviations
Detected deviations must be interpreted within the system’s physical context. The origin of the observed behavior should be determined by correlating the measured size distribution and temporal system response with potential mechanisms such as splashing, churning, vortex formation, temperature variations, fluid aging, or changes in the operating point. This contextual analysis enables the differentiation between transient operational effects and systematic design-related issues.
Implementation of Targeted Corrective Measures
Based on the contextual interpretation, focused and goal-oriented design modifications can be implemented. Possible optimization measures include adjustments to return-flow geometries, improvements in suction conditions, reductions in churning effects, optimization of pressure levels, speed or load adaptations, fluid conditioning, changes to additive formulations, or enhanced filtration strategies. The corrective actions should directly address the identified root causes of the aeration behavior.
Validation Through Continuous Measurement and Improvement
The effectiveness of the implemented measures must be validated through continuous monitoring and iterative evaluation. Repeated measurements under comparable operating conditions ensure that improvements are sustainable and quantifiable. This closed-loop approach enables continuous system refinement and supports long-term optimization of the behavior of oil–air mixtures.

By moving beyond the standard quantitative measure of air in oil, we can address critical issues occurring in our equipment. By measuring and interpreting metrics correctly, you can optimize your system’s overall performance, make it goal-oriented, and keep it focused. This supersedes the often-used trial-and-error approach, which can ultimately damage your equipment.

For those interested in taking a more serious approach to understanding the health of their oil and preventing issues before they occur, the SBS can help improve the reliability of their system.

What you see is what you get!

Find out more in the full article, "Air in Oil: The Reliability Variable Many Programs still treat too late" featured in Reliable by Sanya Mathura, CEO & Founder of Strategic Reliability Solutions Ltd, David Placzek, Dr. Lukas Hafner

Oil Properties / Reliability

How Is Air in Oil Measured?

More specifically, they do not take into account the volume of air that can be trapped in your system during operation, nor how long it will take to dissipate when everything stands still. These parameters are critical for determining the impact of entrapped air in your oil.

People can also measure the volume of air in the oil, but 5% can mean different things depending on the air’s state, as shown in Figure 2 below.

Figure 2: Scenarios where the air (gas) volume of 5% can mean different things

As we can see in Figure 2, an air (gas) volume fraction of 5% may appear the same, but it can affect your system differently.

In Scenario A, the bubble sizes are larger, so these will rise to the surface more quickly and dissipate. As such, there are fewer disturbances and pressure fluctuations.

In this case, these might indicate localized entrainment, suggesting churning or impact from your return line. Another source could be coalescence, driven by oil properties, splash effects, and other factors. The risk of air bubbles becoming trapped in dead zones increases.

However, in Scenario B, the average bubble size is smaller, which means there are many more air bubbles in the oil! This means that there is a higher surface contact area and an increased potential for foaming. This can increase the rate of oxidation and, by extension, the risk of the oil forming varnish.

This also significantly affects the oil’s compressibility. With the advent of these smaller bubbles, there is usually system-wide aeration, such as vortexing or suction issues. The risk of inefficient cooling and overheating your oil in heaters has increased significantly.

With only a 5% air volume result, we would be missing critical information, such as what could be causing the issue or whether it is an immediate threat to our operations. This is where the SBS (Smart Bubble System) changes the entire game.

Oil Properties / Reliability

The Chemistry Behind Air in Oil

The oil’s chemistry also plays a significant role in determining its air content. All finished lubricants consist of base oil and additives. The characteristics of your base oil can determine important factors such as your viscosity, interfacial behavior, density, and gas solubility. The surface tension of your oil can also be affected by the size of the bubbles and how long they stay in that formation of the bubble.

Depending on the oil application, the appropriate ratios and types of additives vary. As such, there may be more emphasis on certain characteristics such as oxidation stability, viscosity behavior, or foam control. These additives all affect how long air can remain in the oil and the oil’s state, which can affect our machinery.

As shown in the video below, we can compare the air content percentage of an oil at varying temperatures and observe significant differences.

As shown in the first video, for a wind turbine gearbox using Optigear Syn CT320, the oil contains less air as the temperature increases, decreasing from 2% at 80°C to 0.7% at 110°C. At 110°C, we see a further decrease in air content to 0.65%. As the temperature starts decreasing again toward 80°C, we observe a volume with 2.2% air content in the oil. This is simply due to a temperature change in the oil, not to any additional air ingress.

As such, for the Optigear Syn CT320 oil in this wind turbine gearbox application, we can conclude that if the oil operates at temperatures around 80°C, we can expect up to 2% air volume in the oil. We observe that for lower temperatures, the air content may increase due to the impact of viscosity on air-release capability.

But if the temperatures increase (to a temperature that is tolerated within the system), then the volume of air will decrease, which is a good thing. However, as temperature increases, your chances of thermal and non-thermal oxidation also increase.

In the video above, we see a completely different behavior with the Fuchs Titan EG ATF D VI oil in an automotive gearbox, which starts off at 45 °C. There is a low air volume in the oil at 0.1%. However, when the temperature reaches 73°C, the volume of air increases by 0.7%.

The air bubbles are much larger, increasing the contact surface and their count within the oil. As the temperature decreases to 49°C, the volume decreases by 0.4%, and the number of bubbles decreases. With the continued drop in temperature to 44°C, the air volume decreases to 0.2% and then tapers off to 0.1%, with smaller, fewer bubbles.

In a wind turbine gearbox application using industrial gearbox oil, we observe that the air content decreases as temperature increases. Conversely, in an automotive gearbox using transmission gear oil, the air content increases with rising temperatures. This is very specific to the oils tested in these examples, as different oils will have varying ratios and types of additives and base oils, which can be affected in diverse ways.

The chemistry of the oil is, therefore, another critical part of understanding the air in your oil. If this is properly understood and measured, it can be very useful for monitoring your oil’s health in the field.

Oil Properties / Reliability

How Does Air Get Into Oil?

Air is inert, so it shouldn’t affect your oil, right?! This is a concept that many people get wrong or don’t fully understand. Air in your oil can literally cost your facility millions of dollars in damage if it is not treated or removed from your system early.

It can affect the compressibility of your oil, its thermal behavior, and the oxidation stability of hydraulic and drivetrain systems, leading to degradation or efficiency loss. With reduced efficiency, overall production will decline, which can negatively impact the profitability of your operations. Before we dive into the ways it can affect your system, we need to understand the basics.

The Four States of Air in Oil

Air can exist in four states within your oil and machine. As shown in Figure 1, these include;

Dissolved air
Entrained air
Foam
Headspace interaction

Figure 1: Different states in which air exists in your system

Each of these states can affect your system differently, as shown in the table below, and will have corresponding sources of ingression.

Reliability Meaning for Various States of Air

State	Reliability Meaning	Typical Sources
Dissolved Air – this usually represents 8-12% of dissolved air at atmospheric pressure	Affects solution chemistry. Can come out of solution when pressure, temperature or shear conditions change. Often a hidden source for future entrained air.	Equilibrium with headspace air usually in the sump, make up oil (when oil is added to the sump), storage, temperature or pressure changes.
Entrained Air	Reduces effective bulk modulus (compressibility). Has a big impact on control stability, efficiency, and thermal behaviour. Drives cavitation and microdieseling risk. Even with a 0.5% volume of air, this can triple the risk of varnish. Controllability of valves gets affected. Maximal suction height of pumps is reduced dramatically.	Suction leakage, vortexing, return-line splash, churning, gear mesh aeration, system design. However, strong pressure reductions lead to de-aeration of the dissolved air.
Foam	Indicates strong surface activity or contamination. Can reduce effective oil volume, impair heat transfer and promote aeration carry-over.	Surface active additives, detergents, contaminants, high turbulence, agitation.
Headspace Interaction	Drives how much air enters or leaves the oil over time. Influenced by temperature, pressure, ventilation and oil level.	Breathers, vents, temperature cycles, pressure changes, low oil level.

For each of the states above, air affects the reliability of your equipment. It is critical to identify the state of air in your oil so it can be removed before it begins to affect your system. Typically, maintenance teams pay attention to air in oil only when it is visible (foaming) or when it demands their attention through noisy interactions. By this time, teams have lost the opportunity to remove the air while it is in its more benign state.

How Does Air Get Into Oil?

When we think about air getting into our oil, we generally think of openings or mechanical areas that allow it to enter. However, air can enter our system in several ways. It is also worth noting that air already exists in the oil at equilibrium, where it will leave the oil according to Henry´s law.

Air can become entrained (or trapped) in the oil through various mechanisms such as return-line splash, vortex formation, suction-side leakage, tank dynamics, free-surface interaction, or churning in gearboxes and drivetrains. When entrained, it can cause damage to your equipment if not detected in time.

Changes in operating regimes can also influence whether air stays in the oil or gets forced into it. This is usually seen with changes in pressure, temperature, or shear conditions. Within your system, your oil can experience a load transition, a change in oil level, or return flow, all of which can influence the volume of air that remains in or enters your oil.

Even after identifying the source of air ingress, it is imperative that it be removed from your system. While air in oil does not usually get the attention it deserves, it will demand that attention if it goes unresolved or remains in your system.

Lubricant Degradation / Oil Properties / Reliability / Storage & Handling of Lubricants / Used Oil Analysis

Role of Condition Monitoring, Human & Organizational Factors in Oil Failures

Choosing the right oil for the system is just one part of the puzzle. How do we know the oil is performing when it’s in the system? This is where condition monitoring can work hand in hand to help ensure that the oil does not fail the asset.

If a proper oil analysis program does not exist, operators will not know whether the oil is properly lubricating the asset. They will also not be aware of whether the oil is breaking down too quickly and failing to protect the asset. Oil analysis can also alert operators to signs of wear in the asset, so they can fix them before they turn into functional failures.

An oil analysis program that lives in a drawer protects assets about as well as no program at all.

Role of Condition Monitoring, Human & Organizational Factors in Oil Failures

There is also the possibility that an oil analysis program exists but is not top of mind, or that its results are put in a drawer. This can also cause the asset to fail even though the correct oil is being used. Apart from the aforementioned factors, if operators are not warned of the impending failure of the oil, this can result in production losses, increased downtime, and, in some extreme cases, the complete loss of the asset if it has failed beyond repair.

Incorrect sampling is another area in which the actual condition of the asset is not reported. Even with the correct oil used, if a sample is collected from a dead leg or an area that is not truly representative of the conditions inside the component, its actual condition will not be known. With incorrect data about the component, the asset can be misdiagnosed or treated for symptoms that do not exist, which can lead to its detriment.

Human and Organizational Factors

Not all failures occur at the equipment level; human and organizational factors can also cause the asset to fail even when the correct oil is used. If humans aren’t properly trained in oil sampling techniques or storage and handling practices, these can affect the asset’s functionality. We often forget that, at the heart of it all, lies the human factor, which is partially governed by the organization’s systems.

Training needs are an organizational factor that is often overlooked when considering how an asset can fail. However, if operators have not been trained in condition monitoring techniques, they will not be able to read oil analysis reports or take appropriate actions to protect the asset. Training can help bridge some competency gaps that directly impact asset performance.

It doesn’t matter what oil is in the system if no one is trained to monitor it – or motivated to care.

Culture is another factor swept under the rug. If the culture doesn’t exist to look after the assets, it doesn’t matter what type of oil is placed in the system; the asset will fail eventually. The performance of the asset does not only rely on using the correct oil. By implementing a culture of Asset ownership, where operators look after the asset and are accountable for its performance, assets are optimized to provide the functionality they should. This is one way to ensure the right oil is used to enable the assets’ performance.

Another area of concern is the documentation of maintenance procedures. If maintenance procedures are not adequately documented, someone new to the operation may not be aware of the correct practice. This, coupled with a lack of training, can spell disaster for the equipment. In these cases, even though the right oil was selected, the wrong practice or lack thereof can fail the asset.

Turning the “Right oil” into the “Right Outcome.”

As explained in this article, improper practices can jeopardize the asset’s health, even when the right oil is used. However, if all the right things align, we can have an asset that lasts for its expected lifetime or beyond.

This starts with selecting the right oil based on the application, environmental conditions, and OEM recommendations. If we follow this up with good storage and handling practices, proper condition-monitoring programs, documentation, and training, we can look toward a longer-lasting asset. The right oil enables reliability – but only disciplined practices deliver it.

Find out more in the full article, "When 'Right oil, Wrong practice' still fails assets" featured in Precision Lubrication Magazine by Sanya Mathura, CEO & Founder of Strategic Reliability Solutions Ltd.

Lubricant Degradation / Oil Properties / Reliability / Storage & Handling of Lubricants / Used Oil Analysis

Common Modes of Failure for Lubricants

Regardless of the oil selected, common modes of failure can occur with every lubricant. These include: contamination, improper storage and handling practices, and environmental factors as shown in Figure 4.

Contamination can be defined as any foreign particle entering the system. This includes any gases, liquids, or solids. Especially when the lubricant system runs alongside the process side, process gases and liquids can leak into the oil. These contaminants can influence the oil’s degradation, leading to deposits or chemical reactions that break it down. Common process contaminants include ammonia or treated water.

The biggest threat to the right oil is often what gets added to it – whether it’s process contamination or the wrong oil during a top-up.

Another liquid that can contaminate oil is another oil. During top-ups, operators can add the wrong oil to the system, causing contamination and, depending on the oil, a possible shutdown. Adding motor oil to hydraulic oil can be catastrophic, as the additive packages work differently and the motor oil additives may counteract the hydraulic additives, removing them from the oil, leaving the asset open to wear and failure. Despite selecting the correct lubricant for your system, adding the wrong oil (mistakenly) will shorten its lifecycle and cause the asset to fail.

Bad storage and handling practices can also erode your oil, regardless of the oil you choose. Turbine and hydraulic oils are used in precise equipment. As such, they need to be clean and free of dirt or other contaminants. However, if oils are not stored correctly, contaminants can enter and contaminate the oil.

Simple techniques, such as transferring oil from larger storage containers (pails, drums, or totes) into smaller, more manageable containers (2-3 liters or less), can introduce contaminants into the oil if not done correctly. If oils are to be transferred to another storage container, the storage container must be clean. The transfer process should use clean hoses (not previously used for another lubricant) and be completed in a dust-free environment.

If you wouldn’t use a dirty needle for a blood transfusion, why would you use a dirty hose for an oil transfer?

The transfer of oils from one container to the next can be thought of as a blood transfusion. Would you use dirty needles or vials to transport the blood to be placed into another human? Similarly, oil can be likened to the equipment’s lifeblood and should be treated accordingly. Just as we observe sterile practices for blood transfusions, we should also observe similar types of practices for oil transfers.

Environmental and operational factors can also influence lubricant degradation. As stated earlier, all lubricants can degrade over time under harsh conditions. The lubricant formulation largely influences this, as does whether it was blended to withstand those conditions.

Oxidation can easily occur when temperatures increase, free radicals are present, or when wear metals are present. Thermal degradation occurs when the temperatures exceed 200°C. On the other hand, microdieseling occurs in the presence of entrained air, despite the lubricant used in the system, as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5: Lubricant Degradation Processes

Any of these degradation mechanisms can occur regardless of the type of oil chosen. Hence, it is essential to remember that operational conditions and environmental factors can heavily influence oil degradation, even when the oil is appropriate for the system.