mineral oil Archives - Strategic Reliability Solutions Ltd

Should I use a synthetic oil in my equipment or just stick to mineral?

Check with your OEM first.

There are some OEMs that require a synthetic to be used but others that prefer mineral oils.

Typically, a synthetic oil (in industrial applications) tends to have longer operating hours compared to that of a mineral oil.

As such, lots of companies prefer to use synthetic oils as it leads to cost savings in the long term.

However, there are times when mineral oils are more cost effective.

For instance, if the component has to undergo maintenance (where the oil has to be drained) every 500 hours then it would not make sense to have a more expensive oil that lasts for 2000hours.

Before choosing whether mineral or synthetic, we need to do a cost benefit analysis of using both and then make an informed decision. If we can see savings by switching to a synthetic (such as energy, fuel or manpower savings) then this is definitely the way to go.

Why use multigrade instead of monograde oils?

A monograde oil does not provide the same level of protection on start-up as a multigrade oil.

With the multigrade oil, it is designed to reduce the time it takes to get from the bottom of the sump to the top of the engine (this is indicated by the number in front of the “w”).

However, the monograde oils have not been adapted for this type of technology. Thus, it takes longer to get to the top of the engine and to all the components compared to a multigrade oil.

Most wear occurs on start-up. Before we start the car on a morning, all of the oil is at the bottom of the sump, so it takes some time to get to the top and the other components. However, once we start the engine, all the parts will begin moving. If they are moving without any lubrication, then a significant amount of wear will occur!

Typically, when driving, we start the car, go to our destination and stop. Then come back and start the car again. During this time, the oil would have drained back to the bottom of the sump and now has to get back to the top. Before it gets to the components, these are still moving without lubrication, inducing wear! If we think of the number of times that we start and stop for the day (or for the month!), we will realize the amount of wear that we put our engines through.

Hence, this is one of the main reasons, that we choose multigrades over monogrades.

Tagged: mineral oil

Synthetic vs Mineral

Multigrade vs Monograde