Hydraulic Oil Leaks
Considered chronic users of oil, hydraulic systems can be very expensive to run. However, with some tweaking and careful management, it’s possible to set hydraulic equipment to run very efficiently and reliably without any leaking expense.
Leaking hydraulic hoses can cause serious environmental issues
More than 700 million gallons of petroleum products are allowed to enter the environment every year (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)). Although around 50% of this comes from unlawful and irresponsible disposal, up to 98m gallons of it may be coming from leaking hydraulic hoses according to Gates hose manufacturers. With just one litre of oil being capable of polluting up to 1 million litres of water, that’s a very uncomfortable statistic.
Considering the above, you might want to ask yourself how much oil is consumed by each of your hydraulic systems each year. The only way to know the answer to this is to measure the amount of oil you are giving it each year. Every single drop. However, it’s quite hard to control everything so it’s quite likely that measurements such as these don’t happen.
However, in our experience, when we have worked with clients and suggested that they measure their oil, they have been unpleasantly surprised at how much oil is going to waste each year from their large hydraulic machines.
Addressing this issue
Nobody likes downtime. In fact, it’s most often the reason why looking for possible leaks is left as long as possible. It’s not until the cost of replacement oil makes it truly justifiable to take the machine offline for repair, that a business might undertake investigations.
We once had a client who recognised that he was losing so much oil that it was far cheaper to take the machine down even when it would cost £20,000 to repair than it would be to lose the £1000 per week in oil that it was costing. It took just 5 months to make this money back by not paying out for lost oil.
To be honest, we have oversimplified the true cost. Of course, not only is there the expense of the oil to consider, but there is also the cleaning up, the disposal of the oil plus the safety risks involved. Of course, if oil makes it way out of the building, there are also contamination costs to consider. Every one of us is reminded of the cost of removing contaminants each time we buy a filter, however, it costs far more not to remove them.
How To Get Rid of Leaks
Of course, none of us fancy putting our business into a state of downtime, but sometimes it just has to be done. Here are some ways that you can get rid of leaks:
Engineer Them Out
Reducing connections can reduce leaks. Use stack valves, cartridge valves and manifolds wisely and you’re on the right track. Connectors that have tapered-threads such as NPT and BSPT can enable oil to leak as the thread is a path for leaking. When tightened the thread becomes deformed and with any further tightening or loosening the potential for leaks increases.
Connections that are metal to metal can’t be relied on to deliver a permanently leak free joint either. Flaretite manufacture a type of flare seal that uses Loctite sealant to ensure that the joint it makes is leak-free.
Cut down on vibration
Vibration can create leakage by stressing hydraulic conductors, creating fatigue that affects connector torque. To address this it might be necessary to mount rubber blocks between reservoir, hydraulic power unit and valves. Check whether conductors such as tubes and pipes have adequate support with enough clamps.
Keep the Machine Cool
Fluid that gets too hot can impact the reliability of seals as their service life will reduce and fluid that is over-temperature can damage every seal in a hydraulic system and create many leaks. Machines that run too hot are unreliable.
By making these simple tweaks you can save your business and the environment from unnecessary cost caused by leaking hydraulic oil.