Instrument That Monitors Water Contamination In Oil Below And Above The Saturation Point

If you have worked with hydraulic equipment for any length of time, it's likely that you've come across a hydraulic system with cloudy oil. Oil becomes cloudy when it is contaminated with water above its saturation level. The saturation level is the amount of water that can dissolve in the oil's molecular chemistry and is typically 200 - 300 ppm at 68°F (20°C) for mineral hydraulic oil. Note that if hydraulic oil is cloudy it indicates that a minimum of 200 - 300 ppm of water is present.

Why is water in hydraulic fluid bad?

There are many reasons and here are some of them

Depletes some additives and reacts with others to form corrosive by-products which attack some metals.
Reduces lubricant film-strength, which leaves critical surfaces vulnerable to wear and corrosion.
Reduces filterability and clogs filters.
Increases air entrainment ability

How much water is too much?

A number of factors need to be considered when selecting water contamination targets, including the type of hydraulic system and reliability objectives for the equipment. It's always wise to control water contamination at the lowest levels that can reasonably be achieved, ideally below the oil's saturation point at operating temperature.

Prevention is better than cure

Like all other forms of contamination, preventing water ingress is cheaper than removing it from the oil.

EESIFLO's EASZ-1 water in oil monitor can measure water contamination below and above the saturation point of the oil. This allows the user a lot of freedom that is not available with other analytical equipment which cannot normally do both.

For more information, contact your local EESIFLO representative

hydraulic oil moisture water meter

Related :

Hydraulic fluids are a large group of mineral oils, water-based or water used as the medium in hydraulic systems. Found in machinery equipment ranging from brakes, hydraulic cylinders; power steering; and transmissions.

Base stock may be either: castor oil, glycol, esters, ethers, mineral oil, organophosphate ester, Chutte and polyalphaolefin, propylene glycol, or silicone. Some of the trade names for hydraulic fluids include Durad®, Fyrquel®, Houghton-Safe®, Hydraunycoil®, Lubritherm® Enviro-Safe, Pydraul®, Quintolubric®, Reofos®, Reolube®, and Skydrol®.

Environmentally sensitive applications (e.g. farm tractors and marine dredging) may benefit from using biodegradable hydraulic fluids based upon rapeseed (Canola) vegetable oil when there is the risk of an oil spill from a ruptured oil line. Typically these oils are available as ISO 32, ISO 46, and ISO 68 specification oils. ASTM standards ASTM-D-6006, Guide for Assessing Biodegradability of Hydraulic Fluids and ASTM-D-6046, Standard Classification of Hydraulic Fluids for Environmental Impact are relevant.

Brake fluid is a subtype of hydraulic fluid with high boiling point and low freezing point.

Hydraulic systems, like the ones mentioned above, will work efficiently if the hydraulic fluid used has low compressibility.

Fire resistance is a property available with specialzed fluids.

Hydraulic fluids can contain a wide range of various chemical compounds; oils, butanol, esters (e.g. phthalates, like DEHP, and adipates, like bis(2-ethylhexyl) adipate), polyalkylene glycols (PAG), phosphate esters (e.g. tributylphosphate), silicones, alkylated aromatic hydrocarbons, polyalphaolefins (PAO) (e.g. polyisobutenes), corrosion inhibitors, etc.

Because industrial hydraulic systems operate at thousands of PSI and temperatures reaching hundreds of degrees Celsius, severe injuries and death can result from component failures and care must always be taken when performing maintenance on hydraulics.