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How to Establish Oil Analysis Frequency
"Do you have any technical documents that describe how to determine oil analysis frequency? I am being questioned why we test quarterly." Determining oil analysis frequency is much more in-depth than...
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Implementing World-Class Oil Analysis
The oil in your machines is talking, but are you listening? While many organizations have an oil analysis program in place, most do not take full advantage of the valuable information it can provide....
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Follow the Chain of Success for Oil Analysis Optimization
How often should I take an oil sample? From which machines should I sample? These are typical questions I’m asked when visiting plants during the development of a lubrication program. While they are...
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The Wrath of Unscheduled Downtime: Why Oil Analysis is a Wise and Effective...
There are 8,760 hours in a year. Few plants manage to produce at full capacity for all of those hours. Instead, there are periodic production stoppages due to tooling changes, product changes,...
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How to Leverage Multiple Predictive Maintenance Technologies
Have you ever seen a mechanic open a toolbox that only had a single wrench or a carpenter with a tool chest containing just one type of saw? For these individuals to be considered true professionals,...
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Keeping Your Oil Analysis Program Up to Date
Over time, any oil analysis program can become stagnant if few or no improvements are made. This can cause the program to lose value, as it may not fully support the plant’s improvement initiatives,...
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Understanding the Rights of Oil Analysis
It has been said that oil is the lifeblood of a machine. By monitoring contaminants and additive health, you can keep this “blood” healthy and minimize the risk of a failure. But what are the...
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A Practical Approach for Evaluating Oil Analysis Results with Limit Values
The evaluation of oil or grease analysis results is often a tough job for a diagnostician, demanding experience in mechanical engineering and chemistry. However, modern tools and statistical...
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Apex Oil Lab Opens New Full-Service Oil Analysis Laboratory
Apex Oil Lab recently opened a new full-service oil analysis laboratory designed to provide accurate, reliable results with the latest in testing equipment and ASTM methodologies. The new lab will...
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Bureau Veritas Acquires Analysts Inc.
Bureau Veritas recently finalized its acquisition of oil analysis leader Analysts Inc., which will continue to operate under its current name with no changes in its business structure or operational...
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The Truth About Additive Depletion
In oil analysis, additive depletion is often used to estimate the remaining useful life of the oil. Laboratories can employ various methods to track the depletion of additives. This 4-minute video...
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Spectro Scientific Receives Supply and Service Contracts from U.S. Air Force
Spectro Scientific recently was awarded two multi-year contracts from the U.S. Air Force under the Joint Oil Analysis Program (JOAP). The first contract is for the continued supply of the company's...
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Understanding Oil Color
"Is there an oil color standard for oil analysis? We have taken samples of engine lubricants, and some have colors that look like coffee with milk. Is this color acceptable in oil analysis? Do you know...
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How to Select the Right Oil Analysis Tests
Oil analysis is an excellent tool that can be used to direct maintenance decisions. However, if you have not chosen the proper test slate, it is wasted time and money. Therefore, one of the first...
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The Silent Danger of Abrupt Lubricant Failure
How fast can your car go with a full tank of gas as opposed to just one gallon of gas? It would be practically the same, right? Not only would the car drive just as fast, but unless you want to...
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Geserco Introduces New Oil Test Gauge
Geserco recently introduced a new digital oil tester for quickly determining water in oil and base number values up to 100. The Rapid Oil Test Gauge enables measurements to be taken within 3 minutes...
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Spectro Scientific Unveils New Portable Fuel Dilution Meter
Spectro Scientific recently announced the release of its Q6000 Fuel Dilution Meter (FDM). The Q6000 can be used in the laboratory or in the field to provide rapid, accurate measurements of fuel...
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Determining the Cause of High Phosphorus Levels in Turbine Oil
"When we drained one of our turbine oil filter housings, inductively coupled plasma (ICP) elemental analysis showed phosphorus levels at about 1,600 parts per million (ppm), which is abnormal. The acid...
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What Exhaust Gas Can Indicate About Engine Oil Health
"Can an emission analyzer (for automotive exhaust gas) be useful if my main concern is the oil inside the engine?" Measuring the health of oil inside an engine from automotive exhaust gases would be...
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Analytical Systems Unveils New Hydrogen Sulfide Analyzer
Analytical Systems International recently introduced a new laboratory analyzer that quantifies hydrogen sulfide in liquids such as crude oil, fuel oil, naphtha, water, marine diesel, gasoline and other...
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Assessing the Effectiveness of Your Oil Analysis Program
How effective is your oil analysis program? To determine the answer, it is necessary to conduct a self-assessment of your program’s design and management. Many oil analysis programs have limited...
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Peabody’s Lazarus Translates Training into Oil Analysis Success
With more than 60,000 gallons of bulk lubricants and 1 million gallons of bulk diesel fuel to monitor, the oil analysts at Peabody Energy’s North Antelope Rochelle Mine (NARM) must be experts in their...
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Why Oil Analysis Programs Fail
An oil analysis program can offer a huge return on your investment. It also can easily fail to provide those returns if not managed properly. This 2-minute, 57-second video explains how to avoid three...
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Understanding Acid Number Limits of Turbine Oil
"What are the recommended acid number limits based on ASTM D664/09a for the lube oil of a gas turbine? The lubricant being used is Shell Aeroshell 500." ASTM D664 (as well as the similar testing...
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Follow the Trend for Successful Oil Analysis
Setting cautionary and critical limits (or targets) for oil analysis results is essential and irreplaceable as groundwork in an oil analysis program. It’s what helps answer one of the most commonly...
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Analysts Releases New Oil Analysis Software
Analysts Inc. recently released version 2.0 of its Lube Oil Analysis Management System (LOAMS). The new software provides a platform for a global expansion of oil condition monitoring (OCM) services...
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Take Particle Settling and Oil Sample Agitation Seriously
When you throw a rock in a lake, it goes down - fast. Wear particles are heavier than rocks of the same size, often four to five times heavier. Of course, the heavier the object, the faster it falls....
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3 Common Contaminants and the Oil Analysis Tests That Can Detect Them
Lost revenue due to equipment downtime is often a direct result of some type of contamination, whether from dirt, water, an incorrect lubricant or a combination of these. Oil analysis testing can...
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Bureau Veritas to Open Oil Condition Testing Facility in Panama
Inspectorate recently launched a new oil condition monitoring testing facility in Panama that will utilize the expertise of Analysts Inc. Continuing the global expansion of parent company Bureau...
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Spectro Scientific Partners with Wärtsilä
Spectro Scientific recently announced the formation of a joint marketing agreement with Wärtsilä Services Switzerland in which Spectro Scientific will develop a specialized version of its FluidScan oil...
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A New Approach for Determining the Acid and Base Number of Used Oils
The acid number and base number of in-service oils are considered key indicators of oil quality and are used to monitor the accumulation of acid and the depletion of the base additive package. A...
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How to Build a Killer Lube Analyst Résumé
The demand for highly qualified lubricant analysts is rising at a fast pace, and this growth trend will not be changing anytime soon. Why? It’s because the broader reliability field is also soaring...
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Tracking the Life Cycle of Your Lubricants
What do you do with your oil analysis data? Do you thumb through the results looking for outliers and act upon those? Do you look at histories and gauge expectations against current analysis? There...
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Exelon Named Gill Award Winner
Exelon’s Phil Silveri (left) and Nishant Prasad (center) accepted the Augustus H. Gill Award from ICML executive director Suzy Hitchcock (right) at the recent Reliable Plant Conference and Exhibition...
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Monitoring Oil Degradation in Gas Engines
"What are the acceptable limits of nitrogen oxides in the exhaust of gas engines? Recently, one of our customers was facing nitration issues in a gas engine. A nitrogen oxide test was recommended, and...
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Maxxam Analytics Opens New Oil Analysis Laboratory
Maxxam Analytics recently opened a new testing facility in Edmonton, Alberta, that will provide lubricant and oil analysis services to help maintenance managers in both the industrial and heavy-duty...
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Intertek Expands Oil Condition Monitoring Service to Australia
Intertek recently announced that it is expanding its oil condition monitoring (OCM) service to Melbourne, Australia. The company offers a full suite of oil analysis services to assist owners and...
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How to Select Machines for Oil Analysis
A few years ago, someone mentioned to me that many of his machines were not good candidates for oil analysis because they used little oil that wasn’t worth saving. He added that by the time you...
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Benefits of FTIR Oil Analysis
Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is a versatile tool used to detect common contaminants, lube degradation byproducts and additives within lubricating oils. It has become a widely used...
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Gearbox Condition Monitoring Through Used Oil Analysis
When the city of Fort Collins, Colorado, purchased new planetary gearboxes for its wastewater sludge dewatering centrifuges, it decided to implement a proactive used oil analysis maintenance strategy....
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Polaris Releases New Oil Analysis App
Polaris Laboratories recently released a new mobile app for viewing and managing oil analysis data anywhere, anytime. The Horizon Mobile app, which is designed for devices running iOS 8 and higher,...
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Should You Use a Lubricant After Its Expiration Date?
"Can I use a lubricant after its expiration date to lubricate a machine? What test is required before its use?" Whether you should use a lubricant after its expiration date depends on the type of...
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Establishing Elemental Limit Values for Motor Oils
Limit and warning levels from elemental spectrometric analysis serve as indicators of the amount of foreign particles found in used oil that is still tolerable or, when compared with fresh oil,...
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Why Laboratory Personnel Should Be Certified
The certification of laboratory-based personnel is essential in supporting quality lab systems, as some accreditations do not guarantee technical accuracy. Most lab systems are designed to ensure...
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How to Select the Right Oil Analysis Lab
"What are the top three characteristics you look for when considering an oil analysis laboratory (i.e., turnaround time, price, quality, capabilities, etc.)?" Selecting an oil analysis laboratory can...
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Anton Paar Develops New Method for Preparing Oil Samples
Anton Paar recently developed a new method for preparing lubricants and petroleum products for metals analysis in less than 90 minutes. The Multiwave PRO system performs microwave-assisted,...
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Bureau Veritas to Open Oil Condition Testing Facility in South Africa
Bureau Veritas recently announced that it will provide lubricant and oil analysis services in South Africa with the launch of a new testing facility. The new laboratory is expected to assist...
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How to Determine Engine Oil Quality
While most engine oils are made to acceptable standards, their general and specific qualities can vary widely. Poor-quality engine oils are often put on the market due to ignorance or greed....
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Polaris Adopts New Oil Testing Method
Polaris Laboratories recently adopted the new American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) test method to measure the acidity of oils. Released in December 2014, ASTM D7946 was designed to test...
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How to Detect Soot in Diesel Oil
"What is the best method to detect soot in diesel oil? Our labs use Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy as a primary means of measuring soot in used diesel engine oils. I have been told that...
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