Oil Sampling and Analysis
Oil analysis is the most cost-effective condition monitoring available at most plants — sample, ship, get a report, repeat every 3-6 months.
Routine oil analysis catches developing failures (wear metals, contamination, additive depletion) long before they affect operation — typical sampling interval is every 3-6 months for critical equipment.
Sample upstream of filtration when possible — samples taken after filtration often hide the wear particle data that reveal developing problems.
Trend analysis (same machine, same sample point, same lab, multiple samples over time) is far more valuable than single-sample results; a single sample establishes a baseline that future samples can be compared against.
When the lab report flags a problem, don't change the oil and call it fixed — investigate the cause (a new wear metal doesn't mean the oil went bad; it means the bearing probably did).
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