subject: Knowing Which Oil Analysis Kit Will Test For Appropriate Parameters [print this page] Choosing the right oil analysis kit requires knowing what it will be testing for, and how often. Testing with the wrong kit might not yield any results of particular value, and will be a drain on time and money. The selection might seem small to the untrained eye, but a few minutes of checking the finer points could save a person from choosing incorrectly. A number of factors will make it clearer to see what is right.
Machine oil holds clues to what is happening inside of a system, and this is what an oil analysis kit looks at. Unlike with household mechanics or even small production lines, commercial engine and turbine facilities cannot simply be looked at or listened to as maintenance checks. The best way to perform these checks on giant or inconvenient systems is by carefully measuring the amounts of elements in the oil. The right way to investigate this is with an oil analysis kit and a decent application to view and work with the data.
Engines trust so many things in order to function normally. Anything from a worn joint and the malfunction of an insignificant part to a leak in the main fuel line and contamination of the lubricant could mean disaster. A person trusted with a task of only visually inspecting them will be liable to miss much of what is going on. The main point is that there is no knowing what is going on within the machine without serious investigation and a good oil analysis kit.
Some of the aspects an analyzing kit will check for include water presence, acidity of oils, sulphation and wear debris. These can happen at any time, and some of them can prove fatal to the machine if not treated quickly. For this reason, some companies choose real-time monitoring with sensor technology over a sample kit. This is often only used in higher end, critical performance machines, as the sensor systems are expensive to buy, and require more ongoing supervision.
There are plenty of people available to give advice on the most useful monitoring strategies to use. Although bespoke systems will be harder to track down, smaller commercial machines might come with maintenance suggestions. Those providing the monitoring equipment sometimes know enough to provide additional advice at the point of sale. There is no reason not to be aware of the right maintenance needs of industrial hardware, and there are now the kits to make it even easier.
