Everyone knows that any machine with moving parts needs lubrication to keep running smoothly, but lubrication is a more complicated topic than many people realize! In our years providing lubrication delivery services and advice, we’ve seen a lot of the same mistakes being made – the type of mistakes that can lead to huge repair bills!
Here are a few important things to keep in mind, when it comes to choosing lubricants and keeping your machinery well-lubricated.
4 Common Lubrication Mistakes to Avoid
- Mixing lubricants
Never mix lubricants of different types! They can interact in unexpected ways, such as expanding and blowing out seals or other critical components. Other interactions could cause the lubricant to break down, rendering it useless, or gumming up the machinery with hard-to-clean gunk.
In the rare cases we’ve seen a machine completely wrecked by a lubrication mistake, it was usually due to. the owners mixing incompatible lubricants.
- Over-lubrication
It’s common sense that too little lubricant is bad for machinery, but the reverse is true as well. Too much lubricant can jam up parts or slow down their movement by simply getting in the way. In worse case scenarios, where a lot of heat and pressure is involved, an excess of lubrication can even lead to seal blowouts or other pressure-related incidents.
Always double-check the manufacturer’s recommended amount of lubricant and stick to that.
- Using the wrong lubricant
Any piece of machinery will have a recommended type to lubrication to use and getting too far away from that is a bad idea. The easiest mistake to make here is using a lubricant with the wrong viscosity, which in turn causes the machinery to move too quickly or slowly. In rarer cases, the materials involved may be incompatible, leading to harmful chemical interactions.
- Using contaminated lubricants
Lubricant must be kept pure; even small amounts of contaminants can ruin a batch – and potentially your machinery as well. Keep your lubrication containers well-sealed when not in use, and it’s best to have housekeeping protocols that track when\how lubricants are being used.
It helps to get your lubrication from trusted sources – and that’s where Bird Fuels shines! We carry dozens of top-quality lubricants of all major types, and we can deliver them right to your door. Our lubricant delivery service is affordable, reliable, and ensures you always have pure lubricants available.