Sent this to Drew but thought this may be helpful to others. Application question for you. We have some Centrac reciprocating positive replacement metering pumps for our Sodium Hypochlorite system used at one of our water treatment plants. After a recent failure of one of the pumps, our mechanic has found that the diaphram developed some holes and the hypo leaked into the oil reservoir (3.5 Qts). We suspect this has been slowly going on for a number of weeks and corrosion has set in. The vendor rep, as well as the O&M manual, stated we should be replacing diaphrams on the pumps annually. While in truth it has taken a few years for the recent incident to occur although the repercussions are costly. My question that I’m hoping you can help with is: Is there a specific sample kit out there that the mechanic can use onsite to tell us if there is a Hypo Chlorite leaks into the oil housing? If not, we do have an on-site lab as an option. What would they be measuring for?

I have not heard about any onsite test for this, but you will be able to monitor the Sodium (Na) content by an regular ICP (RDE) analysis in about every oil lab out there. Sodium content is a vital part of ie. engine oil analysis.

Chlorine (Cl) is also a trace element which though not usually monitored in oil analysis might be able to be requested as part of your test slate. Ask you lab if their machine will quantify chlorine.