I am in the dirt business. I have a Volvo 160 excavator that has been contaminated with water in the hydraulic tank. The entire system is now milky and froze up today. -5F outside. Wondering if there is a way to separate dissolved water from hydraulic fluid? Tank holds 32 gal but the entire system holds 65 gal. We changed out 32 gal twice but it is still milky white.
All i can say is after solving your problem get a fix on to the root cause.
I know of a compnay in Bombay - India who is a major promoter of conservation try to contact them and see if they can provide you with a solution. email id : glad@gtsindia.com / kbmathur@gtsindia.com ( Mark it to K.B.Mathur)one of the 2 ids will work for sure. A lot of our customers take their help.
Take care !
Urja Enterprises. Mumbai - India sales@lubes.in M)9892545299
Posts: 36 | Location: India | Registered: Thu January 04 2007
Originally posted by Spadodi: I am in the dirt business. I have a Volvo 160 excavator that has been contaminated with water in the hydraulic tank. The entire system is now milky and froze up today. -5F outside. Wondering if there is a way to separate dissolved water from hydraulic fluid? Tank holds 32 gal but the entire system holds 65 gal. We changed out 32 gal twice but it is still milky white.
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Solution : Cetnrifuze is the best solution for removing free and emulsified water. Heat the Oil water mixture up to 60 degree Centrigrade and pass it through the Centrifuze. Water and bigger dust particles will be separated out. Filter the cleaned oil with 10 or 3 micron Filter element and LO your oil will be cleaned !!!
To avoid freezing use special antifreez additive unlike in regrization system after consulting your oil supplier.
Contact me at hymatservices@yahoo.co.in for further information.
V.S.Dave
Posts: 57 | Location: India | Registered: Thu October 14 2004
I would recommend using a by-pass filtration unit with moisture absorbing filter elements (in an warmer enviroment). First filter the oil in reservoir, then start up the hydraulics and operate while filtering.
I agree with mr. Hughes. You can rent or purchase portable carts or on board filtration systems that can totally remove water at 100%. Centrifuge systems work but are expensive. It may only take you 2-3 bypass filter elements to remove all the water from the system and get the oil back to better than new oil. If you rent a system you're probably looking at under $200 to fix your problem. It's best to put an onboard system on though forsure. That will take care of future problems.
Sully, I am the factory Rep for Cim-Tek Filtration. I am curious as to how well the Hydrosorb worked for you? We have a new product that lasts 2-3 time longer called Hydroglass that may be of interest to those who are looking to remove water from their systems. Please email me at matt@cim-tek.com if you would like to get more information.
I am the rep at Cim-Tek Filtration and I would be interested in hearing how well the Hydrosorb filter worked. Email me at matt@cim-tek.com as we might have a new product that would be of interest to you.
Originally posted by Spadodi: ...Wondering if there is a way to separate dissolved water from hydraulic fluid?
Spadodi, None of the filters and centrifuges mentioned in previous replies can separate dissolved water from oil, nor can any other method or technology that is based on physical phase separation, but they might remove emulsified water from your sump full of “milk”. However, dissolved water can be removed only with equipment designed to chemically separate water from oil, such as vacuum dehydrators, air-stripping equipment, and similar.
Posts: 236 | Location: Portland, US | Registered: Thu November 18 2004
Originally posted by Spadodi: ...Wondering if there is a way to separate dissolved water from hydraulic fluid?
Spadodi, None of the filters and centrifuges mentioned in previous replies can separate dissolved water from oil, nor can any other method or technology that is based on physical phase separation, but they might remove emulsified water from your sump full of “milk”. However, dissolved water can be removed only with equipment designed to chemically separate water from oil, such as vacuum dehydrators, air-stripping equipment, and similar.
Posts: 236 | Location: Portland, US | Registered: Thu November 18 2004
As John mentioned, you will need to look at a vacuum dehydrator to remove much of the dissolved water. These are generally portable units that can be hired from a reputable filtration supplier. Drain as much of the free water present, then use the vacuum dehydrator to remove rest of water ( I am told that most commercial vacuum dehydrators remove upto 80% dissolved water and most free water). After this process, then use a off board kidney loop unit to remove the rest of the water (it may already be incorporated as part of the vacuum dehydrator unit). These filter elements generally hold upto 3L of water only.
I have used the above process but for a steam turbine with a very large reservoir capacity and a very expensive turbine oil sitting in there.
It may pay to do a cost analysis of removing the water already present in the oil (hiring of unit + consumable costs for filters as the price can vary quite a bit) versus using new oil.
