Constant Level Oilers cause problems

I agree with your decision to get rid of the constant level oilers. Most of our pumps have bullseye style oil gauges which are much better than a stand up sight glass. Generally the side hole is drilled on center with the oil level requirement so mid sight glass is where the level should be. On pumps equiped with labrynth type seals a closed pipe plug is fine. If you have lip seals or any other type which does not allow the passage of air you will need to use a filtered breather or an expansion chamber type.

Constant level oilers have been around for over 60 years. Through the years, advances in seal technology and more awareness to contamination control has occurred along with advances in constant level oiler technology. There are two types of constant level oilers available: vented and non-vented (closed system types). The non-vented type of oilers were developed with the focus of not only quantity of oil but also quality of oil. The design of closed system oilers does not require air to be exchanged from the outside eliminating contamination ingression due to pressure differentials. Closed type of oilers provide a constant level of oil, better visual indication of the quality of oil within the sump, and are easier to install and verify proper oil level than tranditional vented oilers. Type of seal must be considered with closed system type of oilers simlar to when plugging the vent and using a bullseye. A properly sized expansion chamber will keep overall pressure near 0 psi for any type of seals and prevent contamination ingression.

For further explanation of different types of constant level oiler please refer to the link below specifically page 4 which recommends closed system oilers in dusty/wet type of environments.
http://www.tricomfg.com/pdf-files/Trico-Product-Catalog.pdf

In reply to Rojean, I know about Trico's other constant level oilers that are not vented to atmosphere. Most pumps that use a bearing isolator do not need any type of constant level oiler, because they should never leak, unless overfilled. Constant level oilers, vented or unvented, were somewhat useful when leak prone rubber lip seals were used way back when. I don't see why any facility would use them on their ANSI overhung process pumps today.

We also have clients with ingress issues through constant level oilers. The bulbs were removed and either a 3D bullseye oil level plug or an upright site glass were installed. On the upright site glasses, a conversion top was installed on site glass, then a piece of tubing was contected to the air breather extension pipe. Of course proper seals were installed to prevent ingress through the pump seals. New oil was filtered to 3 microns, BETA200 before insertion. The side benefit is that they lose very few few seals, the lubricating oil stays clean, the pumps very seldom require top up oil and the oil drain intervals have been extended by a factor of 3.