Eliminating Overgreasing of Bearings

You may want to take a look at the LubeChecker product that attaches to your grease gun to indicate when bearing is properly lubricated:
http://www.reliabilitydirect.com/oilanalysisproducts/SPM-lub10.htm

Applying grease by means of sonic or ultra-sonic frequency is a great method to reduce over greasing or assure that the bearing has proper amount.
BUT don't you have to have a baseline prior to implementing the use of the lubrication by frequency? I have been contemplating the use of applying grease by means of frequency. From what I have been told/discovered, first a baseline (frequency) for all greased bearings must be established & entered into a data base. Then the use of ultra-sonic frequency is used to apply the proper amount of grease per application by set alarm limits. This can turn into a major project in any large industrial site. But the end result is worth the effort.

quote:

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Originally posted by george krueck:
is there any way to limit the amount of grease pumped into bearings? like, a 2 pump maximum limit, or pressure limit.

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George, IMHO the easiest(and most effictive) way to ensure that a bearing is not overgreassed, as opposed to limiting the amount of lubricant applied, is to provide guidelines and training to those who are tasked with relubricating the bearings. The folks at Noria and others would be pleased to assist you in setting up a sustainable program to achieve proper re-lubrication practices. No matter what approach you use, the tools designed to read ultra high frequencies, or simpler fundamental understandings and guidelines, you are going to NEED to invest in transferring the knowledge of what is and isn't right to the "oilers".
regards.....

Alan Wallace

I agree with Alan Wallace, training your personnel is the best way to prevent over-greasing as well as many other lubricant related problems.

You may want to contact your lubricant supplier, as a Chevron distributor in Iowa we do many classes each year for our customers to educate them.

Training classes offered off-site are great, but many plants will not send their personnel off site for training and some of the off-site training is more general in nature. Your lubricants supplier should be able to provide on-site training, as well as go through your plant and identify specific lubricants and application rates for each piece of machinery.

You can then place this information in a spread sheet or print it off and keep it in a binder that your personnel can take around with them to help ensure that they are performing the correct maintenance on your equipment.

Thanks,

Allan

This thread is an old one. However, the topic has always been of interest to me.

I know that over-greasing is a major cause of bearing failure. I know that every bearing has an ideal volume of grease that it requires (I have the formula for that). However, what always has stumped me is how to determine relubrication frequency and amount. I understand that such can be determined by ultrasonic readings and, possibly, temperature readings. However, are there any "seat-of-the-pants" rules of thumb?

Thanks.

Bruce

Yes. See the website of any bearing or motor manufacturer.

can you provide the link of this web site?

I to have to agree with both Allan and Alan. Training is the most important thing you can do for your oilers. I am amazed how many companies start people out in the maintenance department by putting a grease gun in their hands and say "go grease". The mentality the goes along with that grease gun is "if a little is good, more is better".

I have been selling automated lube systems for 20 years and am still surprised by how many companies say they can't afford them. All they see is the cost, not the value. Many maintenance people don't realize that 60% of bearing failures are due to over lubrication. What does the average failure cost with downtime, labour and component replacement?

Automated lubrication systems supply a small amount often, maintaining a film on the bearing surfaces, not filling the cavity, or pushing out the seals. This will not only greatly improve the life, but also reducing lubricant consumption. Depending on how many points you want to service, small systems can be under$1000. Put that next to all the other associated costs of manual lube and the ripple costs, and it is not the expensive

Thanks

Dean.

New Standard Institute has a bearing relubrication reference tool on line. I used this program to put together a greasing schedule based on actual machine running conditions on both driven and idler rolls. Just plug in the information and the recommended relube comes up.

Hi
Hal
Can you guide me through to do these - which website are you talking aboy and can you provide me the link

I know that over 60% of bearing failures occur due to over-greasing. Where does that figuer come from? Is there a reference that I can look up?

Dear All,
Sometimes I use Vibration when doing regreasing. Monitor 3kHz-4kHz broadband, when it goes down along with noise decreasing and temperature start goes up significantly, I will stop regreasing. Then if incremental tempreture is not to significant, I will continue to regrease. When overgrease is occurred, temperature is increasing significantly out of temperature limit and doesn't tend to back to pervious level. Just look at the temperature.

Best Regards,

Rahardi
rahardi@softhome.net

Suppliers also have grease zerks available that have a relief valve built into the zerk. When you achieve a certain perssure the relief valve opens to purge the excess grease. This type of product keeps the lube technician from blowing the seals in the bearing.