lubrication in a dirty environment

Well im surprised no one jumped on this - so here goes. Here are a few recommendations. First - stop overgreasing and invest in good seals for the bearings. By overgreasing they have probably already blown the seals and "grease till I see it" which is not the most effective measure. Put in good viton seals, find a good grease (I have some recommendation if your interested in emailing me) and perform an simple EHL calculation on the bearings to find the optimal lubrication interval would be and youll see drastic results. You mentioned vbelts as well so I will address this - one suggestion may be to shield the belt drives with a solid sheild rather than the wire mesh utilized in most plants. This would cut down on visibility, but would also aid in keep blown on contaminants off the drives, etc... also, recommend a belt dressing as well to keep the belts themselves in good shape. Anyway - I could go on for hours - email if you need anything else, but this may be a good start.

I supply lubricants to a number of brick and ceramic plants. Dust is terrible inmost. Most think that it is a cost of doing business. Of course when possible, dust producing operations should be downwind. buildings should be as well protected with possitive air flow. When not possible to cover it all, certain areas can be isolated. Sometimes a mist-spray can be used to wash down the dust.
Vents are critical. I've seen plants where there is an open pipe for a vent on a gear box. Obviously Lubricants should be kept in a separate room, and grease and oil containers well sealed. I saw one not long ago where they had small open pails to scoop out the grease and take around the plant. Filthy. It's a constant battle.

Danny

The question that you put forward is one that has worried many people. If the bearings in question are slow moving anti-friction or plain bushings what you may perceive as over greasing is an attempt to purge the bearing of the contaminents gound in this industry. In the mining industry there are very few pieces of equipment that do not have some form of automated lubrication installed which is supplying lubricant to purge the bearing, removing the contaminents from that area. High speed bearings will have a problem with this type of action.
It is better to supply a small amount of lube quite often [ 20Mn.] rather than a large quantity at one time.

Danny,

Here is one other thing for you to consider. If grease can get out, contamination can get in. By over greasing, you will allow the excess grease to collect contamination. By normal movement, some of that contamination will work its way into the bearing. The other thing to consider is the free space in the bearing. If they are over lubing the bearings in a non-operating environment, then the lubrication will fill all the free space in the bearing. As the bearing heats up to operating temperature, the clearance becomes smaller. With the extra grease in the bearing, the bearing must work harder to move the grease out of the way. This increases the internal temerature and can cause damage to the bearing. In effect, they are doing more damage to the bearings by over greasing. I would agree with reslube and get good seals on the bearings. Stop overgreasing. Look at the type of grease you are using. It may not be the best for the application. Finally, wipe down the area before and after greasing to keep contamination to a minimum. Hope this helps.