I work in a gypsum plant and in our mill areas we are faced with a high concentration of dust. Many of our gearboxes are being covered by this gypsum dust and are not in the best of shape due in large part to seal damage. Also, we are in the process of oil consolidation and have elected to switch to synthetics in most if not all of our gearboxes including these used in the mills. Part of justification for switching to synthetics was that our mill ambient temperature exceeds 140F degrees especially in the summer months. The other part to justify using synthetics would be for extended service life of the oil.
However, I’m still faced with the matter of dust and possible ingression. The solution that I’ve come up with would be to locate Des-case breathers away from the dusty environment then to run vent lines to the gearboxes.
My question is, what are the limitations in regards to the distances for venting a gearbox? Will this type of venting prevent seals from leaking? My concern is pressure build up due to long lines. Has anyone run across similar situations and their findings?
Thanks,
Ron
Original Post