sampling schedule and lube drains

Hi Bdub,
Because you have established onsite conditions over several years of oil sampling data nothing should really change just because the lubrication supplier has changed.
What I would do though is bench mark all the new lubricants you intend to use, send a new oil sample of each lube to the lab for spectrographic analysis and particle count and benchmark the new supply.
If you have not already I would be inclined to do the same with the old supply so I could compare additive packages between the two so any changes in additives are known and then should be just business as usual.
If there products in the new supply with particle counts higher than an ISO 17/14-18/15 I would check by wear debris analysis to see what the elevated particle count is just in case the new supplier has some contaminates not encountered before.
Noria has info on new lubricant contaminates levels, our web site www.rttech.com.au has info on WDA and testing and oil sampling frequency, Regards Rob S

Thanks for the quick response! I should have specified that the lube brand is changing as well. We are going from Brand X to Brand Y. I understand that there are several risks involved with a change such as this. Assuming the transition is done correctly, and all compartments have been properly flushed prior to use of Brand Y, would oil analysis and a sample frequency of 250 hours be appropriate?

With our current lube, we were able to extend oil drains beyond manufacturer specs. Would you recommend starting off using the manufacturer's drain frequency, then gradually extending the drains, or simply trust in the oil analysis and change nothing (other than sampling frequency)?

thanks!

Extended drains and fuel conservation is the core of how I make my living. I start with where you are currently operating and adjust from there based on trend analysis of your oil samples over a period of time. My initial goal is to double drain intervals from factory recommendations in 6-12 months. I've even been able to triple drain intervals in 18 months using trend analysis. Another key value to monitor is fuel consumption. Engine efficiency will drop off as the oil degrades. I worked with one client running a name brand at 250hrs, the oil was coning as it drained. Literally looked like black cold honey. I'm still shocked that engine didn't blow. So you should start from where you are. Evaluate what your samples are telling you over 2 or 3 changes, then modestly extend your interval based on what the oil capabilities are.

Hi Bdub, the difficulty will be not so much the lubricant but how much contamination ingress is occurring over the oil change period, if for whatever reason we gain large hard contamination into the application being tested then the normal oil analysis may not detect the contamination entry with enough definition for remedial action to be taken and if a large drive or engine is damaged then our savings will be eaten up. I would be far more confident when extending the oil change to monitor the oil filter debris as well that way I can check the degraded oil deposited plus what contamination is gaining entry, ICP Spectrographic is limited to detecting < 8-10 µm sized particles because the Ionisation of the Argon gas into a high temperature 8,500°C Plasma has limited energy and can only vaporise particles up to that size. If the extended oil change does not significantly increase the debris in the oil filter then it should be successful, oil filter analysis is an excellent procedure for double checking abnormal results from normal oil analysis, I attempted to attach an example to this but wont permit so will put a good example of oil filter analysis up in the download section of www.rttech.com.au early next week FYI, regards, Rob S

H Bdub, I converted the report to jpg and its in the photo albums on this site, regards
Rob S