Brendan Casey's hydraulics blog

Having the right filters in the right places is essential to the success of the contamination control effort. But it can be easily compromised by buying filters on price alone. Like any other aftermarket or non-genuine part, replacement filter elements vary in both quality and price. And there are risks in installing ‘will fit’ filter element...

I have for many years asserted that hydraulic fluid cleanliness is no longer THE most critical preventative maintenance issue. There are two reasons for this: the first is the word has been so widely preached over such a long period of time that even those who haven’t being paying attention got the message. And secondly, modern advances in filtration technology and their wide...

I got this question from a Hydraulics Pro Club member:

“We have experienced Micro Biological Contamination (MBC) in marine fuel oil systems for several years but we are starting to see MBC in marine hydraulic systems. This can be very bad news for hydraulic ...

If you’ve worked with hydraulic equipment for any length of time, it’s likely that you’ve come across a hydraulic system with cloudy oil.

Oil becomes cloudy when it’s contaminated with water above its saturation level. The saturation level is the amount of water that can dissolve in the oil’s molecular chemistry and is typically 200 to 300 ppm at 68°F (20°C) for minera...

When locating an air blast oil cooler on a machine, it should be situated so that it is at least half the fan diameter clear of any obstructions on both sides of the core. I recommend connecting the cooler so that oil flows from bottom to top, or if the tanks are on the sides, from lower connection (inlet) to upper connection (outlet). The reason for this is to purge all air ...