Challenge

Hank Trent, Ed Thomas WTP chief operator, was looking for a program to help him better manage his plant and equipment.

LE Solution

Jeff Boyles, LE lubrication consultant, introduced Hank to Lubrication Engineers’ Reliability Program. Jeff performed a Plant Reliability Survey and made several recommendations to improve operations and reliability at the plant.

Hank was having trouble with water getting in the oil in his DeLaval finish water pumps. The commercial grade oil they were using would emulsify and turn milky, resulting in early oil changes. Jeff recommended Monolec® R & O Compressor / Turbine Oil (6403) because it readily separates from water, is extremely long lasting and nonfoaming in service. He also recommended Xtract®Oil Sight Glasses to easily drain off any water accumulated in the reservoir.

Xpel®® containers were recommended to dispense oil into the pumps. The Xpel® containers keep the oil clean in storage and make adding oil easy. The different colored tops are used to assign a color to a particular oil. For example, Hank uses red for Monolec 6403 and green for Monolec 6404.

Xamine® (Lubrication Engineers Analysis Program) was also recommended and implemented to change the lubricants based on condition rather than a preset time.

Results

Hank said, “In the past we would have to drain the oil and water out because of emulsification and replace the oil. This problem has been greatly improved with the new LE oil sight glasses that were recommended. Now if water enters the oil bath it will separate and is visible in the sight glass. We just simply drain the water off. We have been using the Oil Safe containers when topping off oil in equipment. The water plant staff enjoys the containers because they are easy to use and keep them from making a mess.”