After pouring 5 gallons of new hydraulic oil in my backhoe reservoir I removed the lid so that I could reuse the empty bucket. There was about two or three cups of oil still in it. What a disappointment to see the crap that was also in it. I won't be buying anymore from that vendor. View attachment hydraulic oil.jpg
That's alot of wasted oil if you don't have the time to "work it. On a positive note at least it didn't go in the tank.
A sad fact that if you want clean oil you have to pay for it. This is something the corporate customers of lubricants have been fighting for years. The oil companies will say they have no issue with supplying oil that meets OEM cleanliness standards in relation to ISO4406 but when they mention how much it will cost to achieve that the customers' response is generally "No worries. You supply an oil meeting all the relevant technical/performance specs, we'll clean it."
I often wonder if some of that "stuff" is additives that have precipitated out of the oils. Some barrels and pails are cleaner than others but few are without residue. Most all of my hydraulic oil is filtered prior to going into a reservoir thanks to a filtration cart or on board transfer pumps with filters. Seeing crap at the bottom of a container is never a reassurance on cleanliness or quality of a product
Based on personal experience I would say that you can separate quality and cleanliness inasmuch as a lack of cleanliness does not necessarily imply a lack of quality.
I usually put auto parts hydraulic oil in my old forklifts and such. There's a vast difference in the color of the "new" oil from bucket to bucket, and there's always odd sheens and such stuff floating in the bottom. I wouldn't be surprised if some of it is recycled oil. But those are all old gear type pumps, and I don't think it will hurt them much running on the private label oils. For the big cranes, I get Mobil, Shell, Chevron etc, in 55 gal drums. It probably all comes from the same tank at the refinery, but I feel better.
It's just additives that have fallen out of suspension. Very common and easy to see with the white pail. Should see the bottom of bulk tanks if you think that's bad. I run Rando HDZ 32 in everything. Equipment runs much better in the cold. I was using "303" in my firewood processor before I knew better. It uses hydraulic oil to lube the bar and chain so goes through a gallon or so every maybe 10 cords. It got where it'd barely even start without heating the hydraulic oil from it getting so thick.
A couple of things in my favor is that the oil has to go through a screen and then the oil filter before it gets to the pump which is a gear pump that was made in 1974. I have been buying this particular oil fer many years at a Farm Supply Store and it has their own label on it. Never had a problem with it. I did some research and the oil is supplied to them by Citgo.
I think it probably is additives that have separated if it's a name brand oil. Depending on hyd. system it shouldn't pose a problem. If it's a complex hyd. system with piston pumps and motors, then it's best to run it through a filter cart. I've had the same thing but never thought to stir it up and see if it improves.
I haven't seen a fresh container of ATF once drained that didn't have dark sediment in the bottom. I never worry too much about draining every last drop from a container.
If your worried about such thing, then use a paint strainer like from a auto paint outfit, to strain the fluid. Do that with the left over in the bucket and use it.
Speaking of contamination. I’m working with Chevron in Portland at the Willbridge Terminal, to get some 5,400 gallon ISO tanks clean enough to load bulk product. They have fairly strict standards for cleanliness. I have to hot water wash with surfactant, rinse and dry. Alternatively, instead of drying, I can flush with base oil until all water has been removed. Then, after loading, we have to take samples from each compartment. Those samples are tested and then retained for six months. The reality is, bulk shipping has become so expensive, it’s more economical to ship product in drums in 2025. Even considering the extra expense of packaging. Like $2.75 a gallon to ship bulk in a tanker. Conversely, you can put it in drums and ship truck it in a dry van or container for half that. Same with pails, for the lube oil bucket brigade.
Id put it in my tank as I put the oil that says not to be used with equipment made after 1985
Ever considered Big Red Flexitanks shipped inside a standard 20ft sea can.?
I remember us discussing those before. I need to give them a serious look and check pricing.
There, I think it’s clean enough. A bale of rags and three cases of Brakleen later,…… How’s that look? Did I miss any spots? I’ll make sure your next hydraulic oil purchase is clean, Mr. Tinkerer. Might have to spend a couple extra bucks for the good stuff.
They worked for us shipping from the US to the Caribbean for the simple reason that we didn’t have to pay return shipping and cleaning on a tanktainer. We would just return the empty dry cargo container to the local terminal and that was it.
I used to get the night shift overtime, supercleaning liquid nitrogen tanks we made, before they shipped. That was a nasty, time consuming job that overheated you enough that you had to sleep for 12 hours after. Thats why they paid you overtime after your regular shift because you wouldn’t be into work the next day. We actually steam cleaned them, then used liquid nitrogen to burn the crap out of anything left. Full SCUBA gear and it was so cold, it was hot.
Oh yeah--brings back the memories of cleaning a tanker for bulk oil/aircraft deicing fluid deliveries. Just looking my confined spaces card expired a long ways back. Company I worked for back then had the Arco contract for 11 western states for deicing fluid,$$$. They made a killing off that, I ran the shop for recycling old 5, 8, 10 & 12,000 gallon fuel tanks into airport deicing storage tanks. People wonder about crap in oils, those tanks had scads of just muck layered in the bottom along with all kinds of items. One I found a flip flop in.
Nice work Coaldust ! How do you work in a tank like that ? Suited up and supplied air Does someone watch you from the outside for safety reasons ? I did purchase 3 - 5 gallon buckets of a different brand of hydraulic oil yesterday. I'm going to quit using Aw32 and start using 10W-30. 10W-30 has not been available in my area until recently.
Confined spaces requirement, a spotter on top of tank and a ground man, suppose to have safety harness, rescue equipment before breaking the plain of man hole/explosion lids. Tank should have the proper lel limit before entering, but that rarely happens. At least that's what I remember from 1996.
Out of morbid curiosity I just paid close attention to what was left on the bottom quart of freshly opened Mobil 1 5w-20. I could not see anything left. Years ago when I used Castrol GTX there was always dark residue on the bottom. I guess I should have shaken it like a bottle of Maalox before use.
Most TDH fluid for tractors is 10W-30 and it's often less expensive than 10W-30 motor oil. It has some additional additives that might be better for use as a hydraulic fluid. Loader Parts Source recommends it for Skid Steers that called for 10w-30. I used TDH from Walmart for years for hyd. fluid in my track loader without any issues until they price took a big jump from $52 to $88. Why use an expensive oil if you have some weeping cylinders on an occasionally used machine. It's made by Warren oil so isn't some unknown mystery oil. I use Cat TO4 in the trans. though.
When I was on work experience in school went with a guy to repair a vessel at a refinery. It just barely passed the hazardous fumes requirements for entry after being steamed for 2 weeks. It was so hot in there that I had to come out after 10 minutes to cool off in 90F weather. The welder I was with stayed in for over 20 minutes and said it was no big deal as he has been in vessels where he had to wear an asbestos suit!
Almost everything I do is considered non-permit confined space. Because there are no converging walls, clean atmosphere and no machinery to get caught in. I can get by with just a hole watch, because technically, the hole watch can also serve as an entry supervisor. Sometimes I use my policy. Other times, I go by the client’s policy. Of course that changes once hot work begins, steam cleaning, and such. Then, it gets complicated. Time to bring in a rescue team for standby.
Because of the nature of the work we/I were doing it was always considered hot work. But I don't think most realize just how confining it is in a muti compartment tanker with bulkhead crawl throughs. Some compartments are very tight. As you know {I don't need to tell you} but for others, in a emergency situation extracting yourself in a hurry can be an event that hopefully never comes.
It would be almost impossible to rescue someone unconscious, two or three baffles in. And many safety departments ignore that scenario. In that case, I know one heart attack rescue and a quick thinking welder that used a plasma cutter to go through the side of the tanker. That was at a tank shop in Iowa. My team practiced a rescue using a circular saw on a wrecked tank. That was fairly quick. But, the height is an issue. Nice to be able to back up a pickup and work off the tail gate.
Agreed. And this is a scenario where only the skinny can go. IMO
I was on site at Process Engineering when the spotter went in to save a kid using liquid nitrogen to super clean a tank and the spotter got the kid out of the tank but fell back inside. The cleaning bay Super, wouldn’t let anyone else go in the tank to get him. Fire department came and so did an ambulance. It sucked.
FWIW- which isn't much. Update; The different brand of oil which is 10W-30 was a good alternative to the oil with the sediment in it. I only needed to add 5 gallons to the hyd. tank. There wasn't anything in the bottom of the bucket after I emptied it. I did some research and the oil is made (refined) and packaged by Shell. I am a concerned about the sediment because I don't know for sure what it is. Straining the oil would be a good thing to do. I have done it in the past. It seemed to take forever even on a hot day. But, I won't be doing that because I will never buy anymore of that crap.
I think you'll find debris in all the cheaper hydraulic oils. What would an oil company be putting in an oil that is a solid? Probably coming out of filling lines.