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 systems. How can we prevent it?”

Micro biological or microbial contamination is basically the growth and … Read more

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 … Read more

There are generally only two conditions which necessitate an oil change. One of these is oxidative degradation. And the only way to know if the oil’s life has expired based on this condition is to do regular oil analysis.

A hydraulic oil’s oxidative condition is determined by an absolute measure of its total acid concentration. When oxygen combines with hydrocarbon … Read more