Water is one of the most common contaminants in hydraulic oil and can cause a range of problems if not properly addressed.Normally, water behaves in the oil like water in the air. Every oil is able to absorb a certain volume of water before forming free water layer below the oil. The available space that water can remain dissolved in oil is called “Relative Moisture / Relative Humidity [%]”.
This value varies depending on specific oil and temperature. When the value of moisture is greater than 1, hence there has no space for dissolved water, and there will form a free water layer below the oil.
The free water is the killer for hydraulic system, meanwhile dissolved water gives effects to the system performance. A breather filter can help to remove the moisture from the atmosphere and filter the dust particles in surrounding to ensure the oil probability to contaminate by water particles be minimize. This breather filter contains silica gel which function to absorb the moisture in the air, and fine filter to filter out dust particle.
Not only with this special breather, but some filter’s manufacturer also marketed out filter product that can filter water from hydraulic oil. As most of the time, these filter only can remove free water from hydraulic oil, but not for dissolved water. Always double confirm when purchasing for proper filter elements according to your desires. However, even with this special filter element, proper maintenance also required to prevent water contaminant in the hydraulic oil. Our company can provide cleaning hydraulic power unit service that includes changing all the seal kit, cleaning of the hydraulic fluid tank, and replacing new hydraulic hoses. We did provide solutions to mitigate the effects of oil inclusion to your hydraulic system.
