Seperating water from hydraulic fluid

[Dangerous_Dan]

I welded a plate to the open end of the pulley and bored a hole in it with a lathe. In the pic, the oil is stream is running through this hole.
The pulley can trap 1-2 cups of crud.
I was running about 5 gallons of WVO in 1 hour and getting 1 cup or so of crud and goo.
The slower you run the oil through it, the cleaner it will be.

DD

[Wintergreen Mountain]

     woodbowl,

I would find a good clean 55gal barrel, drain all the oil you can out of the macine. Put it in the barrel. Lay it on it's side in a dry warm place with the small bugne down at the bottom and up so you can get a pail under it later without disturbing it much. Get NEW oil and put it in the machine.
    Let it set for about 2 months. without disturbing it, take the small bunge loose and drain off the settled water and dirt. Tip the barrel up to get all the water you can out. When just oil comes out, stop draining. I have reclaimed hundreds of gallons of oil this way. Once you have most of the water drained out, strain it and put it in pails for later use. If the oil doesn't clear up it has addatives in it.
    Leon

[Al_Smith]

Well now gents and ladys .You can cheap out and use contaminated oil  but just like the Ampco man pay me now or pay me later.Use that water logged oil for wood preservative or burn it,do not attempt it in a usable hydraulic system .Don't be penny wise and pound foolish now .

[Banjo picker]

I had never thought about reusing it.  Some of these methods sound pretty good, but I guess I am just too cheap to try it .   ;)  Tim

[isawlogs]

, It just burns a lot better with the water removed .  ;)

[Al_Smith]

Well there is some merit to that .I've got two buddies with waste oil burners and they do very well .One owns a welding shop the other has a 60 by 95 building with about a quarter  million bucks worth of Camaros and Vets in it .

[Holmes]

Well there is some merit to that .I've got two buddies with waste oil burners and they do very well .One owns a welding shop the other has a 60 by 95 building with about a quarter  million bucks worth of Camaros and Vets in it .

Would that be 4 cars or 5?

[Al_Smith]

 :D I think the number varies from time to time . There were a couple Yanko or who ever that  Camero wizz kid is in his shop .Long story .

Point being though with the oil burner and essentually free oil he can maintain his temp and humidity to preserve the investment .Makes more sense to me rather than use contamenated oil and take the chance of ruining a piece of equipment but that's not my call ---just my 2 cents worth . ;D

The old not detergent oils kept things in suspension but modern oils do not .It won't "settle" like that 50 year old stuff .Once hydraulic oil becomes "homoginized " with water I'm not so sure you can get it out or not .

[woodbowl]

I've done quite a bit of reading lately about cleaning oil with a centrifuge. Most of it seems to be about wvo. What I haven't found is a small home operation that cleans up their own motor oil to reuse in their personal vehicles. What happens when motor oil gets really hot and burns, and is put through a homemade centrifuge to be cleaned up to within 1 micron? Is the viscosity affected or can it be continually cleaned and reused? Are we talking about the same quality recycled oil that is sold to the public?

If it does that good a job, fish grease should be a really big savings.

[Tom]

When I was younger, recycled oil was sold in the filling stations to top off your crankcase oil.  It must have been sold to them as bulk, because, at the pump, it was delivered in quart mason jars with a cone shaped metal lid that they used for a pouring spout.  You could mix non-detergent with detergent oils, so I guess that the recycled oil kept its viscosity.

You could also buy "Generic" canned oils.  They were usually in a stand next to the pump and were in cans with plain green or blue labels with white lettered "OIL" printed on the side.  I was always told that it was reclaimed and the equivalent to 30W, since it had no other markings.  30W was good for pretty much everything back then, and many mechanics didn't care for Detergent oils because you couldn't mix the oils if you were on the road.  It limited you to one brand of oil/gasoline.  'Course we were all very brand dependent anyway.  My family bought Gulf until Philips 66 showed up, then it was tried because of the claim of better mileage.

It seems to me that heat would be a good way to get rid of water in oil.  Water doesn't stay liquid above 212°.  If you turn it to steam, it has to go somewhere.

I  have always had a probem with water in my Little Blue Tractor (Ford 1910, 1985 model).  The oil in the transmission is hydraulic oil and feeds all of the applications of the tractor.  Within a short time, I noticed that it was white.  The Dealer told me that it was water from condensation and that all of these tractors do it.  They had complained to Ford and were told that it didn't hurt anything.  so, for the last 25 years, I have not paid any attention to it. Now my 3 point hitch doesn't hold good and my frontend loader won't pick up what it should.  The filter is new, so I'm thinking that the valves under the seat may need attention.  I've never been into them before and hate to screw something up.  It's not the pump because strength is only a problem intermittently.    The engine has to be run awhile before good oil flow happens so I guess I need to find someone who knows what is going on.  Unfortunately, Duval County Florida is lacking in that kind of expertise deciding that retail malls are more important than farms and mechanics.

Anyway, I degress.   I've been told that oil is a lot more durable than we give it credit for being.  If it weren't for the marketing efforts of big oil companies, we could still be using reclaimed oil economically and with good results.

[pineywoods]

Don't see why heat wouldn't do the job. Water boils at 212 deg F at sea level. Oil doesn't start to break down till around 300 deg F so keeping a batch at a steady 250 should get rid of the water. Maybe a turkey fryer would do 5 gallons or so ?

[submarinesailor]

Here is one procedure for you:  http://www.ehow.com/how_7354518_use-remove-water-waste-oil.html

Bruce

[submarinesailor]

Here is an other good article on seperating water from oil and why you should do it:  http://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/503/water-oil-removal.

I had forgotten about the effects that water has on the additive package in the oils.  And believe in or not, additives can be very important to your oil.

Bruce

[Bandmill Bandit]

Trying to reclaim contaminated Hydraulic oil is not being cheap or thrifty. That is just plain irresponsible.

I have wrenched on both the Green stuff and the Red stuff and the Cat stuff and all have their pros and cons.

Regular swap out of Hydraulic fluids is the best preventive maintenance you can give your valuable equipment. Most hydraulic fluids will have an expect life of about 200 to 500 hours use time max and that is dependant on your care or lack there of and the operating conditions.

IT is very easy to blow 8000 to 10000 to repair a hydraulic system that was damaged through just plain bad maintenance practices.
8000 bucks will buy more hydraulic fluid than you can use in the life time of a good piece of a equipment but it will never put your equipment back to OEM quality. Only good maintenance will prolong that time frame as far as possible.

Heating Hydraulic fluid with out proper equipment to establish measure and maintain the correct temperature is a good way to alter the molecular structure which can have very undesirable side effects in your machine.

It is possible to set up a system to clean the oil but for the price why bother. New oil is not that expensive in the long run.

There are still a few reclaimers in Canada. Not sure if the product ends up back in the retail oil products market but no reason it shouldn't as far as i know.  
       

[Popeye1]

i dont mess with contaminated oil here. it is only 21 bucks for 5 gallons.

Sorry to post on an old thread like this, but I would really love to know where to find hydraulic oil for a price even close to this.  $21 for 5 gallons!!

[beenthere]

popeye
What was the price of gas in Nov. 2010 ? 

A bit less than now... IIRC ;)

[clww]

No idea where popeye1 is from, but I just looked up the price from 27 NOV 2010 in VA Beach, which was at $2.71. The average in the city today is $3.37.

After working with hydraulics on the aircraft in the USN for over 20 years, my educated opinion is dispose of all hydraulic fluid contaminated with water. I would also flush the system extensively, and replace all filters at least once. Water in any hydraulic systems opens a BIG can of worms.

[Banjo picker]

   that post is coming up on 3 years old.    ;)
banjo

[Al_Smith]

 :D Might be 3 years old but it still applies .Once it's contaminated it only good to burn ,not as a lubricant and certainly not under pressure in a hydraulics system .

However for the frugal it might work as bar lube for a chainsaw. Homoginized hydraulic oil and water  couldn't be any worse than black as tar old crankcase oil I shouldn't think .

[julio]

i have funnel that have a filter made inside that will serparates water out of fuel and yes it does work  it is made by Racor

[mad murdock]

I will second the filter idea.  The hydraulic shop here has a water separator for hydraulic oil, basically they transfer contaminated oil through a special filter that is a available which separates water, but oil can pass through, and it comes out clean.  After it catches a certain amount of water, the filter plugs( similar to water filters on diesels).

[steamsawyer]

Hey woodbowl,

I know this is an old thread, but I was wondering if you ever found what was causing your problem.

I am assuming that you were referring to a tractor style backhoe where the hydraulic oil is stored in the transmission and rear axle cases. If so the first thing to look for is a torn or missing shifter boot. In most applications there will be some type of breather too, maybe under the seat. Check to see that it is not damaged. Any problem like this will let rain water or condensation in.

Usually everyday running will heat things up to drive the moisture out. If the machine is only used a little at the time and doesn't  get the chance to heat up you are likely to have a recurring problem with the water.

Alan

[Al_Smith]

Once the water becomes entrapped in the oil it's amost like it's homoginized .I'm not so certain you could let it set and the oil float to the top .

Now of course it will drain out of the transmission or perhaps the final drive of a dozer or something of that nature.Once it gets well stirred up in a hydraulic system though I think it stays there forever until you drain the system .

[DDDfarmer]

Our hydraulic contractor has a combination unit of pumps-heaters-and multible filters.  I have seen milky dirty oil go in and clean turbine oil come out.  Yet he will only do that if it is going back into a unaltered system. 

[BLink]

Has anyone added Sea Foam Hydra Trans Tune or any other additive to a hydraulic system to remove the moisture from the valve bodies where it freezes and will not drain out?