When most people hear “oil mist lubrication,” they picture a refinery. That makes sense. Refineries and petrochemical plants have the largest populations of pumps, motors, steam turbines, and cooling tower gearboxes. All of that equipment can be picked up on one oil mist system easily and cost-effectively.
But oil mist is not only for refineries. Many other facilities can benefit from it.
Over my career, I have worked with general industry plants whose lubrication problems could only be solved with oil mist. The problems usually looked like one of these:
- Hot, high-speed bearings that run beyond what grease or a sump can handle
- Grease and oil cooking in the bearing from process heat
- Bearings in difficult locations that only oil mist can reach, with the mist exhausting cleanly afterward
Here is one plant that had all three.
A Crimper Failing Bearings Every Week
A client in the fiber industry was failing bearings on its crimping machines every week. Their MTBF was less than one week!
We ran a trial on one crimper and converted it to pure oil mist. Six months passed with no bearing failures. The customer then shut down the trial and cut open every bearing housing. They wanted to know why these bearings were lasting more than a week!
They found clean, healthy bearings. The remaining 15 fiber lines were converted to pure oil mist. It was a great success.
Dowtherm Pumps That Cooked Their Own Oil
At the same plant, we looked at the Dowtherm heat transfer pumps, which were failing regularly. The process ran at 800°F. That heat traveled down the shaft to the bearings and cooked the oil in the housing.
We removed the oil and went to pure oil mist directed at the bearings. The bearings now received a continuous supply of fresh, clean oil instead of sitting in degraded oil. That solved the failures.
This Is Just One Facility
That was two problems in one plant, and we have many more stories like it. If your facility has hot bearings, high speeds, cooked lubricant, or equipment you can barely reach, oil mist may be the answer you have not tried yet.
Is there a lubrication problem that keeps you awake at night? I would love to talk with you about whether oil mist lubrication could help. Feel free to reach out.