Infographic on decreasing oil changes featured on magazine site

Sometimes, it’s easier to show than to tell. That’s why SEPCO recently published a new infographic on how to increase oil life and decrease oil changes that was featured on the Pumps & Systems website.

Oil life can be long and prosperous if contamination is eliminated, but often, that’s easier said than done. This infographic (also featured on Seal Connect) depicts the challenges of foreign particles that contaminate oil by blocking contaminants’ ingress, including:

• 82 percent of rotating failures are caused by particles in the oil.
• Foreign particulates create wear particles that cause more wear and more wear particles; essentially a vicious cycle.
• Even with just 0.1 percent of water contamination, lubricants may lose 75 percent of their life.
• 63 percent of bearing failure is lubrication-related.

It also illustrates how to increase oil life. Traditional seals experience wear brought about by contaminants that were introduced because of a degraded lip seal. Contamination and moisture in the lubrication because of improper sealing during static conditions, another issue with traditional labyrinth technology, is also possible.

As shown in the infographic, some compound labyrinth seals, also known as bearing isolators, can eliminate contaminant ingress.

“Two static coalescing O-rings break down vapor and direct it into the expeller chamber. The condensate chamber becomes a trap for moisture. During dynamic operation, centrifugal force adds energy to contaminants and expels them from the internal environment.”