|

December 2013
For an archive of past newsletters, please visit:
http://www.GPMHydraulic.com/newsletter_archive/

P.O. Box 1376

Monroe, GA 30655
(770) 267-3787
gpm@gpmhydraulic.com

CLICK HERE to share the GPM Newsletter

"Troubleshooting Hydraulics" Newsletter

www.gpmhydraulic.com

In This Issue

1. Is My Reservoir Sized Properly?

2. Call GPM For Emergency Troubleshooting
3. Our NEW Accumulator Safety DVD
4. Is It Time For A Hydraulic Reliability Assessment At Your Plant?
5. Parts Changer or Troubleshooter? Take the Quiz!
6. 2014 Hands-On Public Reliability & Troubleshooting Workshops

1. Is My Reservoir Sized Properly?

A common rule of thumb for sizing a reservoir is that it should hold at least three times the rated flow of the pump. For instance, if your machine uses a 30 GPM
pump, the reservoir should hold 90 gallons of oil. Typically, another ten percent is added to allow sufficient air space above the fluid to leave room for entrained air
to exit the oil. For a lot of systems, this is a good design. Even under constant use, the oil gets to rest at least three minutes before cycling through the pump
again. As long as ambient temperature is not unusually high, excess heat can be dissipated to atmosphere by radiation across the exterior surface area of the tank
and enough volume is present so that high velocity oil from the return line comes to rest, allowing contaminants to settle and air bubbles in the oil to escape and
ultimately exit through the breather.

This is a common design, but certainly not suitable for every conceivable system. Other factors must be taken into consideration. Many very large systems leave
as much (or more) oil in the piping, manifolds and actuators as the reservoir holds. If the system drains when it is shut down, there must be room to hold this oil in
the reservoir as well. Many systems use a check valve in the tank line to keep oil from draining back, but at some point components in the machine must be
replaced, requiring at least a portion of the system to be drained. If the reservoir will not hold this additional oil, a procedure for collecting excess oil (without
contaminating it) must be in place.

The bigger the system, the more we must take thermal expansion into consideration. Most mineral oil based industrial hydraulic fluids will expand approximately
0.06 cubic inches per cubic foot by volume for each Fahrenheit degree of temperature increase. In large systems, this can be substantial. More oil is required to
extend a cylinder than to retract it. If your system has large or very many cylinders, oil level will change dramatically throughout a full machine cycle. Large
accumulators may also affect oil levels. The last thing we would want is for the oil level to drop near or below the suction line of the pump and cause it to aerate.

While this all may suggest that bigger is better for reservoirs, the trend is actually toward making them smaller. Design objectives have changed over the years.
Nowadays there are more requirements to save space, keep oil usage to a minimum and cut the overall cost of a system. Some measures can be taken to reduce
the size of a reservoir. An efficient heat exchanger can eliminate the need for a very large reservoir, particularly when ambient temperatures are very high. Cooling
a lot of oil in a high temperature environment by radiation alone can be impractical, particularly when considering the large amount of heat that can be generated
by a hydraulic system. Even a very well designed machine that is properly adjusted and maintained can generate significant heat. Orifices, servo or proportional
valves, pressure controls and even bends in the pipe - anything that causes the system to produce more power than is consumed by the load generates heat.

We determine reservoir size mostly by temperature. There must be enough surface area to dissipate heat to atmosphere if there is no heat exchanger. This is
calculated by the following formula:

0.001 X Sq. Ft. Surface Area X Temperature Difference (F) Between Air and Oil

So, if we have 30 sq. ft. of surface area and a temperature difference of 50 degrees, we would calculate:

0.001 X 30 X 50 = 1.5 hp.

Since each horsepower equals 2,544 BTU/hr, we would radiate 3816 BTU/hr. We remember from school that one BTU is the heat required to raise one pound of
water by one degree Fahrenheit. Fortunately, mineral oil has a specific heat of only about 40% that of water. So each BTU will reduce the temperature of one
 pound of mineral oil by 2.5 degrees. Since a gallon of mineral oil weighs about 7 pounds, it takes about 2.8 BTU's to lower each gallon of oil one degree
Fahrenheit. In our example above, 25 gallons of oil would radiate enough heat to lower its temperature by about 3.4 degrees Fahrenheit in one hour.

When calculating surface area, remember to calculate only the area that is contacted by oil. Since a reservoir is never full to the brim, it will not radiate over its
entire area. The area above the oil level radiates at only a negligible rate.

Finally, we must consider room to access internal components for servicing and cleaning. Many reservoirs are cramped and hard to maintain. The result is often
that they are not cleaned or inspected as often as they should be.

When should this all be calculated? Naturally, this should be determined in the initial design phase, but experience shows that machines are often modified over
the years. A higher flow pump, the addition of an accumulator, an extra hydraulic circuit or almost any other modification changes the thermal properties of the
machine as well. Failing to consider how this affects the ability of the reservoir to accommodating the needs of the system can be expensive.

Al Smiley founded "GPM" in October of 1994. Al initially worked with a leading hydraulic distributor from 1977
to 1986. In 1987, his father Carl A. Smiley, Sr. hired Al to work with his company, Southeast Maintenance
Consulting services. Since then he has taught and designed hydraulic troubleshooting programs for companies
throughout the United States and Canada. Al does the technical writing for GPM's "In-Plant Troubleshooting
Manuals". He is certified and registered with the Fluid Power Society as a Fluid Power Specialist. He earned a
Bachelor’s Degree in Education from the University of Mississippi in 1977. He writes columns for Hydraulics and
Pneumatics, Southern Lumberman, Canadian Wood Products and Papermill 360 magazines on hydraulic
troubleshooting methods. Al is married with two boys and a granddaughter. He is a musician and an avid golfer..

2. Call GPM For Emergency Troubleshooting

Nothing is more expensive than unscheduled down time. GPM’s customers know they can call whenever they have a troubleshooting issue they simply can’t
resolve. With over 75 years' experience dealing with hydraulic failures, our consultants have the resources to help troubleshoot whatever hydraulic problem you
encounter. Whether you’re experiencing a total system outage, repeated component failure or need a professionally designed hydraulic reliability assessment, the
consultants at GPM can help. Call GPM for:

In-plant Troubleshooting
Leakage Problems
Pressure Settings
Shock Problems
Hydraulic Reliability Assessments
Hydraulic Troubleshooting Manual Development
Startup Consulting and Recommendations
Heat Problems
Repeated Component Failures
Speed Problems

Do you want to learn more about how GPM can help you? Go to http://gpmhydraulic.com/troubleshooting.php.

Al - From the President's Desk

While many companies slow down this time of year, we’re still moving
full steam ahead. 2013 has been the best year since the company’s
inception in 1994. A special thanks to all of our valued friends and Where's Jack? Alan's Back Roads
customers that made this possible! I completed the hydraulic survey for Since our last newsletter, I conducted a Maintenance Basic Since the last newsletter I have spent an enormous amount of time
a sawmill in Grangeville, Idaho in mid November and we’re presently Hydraulic Troubleshooting workshop in St. Louis, made a consulting on development of workshop manuals for upcoming classes -
working on their customized hydraulic troubleshooting manual for their trip to a rolling mill in Kokomo, IN and taught a Troubleshooting drafting and technical writing consuming most of my time.
workshops in February. The week before Thanksgiving, I spent 3 days Plywood Hydraulics workshop at a plywood mill in Florien, LA. We Nevertheless, I have made one trip to a power company in
consulting with an OSB plant in Virginia on a wide variety of issues on had a quiet Thanksgiving at home, getting some well-deserved rest! Sandersville, GA and am currently at a manufactured wood products
their finishing line stacker, woodyard kickers and press hydraulics. We've enjoyed a phenomenal year in 2013 and expect an even mill in Inverness, Scotland performing a site survey for a future
While there I also performed a reliability assessment on several of their busier 2014. I hope everyone has been having a great holiday workshop. These were just a few of many backroads my GPM travels
in plant systems. We’ve added a new Dodge Caravan to our fleet to season and would like to wish all a Merry Christmas and a very have carried me in the months of November and December of this
accommodate our two newest consultants and instructors. We’re all happy and prosperous New Year! year.
looking forward to a busy and successful year in 2014. I want to take
this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New
Year!
Chris's Blog
The past two months I have had the opportunity to travel to many
exciting places and teach our Maintenance Basic Hydraulic
Troubleshooting class. I’ll start with traveling to Georgetown, SC. I
had the opportunity to meet some great people in Georgetown and I
had a really good class. Georgetown is a beautiful place and it’s was
Bacon-wrapped Pork Loin w/Cherries right on the ocean so it made for an interesting trip. The next class
Ingredients was in St. Louis, MO where I taught two of our basic classes and got
to meet more great people. I had never been to St. Louis before and
1 2-pound piece boneless pork loin it was an incredible city. When I flew back in to Atlanta I got up the
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice next morning and flew out to Portland, OR for my next class. While in
black pepper Oregon I traveled to Eugene to teach our Hydraulic Reliability and
1/2 cup dried cherries, chopped Troubleshooting class to a group of very intelligent people. The class
1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped went great and when I was done with that class I traveled north to
Following Hank
1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard Philomath, OR to teach our basic class to another group of guys.
Since my last entry in the November newsletter I have conducted a
6 slices bacon While in Oregon I went to the beautiful coast that everybody was
Troubleshooting Sawmill Hydraulics workshop at a sawmill in
1 tablespoon currant jelly raving about. I was not disappointed. Oregon is an incredible state
Cottonton, AL and am currently teaching two back-to-back
Maintenance Basic Hydraulic Troubleshooting workshops in El Dorado, 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar and its coast is like none other. It was a lot different from the east
coast where I’m accustomed to going. When I got back from Oregon
AR. Over the Thanksgiving week we took vacation and went on a very Heat oven to 350. Season the pork with the allspice and 1/2
I was home for Thanksgiving week, then back on the road traveling
nice cruise. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!
teaspoon pepper and place on a rimmed baking sheet. In a small to Granite City, IL. I was there to help the plant flush one of their
bowl, combine the cherries, parsley, and mustard. Spread evenly systems that had an extremely high count of water in it. I was there
over the pork. Lay the bacon slices crosswise over the pork, for four days but we got the system flushed and the water out of that
overlapping them slightly and tucking the ends underneath. Roast for machine. I left straight from Granite City and traveled to Jefferson,
45 minutes. In a small bowl, combine the jelly and vinegar. Brush TX to teach another basic class to an OSB mill there. The class went
over the bacon and continue roasting until bacon is crispy, about 10 really well and everyone said they enjoyed it. They were really a
to 15 minutes more. Let rest at least 10 minutes and slice into half- great bunch of guys there and they really support what we do. When
inch slices. I was done with the class I was on my way back home to Monroe,
GA where I could come back and share my adventures with all my
coworkers. This year is almost up and it doesn’t look like I’m going to
be teaching any classes the rest of the year. It has been an exciting
and adventurous year and I can’t wait to see what next year has in
store for me. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and Happy
New Year! Until next time, everybody.

3. Our NEW Accumulator Safety DVD

Some of you may be aware that our Accumulator Safety DVD What You Don't Know About Accumulators CAN KILL YOU! had to be pulled from our shelves
because of audio problems in the master. It was impossible to repair, so the DVD had to be remade from the ground up. Naturally this took us quite a while, but we
are pleased to announce that it is again available with all new footage and packed with even more valuable accumulator safety information than before!. If you only