Any hydraulic oil experts?

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Tom

Tom

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I'm trying to find a hydraulic oil that is specified as:

"USE AW 68 grade hydraulic oil processed to ISO 17/15/12 and/or filtered to 3-microns or less. Mobile ?DTE? 68 or Shell ?Tellus? 68 are acceptable fluids."

The application is a hydraulic pump used in a marine application, so biodegradable is good in the event of a leak. My understanding of those ISO specs is that they relate to the degree of filtration, but I'm not sure.

Today I called a local oil distributor and they came up with a "76 brand VG68 food grade machinery oil". I dispatched my other half to pick up a 5 gallon drum (the smallest quantity they sell). When she turned up with the oil I started having concerns and attempted to find specs and equivalents online.

It seems that the VG68 oil is available in different viscosities and I'm not really sure what the one I have is  ???

Any and all info & advice would be welcome.
 
Most oils come in assorted viscosities.  What is the lowest temp you will be operating the pump at (you said marine so I'm assuming it's over 32 degrees F)  Take a small amount, put it in the freezer overnight, and then in the morning take it out and pour it from the freezer container to another container,, If it flows well, use it.
 
Tom said:
I'm trying to find a hydraulic oil that is specified as:

"USE AW 68 grade hydraulic oil processed to ISO 17/15/12 and/or filtered to 3-microns or less. Mobile ?DTE? 68 or Shell ?Tellus? 68 are acceptable fluids."

The application is a hydraulic pump used in a marine application, so biodegradable is good in the event of a leak. My understanding of those ISO specs is that they relate to the degree of filtration, but I'm not sure.

Today I called a local oil distributor and they came up with a "76 brand VG68 food grade machinery oil". I dispatched my other half to pick up a 5 gallon drum (the smallest quantity they sell). When she turned up with the oil I started having concerns and attempted to find specs and equivalents online.

It seems that the VG68 oil is available in different viscosities and I'm not really sure what the one I have is  ???

Any and all info & advice would be welcome.
Click to expand...

Not an expert but know that the AW means anti-wear and that means zinc is in the formulation. I don't think food grade would have zinc but --
The 68 is the ISO viscosity i.e AW is made in 32, 46, 68 ,etc. viscosities. My motorhome uses AW 46 in its hydraulics. I had trouble finding it in gallon lots but 5 gallons was available in anumber of places.
 
My company builds hydraulic winches and launching systems.  Depending on the prices from suppliers we use various brands of HVI (high viscosity index) hydraulic oils mostly in ISO 46 weight but 68 is used for consistently higher temperatures (greater than 50 degrees F).  There are several "biodegradable" oils out there - Envirorite is one brand but you will loose a lot of service life with it and many equipment manufacturers will not honor warranties if it is used.  If you really want to take care of your equipment AND the environment then take a look at Royal Purples's Marine Hydraulic Oil.  It's not biodegradable but passes zero toxicity tests.  It is a synthetic and we call it a "lifetime oil" if its not contaminated.  Water will separate very quickly form it so you can drain it off the bottom of your tank when some gets in.  Most oils that call themselves biodegradable are technically not because their viscosity is too high but since they are made of vegetable oils they get away with it. 

Lots of babble but for what its worth just use a good name brand ISO 68.  The HVI designation means it will hold its usable viscosity over a wider range of temperature.
 
Thanks for all the inputs.

James, I appreciate your expertise. I'm not a hydraulic (or oil) guy, so this was all strange to me. I didn't/couldn't figure out that AW68 and ISO 68 were the same grade oil.

Here's the spec from the hoist supplier, which makes no mention of the environmental issue we face in CA. But it does make a big deal about filtration to a 3 micron particle size. I made numerous phone calls last evening and early today, including to the pump manufacturer, the hoist manufacturer, the boat manufacturer and several service/maintenance companies, before figuring out that folks generally use what's available.

The hoist manufacturer buys oil in bulk, filters it and sells it in 1 gallon containers. But they can't ship oil across country. They say their valves are manufactured to such a tight tolerance that they need the oil filtered to 3 micron.

I chose to use the 76 brand VG68 food grade machinery oil that my other half picked up yesterday. It works, but I discovered I have a leak below the water line, which means a haul-out. The boat is due for bottom paint anyway, so we'll do both at the same time.
 
Wow..3 microns is very hard to attain.  There is a lot more to cleanliness levels than just saying 3 microns.  All of our systems are rated to run on 10 micron filtration which can be attained even in a marine environment.  I'm going to get with my hydraulic engineers and send you a better description of cleanliness levels.  We do in house testing of all fluids before and after a system is run.  I do know that the Royal Purple Marine hydraulic oil meet our requirements right out of the barrel.  Oil from bulk tanks is usually the worst offender.  We did that once about 20 years ago and learned our lesson so all oil regardless of manufacture comes in new sealed factory supplied drums.
 
Just a brief follow-up in case anyone is interested...

After using the 76 "food grade" oil, I found the Tellus 68 oil at a Shell distributor. Tellus is sold specifically as hydraulic oil and is available in 3 weights. These folks sell it every day and have it available in 55 gallon drums, 5 gallon pails, or from the overhead into your own container. I bought a 5 gallon pail and now all I have to do is flush the other stuff out and replace it with the good stuff.

BTW I found the cause of the underwater leak - a loose fitting, but it necessitated hauling the boat and pressure washing to be able to see and check all the fittings.

Also found a couple of sources for hydraulic fittings; One of the local tractor supply places has all that stuff and Napa Auto Parts stores have some.
 
Tom said:
Just a brief follow-up in case anyone is interested...

After using the 76 "food grade" oil, I found the Tellus 68 oil at a Shell distributor. Tellus is sold specifically as hydraulic oil and is available in 3 weights....
Click to expand...
It's not blue/violet color is it?

 
I have no idea what blue/violet is.

The "food grade" oil is clear and the consistency of salad dressing. The Tellus 68 is slightly colored, maybe a little yellow/gold (the other half says it looked like "cooking oil").
 
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