Dirt and Water in Gearboxes

Dirt and Water in Gearboxes

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Find out how we helped an aluminum refinery avoid several oil changes a year—saving them hundreds of thousands of dollars—by resolving their water and particulate contamination challenges.

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An aluminum refinery faced premature gearbox lube oil changes across seven base drive units due to persistent oil and particulate contamination issues. Operating at an average ISO code of 20/18/16 and water levels of 4742ppm, the 360 liters (90 gallons) of ISO VG320 gear oil required frequent replacement, costing the company $17,962.60 per gearbox change—a total of $125,738.20 for all seven units.

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The refinery recognized a potential for substantial savings and contacted Bennett Filtration to help. Focusing on conditioning gearbox lube oil, our team helped them select a Hy-Pro V5 vacuum dehydrator equipped with an oversized 3M (β5[c] > 1000) filter element to eliminate dirt and water from the oil. The V5 underwent a two-day service interval rotation among the seven top drives—efficiently purifying the oil by turning the sump volume 75 times daily.

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The results of these changes speak for themselves: Water content was drastically reduced by an average of 98%, from 4742ppm to 96ppm, while particulate contamination larger than 4µ[c] decreased by 95%, dropping the ISO code from 20/18/16 to 15/13/8. This helped the refinery extend overall oil life and reduce the frequency of oil changes, significantly increasing their reliability, profitability, and environmental sustainability. In the long term, they stand to triple gearbox life, yielding even more substantial savings.