Sink or Swim: Fluid Analysis + Marine

In today’s shipping environment, uptime, safety, equipment life extension and increasing oil drain intervals are, and should be, the focus of any fluids analysis program.

Realizing the most value from your programs, whether lubricants, coolants, fuels, grease or filter debris analysis can help avoid:

  • Unscheduled down time and unplanned maintenance and associated costs for repair
  • Urgent requirements for lubricant replenishment inventory on short notice or in remote areas
  • Extra lubricants expense incurred by changing the oil unnecessarily without the benefit of a historical analysis report
  • Undetected problems manifesting into eventual catastrophic equipment failure

Oil analysis has been around since the 1940’s but, has matured significantly since then. Equipment has also evolved as design or environmental pressures have placed requirements for some equipment to be lighter in weight, be more fuel efficient and be manufactured to higher tolerances with more exotic materials. The result often places more stress to the lubricant, often with a lower volumes of lubricant in circulation to save weight.

Standard Practices

Take for example, marine or power plant engines with anti-polishing rings in the cylinder liners. The use of anti-polishing rings result is lower oil consumption which is an advantage for the equipment owner, but already places higher duty on the lubricant due smaller oil sump volumes and less need for frequent oil top ups. Monitoring critical parameters such as base number with laboratory and onboard testing has worked well and is already proven to be an industry standard practice.

Seeing An ROI

The benefits of your fluids analysis program can very easily pay for itself by being able to more closely monitor equipment and fluid condition, help manage implementation of oil drain interval programs, and in all cases provides information on oil and machinery condition necessary to make informed decisions about operational reliability and future maintenance.

With management reporting tools, a fluids analysis program can bring all of this information onto one platform, making interrogation of key performance indicators across assets much easier to visualize. Used properly, outliers can be detected more quickly. Of course, oil analysis is only one part of a complete maintenance program and should be used in conjunction with vibration, acoustics and thermography where applicable.

Free webinar on Fluid Analysis in the Marine Industry

If you’re interested in learning about fluid analysis as it relates to the maritime industry, I encourage you to attend our upcoming webinar on June 16. There is no cost to join and open to everyone!

Sink or Swim: How Fluid Analysis Saves Marine Engines

June 16 at 11 a.m. ET

See what will be covered and register here.

To learn more about POLARIS Laboratories® please contact us. We will show you the POLARIS Laboratories® way of helping you build a custom fluids analysis program with all the benefits of linking to your CMMS program, providing you with actionable fluids analysis commentary, and an online reporting portal, all with the benefits of being an independent laboratory and helping you save money.

 

Proven Impact. Proven Uptime. Proven Savings.
Let us prove it to you.

Published March 25, 2020

Keep Calm and Sample On

As governments try to slow the spread of COVID-19, businesses face new challenges involving logistics, shipping, border closures and quarantines. However, people are still counting on businesses like yours to continue transporting, producing, powering, mining and operating like normal.

So, where does that leave you? Keep sampling, that’s what!

If you are able, we encourage you to keep calm and keep sampling. After all, many years of feedback from our customers confirms fluid analysis is one of the most cost-effective ways to keep equipment operational, especially because it also saves maintenance technicians time. Knowing how helpful our service is to our customers, POLARIS Laboratories® has put new policies in place to keep workers healthy and our laboratories operational. Click here to read our official COVID-19 message to customers.

We’re Here to Help You

Circumstances may arise that close one of our laboratories or prevent samples from being transported to your normal laboratory. In that case, our “one lab, multiple locations” system will provide you with quality testing and analysis no matter which of our laboratories your samples arrive at. Ship your sample to whichever location you can get it to, and we’ll work quickly to get testing started and results back to you. A list of our six global laboratory locations is listed below. We’ve got you covered.

Indianapolis
7451 Winton Drive
Indianapolis, IN 46268

Houston
10910 W. Sam Houston Parkway N.,
Suite 700
Houston, TX 77064-6314

Salt Lake City
3060 W. California Avenue, Suite B
Salt Lake City, UT 84104

Edmonton
5140 75th Street
Edmonton, Alberta Canada T6E 6W2

Guatemala
Calzada Atanasio Tzul 22-00 zona 12, 01012
Centro Empresarial El Cortijo II, Ofibodega 319
Guatemala City, Guatemala

Poznan
ul.Rubież 46H, 61- 612
Poznan, Poland

We will all face challenges with this crisis, but we can overcome them by working together. POLARIS Laboratories® is here when and where you need us.

Proven Impact. Proven Uptime. Proven Savings.
Let us prove it to you.

Published March 24, 2020

How to Optimize Your Asset Health

The average asset manager runs an average of approximately 10,000 hours on the asset before it’s sold. So, you’ve had your asset for a while, but it has come time to sell it. Yet, you wonder how much life is left on that asset? If you keep it for another 10,000 hours, you can save a lot of money in replacement costs and maintenance. Your asset has run well, you know its maintenance history and you ask yourself do I really need to sell it?

Deciding whether to repair or sell

Many fleets run equipment to about 80 percent of their life expectancy then sell off. But, did you know you can incorporate filter debris analysis to determine equipment reliability at that 80 percent life expectancy? If an issue is found, you can proceed with a rebuild/repair or they can sell. Things to consider when making the decision to sell:

  • Did you buy your asset used?
  • How was your asset’s maintenance history prior to you buying it?
Utilizing filter debris analysis

You can utilize filter debris analysis (FDA) to determine how your asset is and how it’s holding up. Here are a couple of recommendations how to incorporate FDA into your program, depending on the estimated life expectancy:

0-20% You could characterize this as break in or, in the case of used equipment, the baseline of your equipment. What is the wear pattern in the first 20% of your usage of the asset? Submitting three filters with oil samples on regular intervals can give you a pattern.
20-80%  Recommended to test only when wear metal trends are increasing, or you see a significant jump in wear metals
80%>  This is what is referred to a senior asset. Submitting three filters with oil samples on regular intervals can give you a pattern. Then review to determine retesting interval based on results of the FDA results. You may find you need to sell your asset before significant maintenance will occur, or you may find your asset has plenty of life on it.
See what’s being caught in your filter

FDA is a great tool to add to your asset reliability toolbox. It compliments fluid analysis testing by seeing not just the data circulating in the oil, but what is being caught in the filter. This data is crucial to understanding the reliability of your equipment.

See how one company was able to to save more than $250,000 by performing the testing and avoiding gearbox replacements.

Is filter debris analysis something you want to start performing on your asset? Contact your account manager or custserv@eoilreports.com to add it to your program.

Proven Impact. Proven Uptime. Proven Savings.
Let us prove it to you.

Published March 18, 2020

COVID-19 Readiness at POLARIS Laboratories®

At this time, we are operating laboratories as usual and will communicate if there are any changes or if we temporarily close any laboratories.

Like you, we have spent the last several weeks learning about the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) and how it is impacting our world.

We’ve prioritized ensuring the health and well-being of our employees and their communities with the importance of continuing to provide our customers timely service and vital maintenance information. That has been at the core of all our conversations.

With that in mind, we have implemented a plan in each of our facilities, which will only advance precautionary measures if a POLARIS Laboratories® employee tests positive to the virus (or been in contact with someone who has) or local health departments or state/federal government guidelines call for stricter measures to keep employees and customers safe.

In the Event a Laboratory Needs to Close
Through operating seven global laboratory locations, POLARIS Laboratories® operates under the idea of One Laboratory, Multiple Locations, meaning customers receive the same customer service and data support no matter what laboratory performs the testing. Even if one laboratory closes for safety measures, samples will be re-routed to the next closest laboratory until the affected location resumes normal operations.

We’re Still Here to Help You
As it relates to accessing and supporting our HORIZON® data platform, our application development and customer service teams are prepared to ensure all technology operations and support functions remain accessible during these times:

  • We have contingency plans in place to ensure service and support can be provided in the event of any facility closing.
  • Each employee has remote access capabilities to operate through secure connections to ensure data privacy.
  • We will continue to provide customer service and data analysis support when you need it.

Supplies and Test Kit Ordering
We have not received notification of any supplies or products being on back-order or companies on standby. So, we will continue to promptly fulfill all orders received.

During these challenging times, we are well positioned to meet your needs and help you access results and information to help you save more of your equipment. If you are seeking something more, less or different, please share your needs and we’ll be sure to provide the information you need. Contact your account manager or the POLARIS Laboratories® customer service team for assistance.

Thanks for your continued support and understanding. POLARIS Laboratories® values our business partnership and we’ll be here to continue serving you during these evolving times.

Appearance May Not Tell the Whole Story

 

Appearances can be deceiving! During every PM you need to be monitoring your cooling system.

Your coolant should be clear of precipitate and have the appearance of new fluid when first put into the system. However, only monitoring the appearance may not tell the whole story of the health of the cooling system. Appearance can indicate some concerns when an odor or clarity change occur. However, with further testing performed at regular PM intervals, in conjunction with laboratory testing to monitor the health of the cooling system, concerns can be caught earlier rather than just monitoring the appearance.

Some early system concerns that will not be visible by just looking at your coolant:

  • Corrosion
  • Hard water contamination
  • Chemical reaction impacting pH levels
  • Inhibitor levels
  • Degradation due to overheating
  • Glycol concentration for adequate freeze point and boil point control

One of these coolant samples caused a $500,000 replacement on the equipment. Can you tell which one?

Utilizing proper testing to monitor the cooling system and fluid health are very important for maintaining your equipment.

The cooling system is critical to maintaining proper temperature for the equipment. Approximately 40 to 50 percent of preventable engine failures can be traced back to problems in the cooling system. Of those failures due to the cooling system, 80 percent of the concerns can be identified and corrected early before attributing to engine concerns leading to an unnecessary failure. Proper testing will detect problems that are not visible to the naked eye and determine if the cooling system is able to protect your equipment and prevent unexpected equipment down time and increase maintenance costs.

Learn more about the importance of field testing coolants at every PM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Proven Impact. Proven Uptime. Proven Savings.
Let us prove it to you.

Published March 11, 2020