Fuel Testing | POLARIS Laboratories®

Preparing for Winter Weather

winter-weather
Did you know your coolant and diesel fuel can both be negatively impacted by nasty winter weather? Monitoring your fluids before this unpredictable season can help you avoid damage to your equipment as well as unexpected downtime.

There’s nothing worse than having an asset break down in the cold, snowy slush of winter. To keep any unwanted damage from occurring, you need to make sure you are performing the right tests on your coolant and diesel fuel.

When you start monitoring your diesel fuel, cloud point, pour point, and cold filter plug point testing can help you determine if your fuel is able to perform at low temperatures. It’s important to conduct these tests as, in cold weather, the paraffins in your diesel fuel will form filter clogging wax crystals– causing a major engine issue.

Coolant can also run into trouble in the winter. When glycol levels are low, the freeze protection may not be adequate for the winter cold. This is a major problem that results in extremely expensive repairs plus downtime to fix the issue. Testing your glycol percent and refraining from mixing your coolant can help you avoid any unplanned maintenance.

To learn more about how winter can impact your equipment health, download this winter health sheet. If you have any questions feel free to contact us at custserv@eoilreports.com.

Proven Impact. Proven Uptime. Proven Savings.
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Realizing Your Return on Investment, One Step at a Time

Whether your goal is to save money on equipment repairs or eliminate any excessive downtime, fluid analysis is an incredible diagnostic tool for enhancing maintenance programs. Used correctly, it can result in increased productivity, reduced maintenance costs and a serious boost in profits.

With the right combination of expert input and high level software, maximizing the Return On Investment (ROI) of your fluid analysis program is simple. If you’re ready to take action to discover your ROI, follow these ten simple steps.

Set goals you can reach. If you’re not sure what your goals should be, our team at POLARIS Laboratories® can help you set manageable targets for your business.
Designate a program champion. In addition to an experienced, well-trained team of maintenance professionals, a program champion can serve in a leadership role. Under their guidance, your program is sure to stay on track.
Decide what to test. Make sure your test package reflects your maintenance needs. Whether you’re looking to extend drains or reduce downtime, your tests should reflect those predetermined goals.
Establish a sampling frequency. There is no one-size-fits-all answer when it comes to sampling frequencies. When deciding your sampling frequency, be sure to take into account the recommendations of the original equipment manufacturer, the equipment’s environment as well as well as the timing of the sample.
Have a complete view of your equipment. The more you know about your equipment, the more information you can supply. This information is critical as data analysts work to provide in-depth comments and recommendations.
Take action to minimize your sample turnaround time. Pre-logging your sample information online, providing clear instructions and tightly closing all sample lids are all good ways to help ensure a fast turnaround time.
Once you receive your reports, take action! Receiving the reports is not enough, you must review the data analyst’s recommendations and take action to address critical reports. This could mean anything from ordering more testing, re-sampling, monitoring a unit or taking immediate action.
Organize your data. Use a data management system to run reports and identify trends within your data.
Continue monitoring your fluid analysis system. Make sure you’re taking appropriate action and providing feedback to the laboratory on actions taken.
Choose the right laboratory. Choose an accredited laboratory that fits your program needs.

Keeping clear, detailed accounts of your management reports and your actions taken will not only help you realize the ROI of fluid analysis but also help you show others the value of your program.

For more information on maximizing the ROI from your fluid analysis program, download this technical bulletin.

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

Responding to Severity Reports

No equipment is safe from the wear and tear that comes from operating in the harsh conditions of a mining site. The challenging environment, along with the extreme load variations and the high costs involved in equipment replacement, makes avoiding catastrophic failure exceedingly important.

Many mining companies turn towards fluid analysis as a means of avoiding the high replacement costs associated with these extreme conditions. In fact, routine testing helps maintenance professionals identify problems in their equipment before full scale failures occur. Utilizing fluid analysis allows managers to take control of their reliability programs.

Read the Full Case Study

Tracking Sources of Contamination

It’s no secret contamination has a negative impact on machinery. The trouble is, potential sources of contamination can be found in a number of common locations. The key is knowing how to track down the source and drive action to limit the impact it has on equipment.

A leading manufacturer of engines, filtration, and power generation products, established diesel fuel quality, oil drains, engine oil, hydraulic and transmission, engine failure and cooling systems were hot button topics for their company as well as their customers. After identifying these pain points, they determined contamination was an issue they wanted to actively help their customers address and alleviate.

Read the Full Case Study

Optimizing Program Management

The backbone of every oil analysis program is the efficiency of the program’s management system. Managing equipment in an organized manner is a vital step towards saving time, reducing errors and accurately tracking the return on investment (ROI).

A leading company in the oil and fuel industry uses POLARIS Laboratories® program management software, HORIZON®, as the centerpiece of their maintenance management system. Focused on improving their program organization, they found that using this system helped increase their overall productivity

Read the Full Case Study

Dos and Don’ts of Sample Submission

In a hurry to receive your sample results? The method you use to submit your sample for analysis has a significant impact on the speed in which your samples are received and processed by our team. At POLARIS Laboratories® we are working continuously to simplify the sample submission process, introducing a simple to use label and making sample submission available online via HORIZON®.

While these new methods have helped improve the overall process, there are a few simple steps you can take to ensure your samples arrive at the laboratory ready for processing!

Following these dos and don’ts will help you improve how you send your samples:

Do:

Choose the correct sample bottle for your sample
Make sure the cap on the bottle is tightly secured
Follow these steps to fill out your EZ label
Write clearly
Fill out as much information about your sample as possible
Send samples via UPS or FedEx for quicker turnaround time
Take advantage of your carrier’s package tracking feature
Take advantage of HORIZON

Don’t:

Hurry! Speeding through the sample process could lead to mistakes
Use a bottle not made for sampling
Leave blanks in your sample information
Forget to include the EZ label with your bottle (if you did not submit online)
Send via USPS if you’re on deadline

Spending a few extra minutes correctly packaging and sending your sample will help ensure you receive your results in a timely manner as well as improve the maintenance recommendations you receive from our data analysts.

If you have any questions about your sampling methods or your order, please feel free to reach out to us at custserv@eoilreports.com.

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

Extending Component and Equipment Life

In the same way early detection is used in human health to spot damage to the body, early detection is an important part of maintaining equipment health. Embracing predictive maintenance technology is an essential part of maintaining healthy equipment, lowering the time spent performing maintenance and reducing costs.

Utilizing the reliability model and concepts associated with this method helps maintenance teams extend their component and equipment lifecycles. A leading pharmaceutical company utilizes the predictive maintenance methodology and the four major predictive technologies to improve the reliability of their maintenance program. Using the method, the team tests compressors, hydraulic systems, bearings, gears and other components

Read the Full Case Study

Unexpected maintenance slowing you down?

Unexpected maintenance seems to always happen at the worst possible time. Whether you have a tight deadline to make or a limited budget, performing unexpected maintenance is never fun. At POLARIS Laboratories® we like to encourage our customers to make the switch from ‘reactive’ maintenance to ‘preventive’ maintenance in order to prepare for these unwanted surprises.

Relying on reactive maintenance does little to save you money or time. While responding in real time may seem like the easiest route, it too often results in extended downtime and unforeseen (not to mention expensive) maintenance costs.

Many of the issues causing downtime can silently build up in your machine over an extended period of time. Instead of waiting for the worst to happen, you can utilize the information obtained through oil analysis to spot an abnormality in your machine or vehicle. This allows you to plan a machine’s upkeep and maintenance schedule on your own terms.

While making the switch may seem difficult, this change is actually easy to implement and has the capacity to completely transform your maintenance system. You would be surprised at the impact focusing on preventive maintenance can have on both your program’s reliability and the mindset of your maintenance team.

Preventive maintenance allows you to take control of your maintenance practices, saving you time and money. If you’re interested in learning more about how you can improve your maintenance program, check out this case study or contact us today!

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

Changing Ourselves to Drive Customer Success

POLARIS Laboratories® embraces change because it is the only way to continuously improve the value of our oil analysis. Some changes are driven by feedback from employees, but often it’s the voice of the customer that drives us to become better.

Each month we send surveys to customers to discover what we are doing well and what needs improvement. Recently, survey comments requested more information in our results comments to help maintenance programs diagnose what is causing abnormal conditions in their equipment.

We took a closer look at our report comments. Wear and contamination comments contained quite a bit of information on potential causes and how to correct the problem, but fluid property comments lacked some of these details.

Our customers pointed out a valid area to improve, so improve it we did. Comments on viscosity, acid number, base number, pH, oxidation and nitration now include more details and possible root causes.

Our ultimate goal is for customers to be confident they are making the right maintenance decisions based on their analysis results. Expanding the report comments is one way we’re helping customers save their equipment.

Log into HORIZON and open a recent report to see the expanded comments for yourself.

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

Monitor Biodiesel “Shelf Life” – Test for Bacteria, Fungi and Mold

The use of biodiesel and biodiesel blends is continuing to become more prevalent in the marketplace. Implementation is easy because the fuels work with existing fuel systems with little to no effect on performance.

Yet biodiesel fuels are not without problems. They are prone to biological growth and may need special treatment for optimum cold weather performance. Regular testing can help find issues early before they develop and plug fuel filters.

Biodiesel and biodiesel blends are a natural food source for biological growth. Water contamination is a concern for any fuel because, along with corroding the storage tank, water also aids in microbial growth. Testing fuel regularly for bacteria, fungi, and mold, as well as monitoring water content, is recommended to know when treatment is needed.

Testing becomes even more critical as we approach the cooler winter months. Winter temperatures could dip below your fuel’s cloud and pour points which causes filter-plugging wax crystals to form. Biodiesel and biodiesel blends naturally have a higher pour point than #1 and #2 diesel fuel, meaning that they could present cold weather problems sooner. Thankfully, additives are available that can lower cloud point and pour points if a problem is identified.

POLARIS Laboratories® recommends testing bulk fuel tanks every three months to stay on top of filter plugging problems. Regular testing will help you know when to treat your fuel before problems can escalate.

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