Monitoring Grease for Reliable Lubrication
Grease does more than lubricate bearings and other critical components—it also holds valuable information about equipment health. Through routine grease analysis, maintenance teams can detect contamination, identify wear, monitor lubricant condition and make informed maintenance decisions before problems become costly failures.
Grease testing is designed to provide maintenance professionals with the level of information needed to continue operations with confidence, allow for scheduled maintenance actions and identify concerns that require immediate action. Rather than evaluating new grease or determining grease compatibility, the testing focuses on assessing the condition of grease currently in service and the equipment it protects.
Read the Technical Bulletin Grease Reliability Testing Programs here.
What Can Grease Testing Show You?
- Evidence of abnormal wear through ferrous debris and wear metals
- Water contamination that can accelerate component damage
- Oxidation and chemical degradation of the grease
- Contamination from dirt, debris or other external sources
- Changes in grease condition that may reduce its ability to protect critical components
These insights help maintenance teams make proactive decisions, extend component life and reduce the risk of unexpected downtime.
How Often Should You Test Grease?
Routine grease testing helps uncover issues that may not be visible during routine inspections, so it’s vital to stay on top of things. Testing frequency should reflect the criticality of the asset and its operating environment. High-value or heavily loaded equipment typically benefit from more frequent monitoring, while less demanding applications can be incorporated into routine preventive maintenance schedules. A consistent testing program allows trends to be established and potential issues to be identified early.
Basic vs Advanced Grease Testing
The POLARIS Laboratories® Grease Reliability Testing Program offers three levels of analysis to match your maintenance objectives.
Basic Grease Testing provides an assessment of overall grease health by evaluating Color, water contamination through Water by Crackle, Ferrous Debris Level (FDM) and chemical changes through FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy) analysis. It serves as an effective first step for identifying wear, contamination and lubricant degradation.
Ferrous Wear Identification Testing helps uncover the story behind the results when basic grease testing points to abnormal wear. By comparing elemental metals with total ferrous debris and using analytical ferrography to examine wear particles under a microscope, the test identifies the type, severity and potential source of wear. This deeper analysis helps maintenance teams distinguish normal wear from developing failures.
Advanced Grease Testing goes beyond screening to provide a more complete picture of grease conditions. Along with the basic tests, it includes Elemental Metals Analysis, Consistency, ATP Content testing for microbial contamination, Water by Karl Fischer and LSV (RULER) testing to evaluate antioxidant remaining useful life. These advanced diagnostics help quantify contamination, assess grease degradation and determine whether the lubricant is still providing the protection your equipment requires.
Read more on Advanced Testing in our recent article in Precision Lubrication What Advanced Grease Tests Actually Tell You and How to Use Them
Learn more about all grease analysis tests in our Grease Tests FAQs
Small Sample. Big Impact
Grease is often overlooked as a source of condition monitoring data, but the right testing program can reveal valuable insight into both lubricant health and equipment performance. Whether you’re establishing a baseline with basic analysis or uncovering deeper reliability trends through advanced testing, routine grease analysis helps monitor conditions and transform maintenance decisions from reactive to proactive.
Published July 10, 2026
