Learn oil/fluid lab analysis & condition monitoring

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Learn Oil Analysis

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Secrets of OCM

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Welcome to the definitive resource on all things oil analysis. Take a look around the site and register for free to get full access to the learn oil analysis book series.

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Latest & Popular Articles

See the latest and most popular articles on oil analysis that have been posted to find out more about how oil analysis works and the benefits it could be doing for you.

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See below the learn oil analysis crib sheet for identifying each of the elements you see on your oil analysis reports.

Find out how wear metals, contamination elements, wear particle quantification index (PQ / ferrous debris) and additive metals are tested below, what each element on a report means and how to diagnose which components on failing.

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Source element guide - contamination, wear metal, additives and multi-origin elements

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I recently had a long weekend in the south of England and did a little sight seeing getting the most out of my national trust and English heritage passes. Whilst there, I visited stone henge, one of the UK's and potentially the world's most recognisable ancient monuments. Listening to the audio tour, the guide was explaining about the numerous restoration projects that had taken place on the site and one peaked my interest.

In 1900 one of the larger trilithons (the two parallel stones with on...

Can you make your lube oil last 5000 years?

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This article will answer the following questions:

What is a Total Acid Number (TAN) and what is a Total base number (TBN)?

When to change engine oil and what indicates an oil is spent?

Acid Number – This is the concentration of acid in the fluid. The new oil value may not be zero since some oil additives react similar to acids with the reagents used for testing. Hence it is important to monitor the trend in change of TAN from a baseline sample or new oil reference. In engine a...

What do Acid Number (AN / TAN) and Base Number (BN / TBN) mean on a lube oil sample analysis report?

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This article will answer the following questions:

Why and how do lubricants fail?
Why do I need to change my oil?
Do I have to use the recommended oil for my machine?

Lubricant failure means the basic lubricant functions have become overwhelmed, which ultimately can lead to wear and machine failure. This article will discuss some of the ways lubricants can fail.
Under / insufficient lubricationThis can be thought of as anything preventing lube oil getting to the right places at the righ...

MISS! - The 4 most common ways lubricants fail to hit the target

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This article will answer the following questions:

How dirty is my lube oil and how do I check my lubrcating oil cleanliness?

What are ISO 4406 and NAS SAE 4059 particle counts?

Everyone loves an underdog, but this is one example where you don't want them to win.

Dirt particles smaller than can be seen with the naked eye may appear small when compared to towering machinery. However dirt particles are one of the number one causes of premature machinery failures. Although the part...

David vs Goliath. Why you want Goliath to win? How dirt can destroy your machinery and oil sampling can detect this early to prevent a failure.

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Oil analysis has been used in plant machinery (diggers, tractors etc) in the construction, mining, agriculture and forestry industries for almost half a century now. Pretty much every construction OEM has its own analysis programme and both myself, and my father before me were responsible for helping many of the OEMs (Original Equipment manufacturers) setup these programmes.
The problems of being too successfulThe problem in recent years is oil analysis has been so successful in helping keep mac...

Why construction, mining, agriculture & forestry industries use oil analysis?

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An interesting case I had recently where I was asked to do a bit of independent consultancy after 5 small cable laying vessels suddenly started experiencing engine problems. I came into this half way through as a neutral party for the bunker fuel storage owners, the vessel owners and the fuel suppliers. It had already been established the issue seemed to have arrisen after the vessels had each filled up at the same place, but the confusion was that many other vessels had used the same location a...

Learn oil analysis and the the case of the contaminated fuel

Why Oil Analysis Matters?

Oil Analysis is used by people just like you all over the world to reduce machinery downtime and improve equipment reliability. A small sample of oil from your machinery can provide as much information as a full machine strip down at a fraction of the cost and has been a proven technology for over 60 years to reduce forced shutdowns and failure repair costs. Want to understand how oil and grease analysis works and how it applies to you then watch this short video below.

How Much Can Oil Analysis Save Me?

Oil analysis is a brilliant tool that can save you money each time you sample. The returns on investment vary depending on your machinery type, so feel free to use our sister sites cost saving calculator at the bottom of their FAQ Page.

Read the Book

By registering for free to our quarterly newsletter and logging in you can read the industry leading textbook series on oil analysis “Learn Oil Analysis”

Ask a question

Ask a question on oil analysis directly to the site author. This can also include requests on how and with whom to start fluid sampling. You can also contact the author on linkedin.

See our Training Courses

Register for free and get access to some of our great short oil analysis training training courses. Content is updated regularly and includes explanation of tests, sources of wear, how to take a sample and the benefits of oil Sampling. You can also book a dedicated training day for you and your team too or enquire about our deluxe online training programmes.

Welcome to Learn Oil Analysis

Training Videos

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viscosity preview Learn used oil analysis sample testing, lubrication reliability maintenance, predictive lab diagnostics to reduce costs & boost profits.

PQ preview Learn used oil analysis sample testing, lubrication reliability maintenance, predictive lab diagnostics to reduce costs & boost profits.

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elemental analysis preview Learn used oil analysis sample testing, lubrication reliability maintenance, predictive lab diagnostics to reduce costs & boost profits.

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Get your oil tested

If you have never had your oil tested before then what are you waiting for and get in contact with a lab today. There are many reputable labs all across the world that offer excellent oil analysis services you can use including our sister lab – Oil Analysis Laboratories, which is the only lab in the world to offer the LubeWear test. LubeWear identifies abnormal wear far earlier than traditional wear metal analysis techniques meaning you can catch faults earlier to keep your machine reliability at its highest. A brief video explanation of the rest can be viewed below.