vacuum pump oil

[wood burner]

I have an airablo 1.5 hp vacuum pump. Can anyone tell me what the oil in the reclaimer is. Dealers tell me I should use the airablo oil, but really, is it just a quality grade hydraulic oil ? Quite a difference in cost.

[batsofbedlam]

The oil in the reclaimer is the oil you put into the pump. The reclaimer just condenses the vapor mist given off from the pump under vacuum. Scrimping on oil will severely shorten the life of your pump.

[PerryFamily]

I've used both expensive delaval pump oil and quality hydraulic oil and I didn't notice any difference

[BreezyHill]

Most hydraulic oils are not nonfoaming. Nonfoaming simply means it will not hold moisture when it sits. This is very important if you wan your pump to last more than a few seasons. Suspended moisture will damage any and all metal surfaces it comes in contact with.

The oil in the reclaimer is the condensated oil vapor that was expelled from the pump during regular operation. The reclaimed vapor is run back thru the pump to cool and lubricate the pump.

Think of it like this: If your baby has a skin infection and needs antibiotic are you going to go to the pharmacy and buy the medication needed or go to the dollar store and buy an over the counter cream.

Regular hydraulic oil will carry water and those little ice crystals will tear up seals and the water will corrode the metal of the pump. Thus you will need to change the oil often to combat the water issue. Much cheaper to buy vac oil from TSC and drain off any water.

The pump is your work horse, take good care of it and it will provide for you for years to come.

Ben

[wood burner]

Thank you. Your input has been very helpul.

[red maples]

Good point breezyhill. I used to use compressor oil but it would turn grey and be filled with water. I now use the dairy pump oil from TSC. It was recommended to me by Morningstar, its great the water(sap) moisture NEVER mixed in with the oil and it settles to the bottom of the oil pan and you can drain it out even while the pump is running just to get rid of excess water during the day. I put a ball valve on the drain of the pump and and a clear tube it will run clear as soon as it goes back to blue shut and its good to go. ITs $16 a gallon from TSC. I had to special order it but they carry it now. works perfectly and its designed to run in both piston and vein pumps.

[sjdoyon]

The oil quality can impact the performance of your pump. Our airablo 7.5 HP runs very hot when weather temps warm up but we still are able to get 27" of vacuum from the pump (might not be an issue for a 1.5hp pump). We normally change the oil three times during the operating season. Our neighbor runs the same pump with cheap oil and has trouble maintaining 24" of vacuum. We buy the Shell Rotella (I think it's T3) with rust oxidation. We tried running some cheap oil and found the pump would break down the oil quality rapidly.

[BreezyHill]

The oil quality can impact the performance of your pump. We buy the Shell Rotella (I think it's T3) with rust oxidation.

We use Rotella T in all the diesel trucks and tractors...Great motor oil! Be very careful in a pump as this is not a nonfoaming oil, but a low low foaming property oil. Often changing of the oil will reduce the issue.

[TheMapleMoose]

Digging up an old thread here...

I have a 3/4 hp airablo, and my father used a 3hp. We both run cooler kits on them. We ran into some moisture issues with his a few seasons ago, but were able to solve it with a combination of upping the cooler temp, and moving the pump into a heated room. (the pump was building massive moisture, and then freezing in the head, and breaking the vanes...rookie mistake)

Since then, his oil always seems to be milky opaque colored. The pump seems to run fine, and we can create high vacuum. The dealer doesn't know what causes it, so we've cautiously moved forward, and haven't had any issues.

This is the 3rd season on my 3/4 hp, and whenever I drained off any moisture the oil still looked new. Clear yellow (maybe green? Sorry I'm color blind). Now after about 36 hours of service the oil is all opaque.

We do oil and filter changes on them every season, and we use the airablo oil because leader told us not to use anything else. We drain the moisture from the reclaimers every 24 hours.

Just wondering what causes the opaqueness in the oil? Is it something that is an issue to run with, or is it fine? I don't have a problem doing another oil change, and using a different product like the blue vacuum oil from TSC as we have a store local. But at this point, we only have 5 gallons of airablo oil, and I'd hate to using it all on oil changes, and be stuck in an emergency. It would be a days trip, atleast, to get more airablo oil.

Is the milky oil a problem?

[Wanabe1972]

I used some oil I got from work a few years back that was made for large vacuum pumps. I can't remember the name but it also would get murky and almost metallic look after a very short period of time. The biggest problem is the water would not separate from it and needed the oils changed after a few days. I went with the TSC blue when Breezyhill suggested and i could not be happier. You can hit the drain valve on the reclaimer and draw the water off until you hit oil and your good to go. This oil does give off a lot of vapor when the weather is warm but I can live with this.

[BreezyHill]

Last season I had a pump failure due to motor oil accidentally put into a vac pump. Plugged the oil rail feed line and the pump over heated. Foaming oil is not a good choice. TSC blue is relatively cheap and cools very well. If you can keep the pump under 150 you will cut the vapor down a lot.

[RollinsOrchards]

Digging up an old thread here...

and moving the pump into a heated room.

Since then, his oil always seems to be milky opaque colored. The pump seems to run fine, and we can create high vacuum.



On the vacuum pump we milk the cows with it gets that way during some seasons. I always attributed it to moisture being more easily mixed with the oil in warmer temps of the pump, but the oil in the reclaimer being too cold to properly separate. I could be misguided about that.

I just change the oil when I don't like the color of it. It's cheap enough.