How Moisture Gets into Your Lube Oil

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How Moisture Gets into Your Lube Oil
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Process Gas Streams

• When extracting process gases from the source,
  water is often inadvertently carried with it. In
  an ideal world this would be entirely
  inconsequential, however this is not the case. No
  seal is made perfect and there can be a transfer
  interface between the process gas stream and the
  lube oil. This can cause significant harm to your
  compression assets.

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The Environment

• A problem that is exacerbated but not exclusive
  to humid environments is your lube oils exposure
  to environmental moisture.  Although the
  non-polarity of your lube oil makes it difficult
  for water to become dissolved, this does not mean
  it is immune to adoption of water vapour from its
  surroundings and over a long period of time even
  small amounts will damage machinery.  

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• An incorrectly set up lube oil tank could be the
  major source of moisture contamination. The
  breathing process of the tank as it fills and
  drains (or as the oil expands and contracts)
  draws in air along with its associated dampness.
  This can quickly lead to your lube oil degrading
  to an unworkable state.

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How it damages your compressor

• There are many detrimental effects of having
  water present in your oil. Here are a few that
  will potentially deal the most damage

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Hydrogen Embrittlement

• Lube oil in compressors is naturally subject to
  extremely high pressures.  If moisture is
  present, then water splitting and hydrogen
  embrittlement can occur.  These are the processes
  by which hydrogen separates from oxygen and then
  diffuses into metals.  

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• Over time the metals at the compressor surface
  will suffer the coalescence of hydrogen molecules
  creating regions of high pressure, eventually
  leading to cracking and potentially catastrophic
  failure.

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Steam Micro-Explosions

• When dissolved water in oil undergoes rapid
  changes from high to low pressure, cavitation
  occurs.  The almost instantaneous vaporisation of
  water releases a huge amount of energy 100
  millilitres of water can turn into 100 litres of
  steam!  This creates miniature explosions which
  cause both pitting of internal surfaces and
  diminishing of lube oil effectiveness.

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Impaired Lubrication Ability

• Like Goldilocks porridge, the properties of the
  lube oil must be just right in order for you to
  safely feed it to your compressor. Having
  moisture present can dramatically alter the
  viscosity of the oil. This leads to bumping
  when bearing component clearances are breached
  and damage as the lubricant cannot adequately
  separate components.

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Accelerated Varnish Formation

• Varnish begins as small particulate adherent
  oxides which, when built up on surfaces, will
  cause the premature failure of critical
  components. Oxidation is the agent that beckons
  varnish nucleation, hence the inclusion of
  antioxidants in your lube oil additive packages.

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• Water and high temperatures cause the rapid
  consumption of antioxidants. After the
  antioxidants become depleted substantial
  varnish-related problems are inevitable.

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Sludge

• Electrostatic forces act between water and polar
  soot, resin, dirt and oxides. This can all
  cluster to form sludge that will impede oil flow.

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Corrosion

• Acid is given its eroding power by water. Pitted
  and etched surfaces in rolling areas compromise
  the oils film strength leading to a further
  decrease in lubrication performance.

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• Vacuum dehydrators remove water through a
  combination of temperature and vacuum pressure
  which evaporates and removes the water.  Vacuum
  dehydrators also remove entrained gas that is
  likely to be process gas that brought the
  moisture with it! 

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• This is an extremely effective way or eliminating
  water in all forms in your oil. By installing the
  dehydrator as a permanent attachment to a lube
  tank in a kidney loop, moisture can be made a
  problem of the past. This is a relatively cheap
  solution to ensure your lubricant is clean, dry,
  effective and lasts much longer.

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