A Better Oil Sampling Equipment List by Using this Information
Rank the quality of the oil sampling location and the quality of each sample on your oil sampling equipment list.
A long-time chemical company client in Waggaman, Louisiana shared a spreadsheet copy of their oil sampling equipment list that features very useful detail that I rarely see. The data includes the quality of sampling location and the quality of the most recent sample. I recommend that all of our customers track this level of detail on their oil sampling equipment lists.
Include a sample location grade as well as a most recent sample quality grade.
On this customer‘s list they include typical descriptions of each critical piece of equipment, i.e. UNIT, AREA, TAG NUMBER, DESCRIPTION, NAME OF FLUID, GRADE OF FLUID. In addition they note the actual sampling location on the unit with a pull down list of options such as, Fill Line, Supply Line, Return Line, Filter Housing, Cooler Drain, and they also rank the quality of the sampling location on a 1 to 5 scale. For example, if a lube oil circulating system has a Return Line location with a 5 rank for location, this indicates an optimal sampling location is already in use. The optimal location is downstream of rotating equipment and upstream of filtration. A Drain Line location receives the lowest score of 1 for sampling location. Adjacent to the sample location score, our client notes any plans to improve the sampling location in the future.
Lastly, the most recent sample from each sampling location receives a 0 to 4 ranking for sample Clarity and a 0 to 4 ranking for Contamination level. A 0 indicates a perfect is a perfect score for both Clarity or Contamination and a 4 is the worst. Before any oil sample arrives at MRT for analysis, this customer’s reliability team can already quantify whether the most recent sample from each unit is clear or cloudy and whether it is visibly contaminated with particle debris using the 0 to 4 scale. We strongly encourage sharing this sample quality score across the facility and throughout the team. If a bad sample is being shipped to the lab, the team can already expect an abnormal test result before the lab report is completed.
Please consider adding all of this this useful information to your equipment list and call us with any questions.