Robco Expert

      The Benefits of Heated Covers for Industrial Liquids During Harsh Canadian Winters When it comes to handling industrial liquids during the brutal Canadian winters, maintaining the proper temperature is critical for efficiency and safety. Whether you're storing or transporting chemicals, oils, adhesives, or other sensitive materials in drums, pails, or totes, freezing conditions can severely impact their viscosity, usability, and even cause irreversible damage. One practical solution to this challenge is the use of heated covers or heating blankets. Here’s why they are essential for industrial applications. 1. Preventing Freezing and Maintaining Flow Canadian winters often bring sub-zero temperatures, which can cause industrial liquids to freeze or become too viscous to be effectively processed. Heated covers help maintain the fluidity of liquids by applying consistent, controlled warmth around drums, pails, or totes. This prevents costly downtime associated wi...

System Flushing is a bit of tricky business. In oil circulating systems, dirt, varnish, lacquer and sludge cleaned from the systems will become partially soluble in a flushing lubricant and can be carried to filters and oil pump intake screens. These should be closely monitored to assure continued oil flow. Deposits are also likely to settle to the lowest point of the oil reservoir. Large capacity, bypass or inline filtration is recommended during cleanup for many dirty systems since the standard filters lack capacity and can quickly plug. The Big Question is: When do we need to flush and when do we not need to flush an oil system? This is the question that many maintenance managers, planners and lubricant specialists have trouble deciding upon. Here are the main reasons to do an oil system flush: Does the oil analysis show signs of contamination due to water? Does the oil analysis show signs of metal wear in it? Has the Total Acid Number (TAN) incre...

  Thomas Cipriani – Product Specialist at Robco DEMYSTIFYING BIODEGRADABLE LUBRICANT TERMINOLOGY! What Does “Biodegradable Lubricant” Really Mean? The O rganization for E conomic C ooperation and D evelopment (OECD) developed a testing standard to determine the biodegradability of a product: OECD 301B. There are 2 classes; A) Readily Biodegradable > The product is able to biodegrade to its natural state after being subject to sunlight, water and/or microbial activity to a percentage of no less than 60% within 28 days. Readily Biodegradable lubricants are made with vegetable or canola base oils and are blended with synthetic esters. B) Inherently Biodegradable > The product is able to biodegrade to its natural state after being subject to sunlight, water and/or microbial activity to a percentage of as low as 20-60% within 28 days. They are most commonly used in sensitive areas requiring a “passing grade” on aquatic animal tests. They use additive chemistry contain...

  SELECTING AN OIL FOR A GEARBOX!   Thomas Cipriani – Product Specialist at Robco When selecting what oil to put into a gearbox we must consider 2 key items: Gear m etallurgy OEM spec ifications r equiring an oil with additives for : Extreme Pressure Rust & Oxidation W ith m etallurgy, t he main concern is with yellow metals (copper, bronze, etc..) Extreme Pressure o ils CANNOT be used as they will attack ing yellow metals. The gearbox OEM specs wi ll call for an oil with either Extreme Pressure additives (meant for heavily loaded bearings) or an oil with Rust & Oxidation additives (most commonly used in gear reducers). The wrong oil in the gearbox will cause premature failure of the gears, so please make sure to verify before switching or selecting your gearbox oils!

  6  Things to know and do  before and after making a switch from one grease to another Thomas Cipriani – Product Specialist at Robco Verify what the OEM specifications state for type and NLGI grade of grease that you should be using in your application. Verify if what you are using meets those specifications Find suitable grease options that meet the specifications in order to switch to the proper grease option. Compare the suitable greases by comparing their results in the key grease tests; such as Timken OK load, 4-Ball EP Load-wear index, 4-Ball EP Weld Point, 4-Ball Wear-Scar Diameter, Drop Point, Pour Point, Operating Temperature capability, Water Washout Test Result, etc... Once you have selected the grease you would like to switch with verify if it is compatible with the one in your system to be sure on how much you must purge the system. The worst thing you can do is put one grease on top of ...