MRO Today - Six steps to a clean machine

Six steps to a clean machine

So a machine in your plant is a leaker. What are you going
to do?

Oil-Dri’s Kent Oldenburg and LeapFrog’s Bob Purdy provide a plan you can use to clean up a mess like this.

Step 1, Machine maintenance: If the machine is spouting like an oil derrick, something is wrong. First repair the leaks, then follow up with a program to regularly inspect couplings, flanges, nuts, fittings and other leak sources. Also, make sure you don’t overlubricate. Excess oil has to go somewhere.

Step 2, Clean up the machine: Use degreasers and shop towels to wipe as much oil as possible off the machine.

Step 3, Clean up the floor: Use absorbent products to soak up the oil that has collected on the floor. Use loose compounds or pads made of polypropylene to pick up standing oil. Throw away the sorbents and wash the floor to remove the residue.

If the machine has stopped leaking at this point, you are done. But if leaks are inherent to this machine, keep going.

Step 4, Find the source: The clean area will now reveal leaks clearly. Find the source or as close to it as you can. The closer you can apply the most functional sorbent to the leak, the less it spreads, the less product you use, the less clean up and the less it costs you.

Step 5, Install sorbent products: Contain and absorb leaks that occur from this point on with the right sorbents.

Use socks around the base of the machine to dam up and absorb oil. Socks filled with corn cob are more flexible than ones with polypropylene or newsprint and easily conform around equipment.

Place polypropylene mat rolls under the machine to catch drips and pads next to the machine to catch sprays.

For oil in aisles, use an industrial rug made from a durable poly or textile fabric. Do not use rolls to cover this area because they can rip or be slippery.

Step 6, Regularly change products: If you are using clay or a pad to absorb oil, it is easy to see when fresh product is needed. Clays turn dark when saturated. Oil-only pads are lightly colored and show oil content very well.

Change socks when they begin to ooze oil or do not absorb quickly enough.

This article appeared in the August/September 1998 issue of MRO Today magazine. Copyright, 1998.