hydraulic oil separation

[Anonymous-0]

I have water in the hydraulics of my backhoe and after draining and refilling several times (5 gallons at a shot) I seem to be making slow progess at cleaning out the system. 5 gallons of hyd. oil is pretty expensive so I decided to try and separate out the water on the last 10 gallons I removed. I poured the oil in a drum with a valve at the bottom. I took a sample in a clear glass jar when I first poured the oil in. Now after almost a year it seems to be as separated as it's going to get. I have a 1/2 inch layer of clear water on the bottom, then maybe a 1-1/2" layer of gray oil in the middle and a 1" layer of nice brown oil on the top. My question is what is the layer of gray in the middle? I assume it is oil with water still suspended in in but for some reason will not separate. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Anonymous-0]

It appears to me you have 2-3" of waste oil.

Get rid of it accordingly and move on.

 

[Anonymous-0]

OH MAN!!!! My dad used to do this cr--ap with the oil from the 460 tractor. It would get water in the hydro system. The best thing is to put the oil in a closed plastic bucket with a lid. In the winter the water will freeze out and the clear oil will be on top. Pour it off and that is as good as it will get. The Indians made maple syrup this way and you can do a crude distil of booze too. Jeffcat

 

[Anonymous-0]

I agree with the others.. that oil is soaked.. get rid of it.

Run a bottle of seafoam transtune in your system.. it's good at dewatering when you drain/flush the system with fresh oil.

5g of oil is cheap compaired to a shelled out hyd pump that is cavitating cause the vapor pressure of the oil-water emulsion you are running is very low compaired to the oil alone..
Not to mention that emulsion has less lubricating qualities.. can boil, and can cause rust / pitting if it settles into areas of the hyds that aren't readilly drained..

Soundguy

 

[Anonymous-0]

The middle layer is just oil that hasn't seperated yet. With enough time it will settle.
The oil is chemically designed to suspend some water. When you get phase seperations such as you are describing, you still have problems.
It isn't as simple as you think to seperate it.
A centrifudge would be great.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I had this issue on my Bobcat. I did several flushes but could never quite get it all out.
So I discovered a filter called AquaZorb. Got it a local hydraulic shop. You can cut a line and install the filter. It will eventualy get all the water out.

 

[Anonymous-0]

got the same problem times four. The following is DANGER DANGER Wil Robinson. Placed 5 gal cans of oil with no tops on an old camper stove placed away from buildings or anything else or you. Placed a deep fryer thermometer in. Watched the gauge using binoculars. Reach temperture between water boiling and death (boiling oil). On second thought buy low detergent oil and drain off the water periodically

 

[Anonymous-0]

I have had some success in separating the oil from the water by waiting until it is real cold out and letting the settled water freeze. Then I pour the hydraulic oil out through the top, into another clean 5 gallon pail, and the ice remains in the first pail. It takes a while to get the oil to pour out when it is real cold. The oil I have retrieved this way looks like new oil, and I have reused it in my tractors.

Around here it gets fairly cold every winter. But I don't see any reason why a person couldn't cool the bucket in a chest freezer. Just don't let your wife catch you!