I have some equipment at work that needed greasing, so I grabbed the grease gun which had a can of red-n-tacky in it that's probably 6-9 months old from the last time we greased. I've always felt it's pretty good stuff for basic industrial applications (material conveyors in this case,) it seems to last a while and stay in place good.
But when I went to grease with it, nothing came out, so I assumed the gun was out of grease. I pulled the can out and it was still 2/3 full, but all the grease had hardened. It had a similar consistency to cold butter, I could cut it with a knife. Ambient temps were 75 degrees or so, so I ruled that possibility out right away.
Could it have hardened from improper storage considering the can was opened and left sitting in the grease gun? I've never seen that before, I've always just left grease in the gun and gone back months later and it still looks and performs like it should. I had to search the whole shop for more grease and came upon a can of Valvoline general purpose grease that looked like it'd been there an eternity. It probably had because it had a 1999 copyright date on it. It worked fine, and consistency was normal. So maybe it's something about Red-N-tacky? Does grease have a shelf life or has anyone else ever experienced this?
But when I went to grease with it, nothing came out, so I assumed the gun was out of grease. I pulled the can out and it was still 2/3 full, but all the grease had hardened. It had a similar consistency to cold butter, I could cut it with a knife. Ambient temps were 75 degrees or so, so I ruled that possibility out right away.
Could it have hardened from improper storage considering the can was opened and left sitting in the grease gun? I've never seen that before, I've always just left grease in the gun and gone back months later and it still looks and performs like it should. I had to search the whole shop for more grease and came upon a can of Valvoline general purpose grease that looked like it'd been there an eternity. It probably had because it had a 1999 copyright date on it. It worked fine, and consistency was normal. So maybe it's something about Red-N-tacky? Does grease have a shelf life or has anyone else ever experienced this?