sludge/varnish in steam turbine oils ?

[Shannow]

Long Long time to get the results.

Went to Analyst's Inc, and came back

"The VARNISH POTENTIAL RATING is in the NORMAL range. QSA indicates the sample contains LOW levels of the specific contaminants
known to produce / promote varnish deposits. Although testing indicates current lubricant conditions are satisfactory, periodic QSA testing is
recommended as fluid conditions can change dramatically over time. Recommended sampling interval for this component is quarterly. Please
refer to the routine report for additional data and recommendations."

Varnish Potential rating 7 (out of 100), and filterable contaminants less than 1mg/L

 

[bruce381]

still no answer only answewr that makes sense is some time ago a situation be it out of operating spec/overheating/contamination/water/metals/wrong oil/clogged filters/outside debris something caused the current problem.
bruce

 

[Shannow]

bruce,
exactly.

While I was releived to find the oil was not in any immediate danger of holding valve gear open (very bad), I'm still no closer to an answer.

Starting to think tha tproblem could be related to (and isolated to) an incident with the centrifuge itself, or the pre-heater.

It's prompted me to change the centrifuge seal water to a demin supply, rather than our domestic.

 

[Shannow]

Latest update...machine is in bits at present.

Two bearings show minor wiping, but I've not seen that affect oil like this. All the valve gear and relays are spotless (really good news, as if they get sticky, we can destroy a machine).

News of the day is that while the troubled unit has VPR around 10, the other three are runniung at 40 plus.

 

[Papa Bear]

Sure would like to see some pics of that puppy.

 

[Shannow]

Sure would like to see some pics of it back together.

It's been the outage from (you know where). Everything we've opened up has been stuffed (engineering terminology). 5" bolts that took 4 shifts to machine out, moving bits that have mated with non-moving bits, specialists flown in from other countries (spending $600k/week of the company's money keeps a guy busy)

 

[Ray_Gomes]

Varnish causes servo valves to stick. It comes from oxidation of oil that results in submicron contamination of the oil. Nearly all steam and gas turbine operators have this problem. Only one thing has been found to remove submicron material from oil effectively and that is electrostatic filtering.

There are 2 major companies making this kind of machine. Isopur makes the most efficient unit. It uses a dual polarity system to charge the submicron particles called Balanced Charge Agglomeration, BCA. The particles stick together, agglomerate. the larger particles are easily removed by a filter.

The purified oil acts like a solvent to remove varnish and sludge from the system. See our website for more information, or write to me directly. www.isopur.com