It is essential to check and service your hydraulic equipment on a regular basis. This helps ensure that any minor issue will not become a fault. Any fault, regardless how small or minor, good becomes an awfully expensive breakdown. Some people who own hydraulic equipment think that hydraulics can keep on running indefinitely, or with some annual safety checks. However, this is not the case. Regular inspection and training of the equipment is a must, and this is because of the following factors.

The Importance of Hydraulic Maintenance

Safety

First off, safety is of great importance in any workplace. The company needs to make sure that the equipment being used is safe for everyone. Also, it should be maintained regularly, making sure that it is in its safe condition and inspected to ensure that any problems are corrected. All employers need to make sure that their equipment is regularly checked and are safe to use.

For instance, if a pressurized hydraulic fluid suddenly escapes it can be dangerous as it can reach the so-called explosive velocity.

Obviously, this can cause major harm to anyone who is in the vicinity. It is also important to note that hydraulic parts are usually sharp and heavy that any anticipated movement that is caused by a fault could injure the workers and even the passersby. Therefore, it is important to keep the equipment well maintained to guarantee their safety for everyone who interacts with it.

 Cost factor

A lot of faults in hydraulic equipment are caused by dirt. Such faults can easily escalate to a need for costly repairs. Large expenses can be avoided by simply keeping the equipment clean and making sure that the correct protocols are being followed when replacing any parts so that dirt would not be able to find its way to the system.

In a hydraulic system, there are a lot of parts that may need replacement due to wear and tear. Immediately replacing them before they can completely break is a wise move. On the other hand, waiting until they break, can potentially damage the other working parts and can be considered as an expensive mistake.

Oil is an essential element in any hydraulic system that could be expensive to change, however inexpensive to maintain. What is worse than the price of changing oil is the cost of running dirty oil through the system. Such can cause irreparable damage to the other working parts. Thus, maintaining the oil by making sure that it is in its good condition can help prolong the life of pumps, filters, valves, and cylinders. This means that these would need less frequent replacement.

Downtime

Checking and cleaning the equipment could take a few minutes. Replacing a part that is worn out could take a few hours. Repairing any major breakdown would often take days or weeks. During this time, the company loses big amounts of productivity, thus risking added cost in loss of earnings and potentially missing out deadlines

Maintenance log

There are a lot of computer programs that are available to be utilized to schedule various types of maintenance for the parts of the equipment. It is important to make sure that your staff are aware of the program and they complete a log so that the other members are also aware of what has been done on the equipment or what needs to be done. It is a great idea to work through the hydraulic maintenance plan with hydraulic equipment engineers.