Hydraulic fluid is a significant medium used to transmitted power in hydraulic systems. If hydraulic fluid leak occurs, it can result in severe equipment failure and safety hazards. In this article, we are ready to offer you an ultimate guide to hydraulic fluid leaks, including definition, types, symptoms, damages, causes and prevention of hydraulic fluid leaks.
What are hydraulic fluid leaks?
Usually, hydraulic fluid leaks are regarded as any abnormal and unexpected escape of hydraulic oil through seals, hoses, pipelines, fitting, or other components within the hydraulic system. If you see hydraulic fluid occurs in the place where it is not expected to occur, there are hydraulic fluid leaks.
Types of Hydraulic Fluid Leaks
Hydraulic fluid leaks can be divided into several types and each of them has their particular methods to diagnose, repair and maintain. Usually, according to the industrial standard, hydraulic fluid can be divided into three levels and two classifications.
Level of Hydraulic Fluid Leaks
Class 1 Leak
Class 1 leak indicates minor and slight hydraulic leaks. The surface of equipment is lightly moist or discolored, but there is no visible oil droplet on the surface or ground.
Class 2 Leak
Class 1 leak indicates a moderate hydraulic leak. In this level, oil droplets are forms but they only attached to the surface of components and do not drop on the ground.
Class 3 Leak
Class 1 leak indicates a severe hydraulic leak. In this level, oil droplets are formed and frequently dripping to the ground. Immediate repair is required.
External Leak
Hydraulic external leak means that hydraulic fluid escapes from the hydraulic system and becomes visible as oil droplets, eventually containing equipment surfaces or the floor. Usually, they are escaped from the cracked or damaged hoses, fittings aged seal etc.
These leaks are typically easy to noticed by visual inspection with ray eyes. Besides, fluorescent dye are also recommended to you in order to detect the oil easily.
Internal Leak
Hydraulic internal leak means that the hydraulic fluid leaks are from high-pressure areas to low-pressure areas with the hydraulic system. These leaks are not visible and obvious if you inspect outside. Usually, internal leaks occur in hydraulic cylinders, valve bodies, motors with worn or failed internal seals.
Hydraulic internal leaks usually result in pressure or system efficiency reduction. If you want to detect this kind of leak, you need use specialized diagnostic tools and learn the complicated procedures.
Symptoms of Hydraulic Fluid Leaks
If you want to know whether the hydraulic equipment occurs fluid leaks or not, it is important and essential for you to diagnose the symptoms of hydraulic fluid leaks. The detailed symptoms are listed below.
Visible Hydraulic Oil Leaks
If you can see the obvious fluid stains or puddles under the equipment, it is a strong indicator of hydraulic oil leaks. Usually, hydraulic fluids can be colored but typically have little or no noticeable odor because they are commonly composed of water, ethylene glycol, vegetable oil, or mineral oil.
Continuously Decreasing Level of Hydraulic Oil Level
If the level of hydraulic oil decreases continuously over time, it is another typical symptom of hydraulic fluid leak. The design of fluid level gauges are aimed to monitor such kind of issues.
You are allowed to inspect for several working periods. If you observe a decrease in fluid level, a leak inspection must be carried out at once.
Decreased Equipment Performance
Usually, hydraulic fluid leaks have the ability to cause low equipment performance and make equipment operate slowly, such as insufficient pressure, overheating, or unusual noises. If you want to restore the function of equipment, please make the fluid leaks inspection be you top priority.
Abnormal Noises of Equipment
Unusual sounds such as humming, knocking, or vibration are also possible indicators of hydraulic fluid leaks.
Warning Lights/Alerts
In modern hydraulic systems, sensors have good performance on triggering alarms due to a drop in pressure or low fluid level.
Damages of Hydraulic Fluid Leaks
Hydraulic fluid leaks are responsible for many kinds of damages of hydraulic system, including reduced system efficiency, increased risk of equipment failure, increased costs, environmental pollution etc.
Moreover, it is essential for you to identify these damages and them come up good ideas to repair damaged hydraulic system.
Reduced System Efficiency
Typically, hydraulic fluid leaks lead to a drop in hydraulic pressure and thus the hydraulic system efficiency will be impaired. Besides, due to reduced system efficiency, the operating cycles will be slow down severely and the projects timeline will be delayed.
Increased Risk of Equipment Failure
Hydraulic cylinder leakage is one of the main causes of equipment failure. Usually, 80 percentage of hydraulic equipment failure are caused by containment of hydraulic oil and external leakage of hydraulic fluids are usually the root cause of containment.
What’s more, continuous leakage of hydraulic fluids can lead to the failure of key components of hydraulic equipment such as hydraulic pumps and motors, and may even result in permanent damage.
Increased Costs
Frequent adding of hydraulic oil due to hydraulic fluid leaks may increase the operational cost significantly and cause severe resource waste. Besides, frequent repairs and reduced equipment lifespan caused by hydraulic oil leaks are common consequences.
Eventually, all of these mentioned above increase maintenance costs and may even require replacement of expensive components or result in workplace injury claims.
Environmental Pollution
Hydraulic fluids are considered as products made from petroleum. When the hydraulic oil leaks occur, the contained oil can seep into rivers, lakes, groundwater, and soil, causing ecological damage and potentially resulting in fine and cleanup costs.
Risk of Personal Injury
Usually, hydraulic oil is typically under high temperature and high pressure. If you have direct contact with hydraulic fluids, you are possible to be burned or get high-pressure injection injuries.
Please keep it in your mind that never use you hands or body to check suspected leak points.
Potential Risk of Safety
Hydraulic fluid leaks also can lead to potential risk of safety. For example, oil spills on the floor create a slipping hazard and increase the risk of fire blast.
Causes of Hydraulic Fluid Leaks
After you have learned so many damages of hydraulic fluid leaks, it is time for you to learn possible causes that result in hydraulic fluid leaks. What’s more , identifying the causes of hydraulic fluid leaks can also help you prevent fluid leaks.
Wear and Tear of Equipment
The hydraulic system consists of hoses, valves, and other components, which are connected by seals, clamps, and other fitting. After long-time operation, these connections are easy to have problems.
For example, long-term use of may cause wear at hose and valve joints, leading to leaks.
Loose or Damaged Fittings
If the connections such as hoses and valves joints become loose, corroded or cracked, the possibility of hydraulic fluid leak will highly increased.
Hydraulic Fluids Issues
The problems of hydraulic fluid issues like poor-quality hydraulic fluids also have the ability to make deal materials incompatible. Therefore, due to low level of sealing, hydraulic fluid leaks occur.
Environmental Corrosion
Another possible of hydraulic fluid leaks may caused by some environmental factors, such as corrosion or aging process.
Excessive Pressure
When the pressure of a hydraulic system exceeds the maximum design limit, components may undergo deformation due to strong stress, and resulting in cracks or ruptures. This kind of over-limited pressure not only degrades equipment performance but also cause safety risks.
Improper Installation or Poor Maintenance
Last but not least, improper installation like poor routing of hoses, unsecured fittings, or incorrect seal placement or poor maintenance such as maintenance neglect and using substandard parts also pose threat to the leaks of hydraulic fluids.
Prevention of Hydraulic Fluid Leaks
When it come to the problem of hydraulic fluid leaks, the most important thing is to prevent hydraulic fluid from leaking and make the hydraulic equipment operate smoothly. Some useful suggestions are as follows.
Regular Inspections
Regular inspection of hydraulic fluids can prevent fluids from escaping effectively. Therefore, you are recommended to regularly inspect hoses, fittings, and seal for wear or aging. If they are deteriorated, you must replace the damaged components at once.
Keep the System Clean
To solve the problem of hydraulic fluid containment and hydraulic fluid leaks caused by containment, you are demanded to keep the whole hydraulic system clean. Besides, in order to avoid the wear caused by debris or particles, you must maintain cleanness even around the hydraulic system.
Ensure Secure Installation
Due to insecure installation may cause hydraulic fluids leaks, you must ensure that all the installing process and the results of installation are standardized.
Use High-Quality Hydraulic Fluid
Using compatible, high-quality hydraulic oil and accessories is one of the critical methods for preventing hydraulic oil from leakage. The quality of hydraulic oil directly affects the service lifespan and stability of seals in the whole hydraulic system.
Poor-quality hydraulic fluid or oil that is incompatible with seal materials may cause the seal materials to swell, harden, or decompose. Therefore, the seal materials may lose their sealing function, finally resulting in fluid leaks.
Control Pressure and Temperature
Maintaining the working pressure and temperature of the hydraulic system within safe limits is a critical method to ensure system operation and prevent hydraulic oil leakage.
If the system operates under long-term over-pressure conditions, it can cause critical components such as hoses, fittings, and seals to undergo excessive stress. This may lead to deformation, cracking, or even rupture, finally resulting in severe external leakage.
What’s more, excessively high temperatures are also dangerous. High temperatures reduce the viscosity of hydraulic fluid, impairing its lubricating properties, and can accelerate their failure and increase the possibility of leaks.
Therefore, installing and using reliable pressure regulation devices and temperature monitoring systems, and regularly checking are effective ways to make system operation stable, extend equipment lifespan, and prevent leakage incidents.
Prompt Leak Detection and Repair
Last but not least, using fluorescent dye for leak detection is an effective and reliable method, especially in complex environment where the equipment surface are dirty and oily.
When you add fluorescent dye into hydraulic oil, the hydraulic fluid leaks can be easily identified under UV light, thus offering assistance to repairers.
Conclusion
Hydraulic fluid leaks can results in severe outcomes during the operation of hydraulic equipment, and thus we offer you an ultimate guide of hydraulic oil leaks including definition, types, symptoms, damages, causes and prevention in order to solve problems you may meet.
Our factory TARGET hydraulics has abundant experience on identification and maintenance of various kinds of hydraulic problems. If you want to know more about hydraulic fluid leaks, please contact us without hesitation!
