Home Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Water In Oil

Got a 2 car hyrdro bank (DMC's) in a damp wet parking garage. They called in an OT call that one car was stuck. The OC Guy found it short of the top floor and it suspected it was low on oil. He went to pour up pit bucket and noticed water in the pit. The water level wasn't up to the top of the pit bucket and/or anywhere near jack head. These 2 cars have always had water flowing through the pit walls (esp. when it rains). Dover even installed rails about 1' above the floor. He left off because the oil in the tank was "milky". I came in and took a sample of oil with a clear cup and started checking things. The oil definitely has water in it, not sure how. Ran car up and marked the sill to jamb + shut of the line. We just did an annual relief test on 11/30 - car was put on the stop ring. No water leaking above the tank and/or near any lines. Gotta be getting into the jack somehow...

E-man seasons greetings. we have most of our jacks fail about 1 to 2 weeks after annual relief test. But laoded static test should prove out integrity of your jack. as far as water getting into the jack thru a hole in the casing I belive the standing pressure on the system would be higher than any ground water pressure could penetrate. I have been working with an outfit called CIA and they make a polymer that removes oil from water. I ask them if they could make a product to remove water from oil.For just such cases as you have I havent gotten to try it out yet but if you contact them they can supply you with a sample to try. good luck and let us know what you findout.

e-man i would suggest to just drop the lift on to the buffers and replace the oil. it also could be the lift pump churned the oil when cavitating making it look a little milky,bubbly and white like.

If there is a shut off valve in the pit I would do a static load test shutting that valve off. Do you think that condensation would build up in the tank getting into the oil?

Thanks all. I thought the same about the oil having air in it, making it look milky. I took a sample and it didn't even smell like oil to me, but i didn't give it enough time to separate. I should of closed the line in the pit to do a test but didn't have any weights at the time. I do know that the oil in the other tank looks fine. Thanks for all the input!

E-man I have had samples of oil with both air and water in them air will float out in a couple of days. I finally threw the one with water in it out after a couple of months waiting for it to settle out.CIA was making a Tea bag type affair that you would lower in the tank and let it absorb the water as it passed thru. This is still untested and I have no idea if it will work. But what does work is a devise we built that will get the contaiminated oil out of the jack. We stold this idea from the PVC liners you put the jack in. DIsconnect the oil line and cap with vic pipe plug or threader end cap. We drilled and tapped 2 holes in the caps. One for a rubber tubing like you use for your pit bucket. The other for an air valve like for your tire.Weight the tubeing and lower thru oil line to bottom of jack. Throw a jack clamp around the piston and tie her down. Then hit it with just a little air 3 or 4 lbs and just like a beer keg you can MT the jack without contaiminating the new oil with the oil in the jack.

i have seen the foam in certain mufflers come apart a look exactly like water in the oil. when you take a sample it leaves a sticky film and will ruin a pump, valve, and submersible motor. i had to saw a muffler in half to prove it to a oil and grease customer.

I've never taken a Dover muffler apart, that's interesting.

I used a stuff called Anti-chatter, can't remember the brand right now. It was so good at getting water out of oil, that the water would condensate underneath the tank lid, and drip back into the oil! Had to tip the lid up, just to let the water evaporate!

That was a job where the new jacks got covered in flooded pits, and the mechanic filled the jacks with oil, on top of the water that had already snuck into the jacks. Many gallons of water were successfully removed with the oil additive.

There are water removal filters for your filter cart, but they only hold like a few ounces of water. They're not practical or cost efficient.