Have you taken measures to protect your equipment from the cold?

Winter is an important season for the maintenance of various machines and equipment and cars. As cold air strikes again and again, the temperature is getting lower and lower. Many people know that high temperature is not good for equipment, which will damage equipment components, accelerate oil deterioration and even bring fire hazards, but many people ignore the harm of low temperature to equipment

The normal operation of equipment requires good lubrication. When the equipment is running, metal parts will rub against each other. If there is no lubrication, the equipment parts will be damaged by dry friction, and the high temperature will be generated due to severe friction, causing the parts to burn. Therefore, lubrication is a necessary condition for the normal operation and protection of the equipment. Low temperature will cause the lubricating oil to flow poorly or even stop flowing, and it will not reach the lubrication part, causing cold start difficulties or even start failures. If the equipment is running under poor lubrication, it will also cause dry friction and damage parts.

Generally speaking, there is no problem with the use of current lubricating oil and grease at 0℃. At -10℃, the overall performance of many lubricating oils and greases will not be significantly affected. But if the temperature is as low as -20℃, the situation is different. Some lubricating oils are close to or have reached the pour point. To be on the safe side, we recommend that the minimum operating temperature of the lubricant be at least 10°C higher than the pour point.

The low temperature performance of lubricants is mainly affected by the base oil, and some additives such as pour point depressants can also help reduce the pour point of lubricants.

Ordinary lubricants use mineral oil as the base oil. When the temperature is as low as -20°C, the fluidity of mineral oil has been significantly reduced and the flow is not smooth. If the equipment will encounter temperatures of -20°C or even lower during use, then the impact of low temperature on the lubricant must be considered. PAO (or SHC) is a synthetic oil with excellent low temperature performance. Even without the use of pour point depressants, PAO can adapt to low temperatures below -20°C. The pour point of some PAOs can even be as low as -50°C.

The reason why PAO has excellent low temperature performance is that it does not contain paraffin, will not wax at low temperatures, and the oil flows smoothly. On the other hand, it is because of its high viscosity index.