When to Change Hydraulic Filters: Expert Timing Tips

There are two approaches to determining if your hydraulic filters need changing. The first is to follow the manufacturer’s recommendation, which is usually based on the number of hours the hydraulic filters have been in service. Alternatively, you can use an element condition indicator to determine when to change the filters.

While manufacturers recommendations provide helpful guidelines, they are not completely accurate, putting your hydraulic equipment at risk.

Filters endure different conditions, which the manufacturers recommendations cannot account for. As a result, blindly following the recommendations may cause you to change out perfectly good filters or lose efficiency by running on worn out filters longer.

Some maintenance departments continuously monitor the pressure drops across the filters. This allows them to not just determine when the filters need changed but also when a system failure is imminent. Technicians can then determine the cause. To take this approach, you need to invest in transducers, sensors, and a system to log the data. An employee experienced in this type of monitoring is also essential.

If they are overdue for a change, you risk a clogged filter, which can mean expensive repairs. Therefore, monitoring the filter is recommended, and Servo Kinetics can determine when a filter is due for replacement. Working with Servo Kinetics allows you to maintain your hydraulic pump without the need to invest in extra equipment and manhours.

Hydraulic Filter Contamination

Experts agree that contamination is the most common cause of hydraulic system failure. This is because hydraulic filters trap contamination before it heads downstream in the system. When worn out, a filter can actually be worse than having no filter at all. A clogged filter releases contaminants into the hydraulic system, which can result in failures of other equipment that leads to extensive downtime. For this reason, changing hydraulic filters on a regular basis essential.

What Happens When a Hydraulic Filter Clogs?

When contaminants clog a filter, a pressure drop becomes inevitable because fluid can no longer pass through it freely. When the pressure drop reaches a critical value, one of two things will happen:

1. If the filter setup includes a bypass valve, then the fluid will bypass the filter once the pressure drop has reached a critical point. This results in the fluid no longer being filtered, and any new contaminants can pass unhindered.

2. If the filter does not have a bypass valve, the pressure drop caused by the clogged filter will increase until the filter element collapses. When this occurs, all the contaminants are free to continue into the rest of the system.

In some systems, the pressure drop can cause an extreme increase in the upstream pressure of the filter. If the pressure reaches high levels, other components in the system can be seriously damaged. This is one example of how not changing hydraulic filters can cause extensive damage, downtime, and expense.

Contaminated Equipment: The Fallout

The fallout from a clogged filter can be very costly, both in terms of equipment damage and downtime. Usually, after a contamination-related  failure, the hydraulic pump must be shut down until the cause can be determined. Once the cause has been discovered, the hydraulic system then must be flushed to remove contamination.

Damaged components, such as pumps or motors, also must be repaired or replaced. Then the system needs all filters re-installed before it can be started again.

The downtime from this process is extremely costly because it takes far longer than replacing a filter.

What to Do When a Hydraulic Pump Breaks

When a hydraulic pump breaks, send it to Servo Kinetics for repair as soon as possible. Servo Kinetics performs a rigorous inspection of all hydraulic pumps sent in for repair. Our technicians then perform a detailed cleaning before rebuilding the pump with precision machined parts. Upon completion of the rebuild, Servo Kinetics tests the unit under stressful conditions to ensure its level of OEM efficiency has been met or exceeded.

Servo Kinetics can also handle your hydraulic pump’s maintenance. Routine maintenance is as important for a hydraulic pump as it is for a vehicle. When maintenance is lacking, breakdowns that cost far more than maintenance become inevitable. By hiring Servo Kinetics, you prevent breakdowns related to poor maintenance and have a trusted partner when failures happen.