Temp on hydro oil in the summer

I can't imagine building another one with out an oil cooler. I am bless to have a tractor/combine salvage yard close by. I can pick up oil coolers from combines for around $100.

 

How would air flow though an oil cooler?

I suppose an electric fan could be used, though
Most splitters aren't electric start.

 

Temp differences create their own airflow....homes with baseboard radiators don't have fans on them.

 

Yesterday I ran it about 75 minutes and it was in the 80's, a nice day. Since I had bib on long sleeves on so I couldn't get my arms scratched up, it was very warm. After 75 min. I could hold my hand on the cylinder for the count of 4 and couldn't quite make it to 5.

 

I realize that but a small cooler with no forced airflow is not going to make much difference.

 

SO NO TO BLOWERS!!!!

 

Thanks... My 22 ton Ariens has a 11 GPM pump, and a 4.5 gallon reservoir! I have noticed it gets very warm during extended usage. I'll have to keep an eye on that, never even thought of it before...

However, it does make a great hand warmer in the woods in the winter!!

 

My splitter is not quite 1:1, temps never been an issue.

 

My oil cooler is 21"x21" & I have a box fan mounted to the side of it. The box fan will run off 200 watt power inverter which I have connected to a 875 amp car battery & have also used a deep cycle battery like you use for trolling motors. Both work well. Even when I don't have the use the fan, it still helps a lot, especially if there is a breeze.

*** NOTE *** If it is below 40 degrees you will want to cover the oil cooler.

 

A y reason to not use a 12v fan? I'd imagine the inverter and box fan aren't able to stay outside?

 

Inverter fits under the cover of the battery box & fan has been mounted on the cooler for close to 4 years, still works, and yes it stays outside.

The reason for the 120 volt box fan, 1 - It's the right size, 2 - It only cost me $2 at an auction.

 

Well today I tried an experiment in order to get some data regarding how hot the splitter is running.

I took a sponge and soaked it with as much water as it would hold and wedged it between the cylinder and hard metal hydro line. Then I stuck an accurate meat thermometer in the sponge. The water was to transmit the heat more effectively. After an hour of running the cylinder to the palm of my hand felt the same as it did in the first post. (temp outside was about 80).

The thermometer ran up to 140 degrees, (medium well) and hung there and was not going up much but I had to quit to go play golf. I had wet the sponge several times and each time the temp would drop when water was added then quickly climb again. An amazing thing was that in less than 5 min of the splitter being off, the temp of the cylinder had dropped to 120 degrees.

 

I am a reliability maintenance engineer and deal with hydraulic systems regularly.

135-145 on conventional oil is not really a problem. Especially on intermittent use machines like most of us use a splitter. Add another 15 degrees if you are using synthetic oils. Get much above this and you will start seeing oil oxidization and shortened drain intervals.

I would be much more concerned with filtration, the filters that come on the machines are junk. Ideally for hydraulic cylinders you want to run in the 16/14/11 for ISO codes. To get there you need to be running a 5 micron, beta 1000 filter. Garuntee that your splitter does not come equiped with that kind of hard ware.

 

Bandit, IR thermometers have become fairly reasonable. I picked on up at Harbor Freight on sale for around $25. Handy for many things just point & pull the trigger.

 

I've been told oil temp 100 deg above outside temp is normally safe. 80 deg day 180 oil temp

 

I am thinking like you dyno, it is 95-105 all the time here in the south...sitting in the sun will get you even higher temps. I bet I dont have to run a splitter too long in the sun at 95f for it to get 135f!!

The splitter I use is filled with ATF. I would think that would operate at a much higher temp than 135?

I am no engineer bit 135 does not seem very warm to me?

 

“Hydraulic fluid temperatures above 180F (82C) damage most seal compounds and accelerate degradation of the oil”. (From Brendan Casey - Author of 'Hydraulics Made Easy')

Again with the oil cooler added the temperature stays between 115 & 130°F. Seldom use the fan unless the temperature is over 95°F. Let it work passively creating it's own air flow.

I am very happy with this range. The splitter works well & the risk of a skin burn from touching any of the hydraulic system is almost none.

 

Well maybe the splitter I use do sent run that hot. I dont get burned if I touch it hot. But with a say 5 gallon tank I would think several hours at 95f outside it would get to 135 pretty easy. Maybe I'm wrong? I do agree 180 seems hot but 135 does not seem warm to me?

 

That filter might be necessary on something running servos, which in some applications have a built in pencil filter.
Almost all splitters have a return filter with a spring bypass, so if any fine trash got into the spool/cylinder it's already there.
There are some folks with ~20yr old splitters on here not leaking oil - engines on the other hand see a whole lot more temperature and they ingest filtered dirty air