What wood splitter do you use?

Overcooling is why I made a vortex tank. Smaller amount of fluid and it gets up to temp quickly but stays cooler because of the swirl against the steel tank wall.

I used a 20 lb propane tank for my oil reservoir and have the suction and return lines mounted at a tangent to the tank. That creates a smooth swirl and keeps air out of the system. The return oil is spread across the surface of the tank for immediate cooling. It works great. I can run the snot out of it full time with the 4 way and still touch the hydraulics.

If you are seeing high temps, look at enlarging your ports and replacing 90° fittings with 45’s. Fittings and ports usually have small holes that can usually be enlarged a bit. I make ports as large as possible. It is not uncommon for hydraulic cylinders to have little ports under the fittings. They can be opened up a lot in some cases. Mine had small holes that met at a 90° angle, so I used the dremel to open them up and improve the flow. The 90° angle turned into a nice flared curve that was no longer a restriction.

If you don’t have enough heat, it is because your oil tank is too big.

 

I have talked to the builder about the oil being too cool. He suggested removing some of the oil to have it heat quicker. When splitting in the 20-30 degree range outside, when pre heated 3 hours, it will be about 80 degrees after 3 hours of running. The real issue is the return pressure to the filter is in the red/yellow for a good 20 min. on the start up.

 

Here is my tank setup.