EESIFLO recommends continued and periodic oil analysis and the careful observation of oil systems by maintenance personnel. Since it has been identified that water in several forms can be loom its head within a lubricating system, it is of utmost importance to use an instrument for online monitoring that not only measures ppm content of water in oil but in addition, the presence of free water in tiny droplets. To catch these droplets the EASZ-1 was designed to be a fast response monitoring system.
Since all lubricants absorb water from the air, an important question addresses the concentration level at which corrective action is required. Most machinery manufacturers recommend that water concentrations should be maintained at 200 to 500 ppm or less. In most instances, water concentrations above 500 ppm and above indicate that corrective action is necessary. Karl Fischer methods and laboratory testing in many cases are accepted as a practiced standard. The EASZ-1 reports water contamination in ppm or percentage which can be correlated with Karl Fisher analysis, however, it must be taken into account that “spot sampling” no matter how frequent or accurate in no terms can adequately represent the total amount of volume that has passed through the lubrication system. Much care must be taken when correlating lab samples with online analysis to ensure that the sample taken is representative and correlates to the reading observed on the monitor at the sampling time.

A small beaker of sample cannot be taken as completely representative of for example 10,000 litres of lubricating fluid that has passed through a system in time. Any mathematical calculation will show that spot sampling alone is questionable as it assumes that water and oil are evenly and completely mixed throughout the whole volume of oil in the lubrication system. Free water can also exist within a certain section of the lubrication system (immiscible) and it is known that water and oil do not like to mix.

The EASZ-1 does not take away the responsibility of site engineers to keep in line with good practice and maintenance plans but it is an online device, an early and real time warning system that can measure increased water absorption in oil, water oil emulsions and free water breakouts at any time .