Remove water from hydraulic oil ideas

Michael Price · Feb 28, 2016

I've bought a few tractors now that were left for dead. Draining the fluids they always have water in them, some 5 gallons or more. If there is something wrong with the tractor and its tore apart I clean everything out. But if its like the case 1070 I just bought there was no reason to tear it apart. All I can do is drain everything but once I fill it with new fluid and start it then its milky again. I hate spending a few hundred bucks on oil just to have it turn to milk in 2 minuets.

I seen a guy heat it up to steam the water out. I tried this once the JD 2010. It worked good enough to get most of the water out to where when you change the oil it stayed clear. But you had heat and oil, sometimes it would pop and splatter. Make a huge mess and a chance of a fire.

So I was thinking about building a vacuum chamber. This would allow me to boil the water out without heat just like you do on refrigeration systems.

I could do this until the oil stays clean so I don't waste hundreds of gallons of oil.

Any thoughts?

Traditional Farmer · Feb 28, 2016

Adding a can of Seafoam and running the tractor some before draining the oil will
help get a lot of the water out.

paul · Feb 28, 2016

The tranny Seafoam or the regular Seafoam? Kinda hard to find the tranny version around here.

Paul

JD Seller · Feb 28, 2016

You do NOT have to boil the water out of the hydraulic oil. You only need to heat it enough to make the water come out of suspension. This is only 120-130 degrees F. Then just drain the oil off the top and leave the water in the bottom of your buckets/pans.

I do not like putting any of the alcohol products on hydraulic oil if I am going to try to separate the water out. The alcohol binds to the water making it harder to separate with heat.

I also have used just a space heater on the housings of tractors to get water out of them. Drain all the oil an leave the drain plugs out and heat the housings up with your space heater. The remaining water will evaporate out with the addition of the heat.

Russ from MN · Feb 28, 2016

We used to have an oil purifier where I worked, it used a filter, a vacuum chamber, and a centrifuge to cleanse the oil, worked good. We had oil lube systems that held a truckload of oil, so we didn't just change it.

caterpillar guy · Feb 28, 2016

I'm in the process of doing just what you want to do. I am heating the oil then straining it through an old Tee shirt. I know it wil not get the fine stuff out. It will get the course stuff if there is any and will get whatever a cloth will get out. Then the tractor filter will get the rest. We try to keep it clean from beginning to end so there is less problems with dirt.
I heat it to about 170 degrees as this will help with the time by getting it done faster. I then take an electric mixxer to check for water in the oil. If it turns milky in the kettle then it goes some more. I just let it set on an electric stove that we use for canning. I get a bout 3 gallon at a time done.
I am currently doing the oil in my wetline on the truck. It was looking a bit cloudy and with new seals in the dump trailer I didn't want to have oil with water in the cylinder till fall.

showcrop · Feb 28, 2016

Do like JD says and while you are heating the casings put the oil in a big old pot outdoors over a fire like the plumbers used to heat lead with, and heat the oil up to 150, clear it up and pour it back in.

Remove water from hydraulic oil ideas

Michael Price

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Traditional Farmer

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paul

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JD Seller

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Russ from MN

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caterpillar guy

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showcrop

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