Maintenance Tips: Cleaning Equipment Components

Companies tend to minimize the impact of basic cleanliness on equipment / components. Maintenance usually emphasize in condition monitoring programs such as vibration, temperature (motors, bearings….), on-the-run inspections and others.

Equipment condition monitoring results can depend upon cleanliness of equipment. High vibration can come from a loose hold-down bolt, which sometimes cannot be inspected due to debris build-up on top of it. Motor core temperatures reading may not be accurate due to the build-up around casing and cooling fins.  There is a high possibility of oil contamination checking dip sticks or adding oil when dust & debris build-up is around. A dirty coupling guard can obstruct the inspector of noticing a recent broken seal.

Equipment / component cleanliness efforts should be present in down-day or shutdown schedules. On-the run inspections should always include check for equipment cleanliness.

Responsibility of who should clean it is like the Chicken-egg dilemma, who came first? Should operators be responsible or it is a maintenance task?

How I see it, there should be a one-time effort to get the equipment in a stable and clean state. This should be led by a maintenance crew and scheduled during down-days or when the equipment can be down. After that, operators should include in their responsibilities keeping / maintaining that equipment clean. Maintenance crews can be part of keeping the equipment clean when performing a maintenance work order on that equipment. We can summarize this approach as:

If something is spilled over it – you clean it (Operators)

If you walk around it  – you clean it (Operators)

If you touch it – you clean it (Maintenance)

At IDCON, we understand the pressure you face trying to build a reliable plant.
We provide side-by-side reliability and maintenance consulting and training designed to keep your equipment running.

For over 45 years, we’ve partnered with 100s of manufacturing plants around the world to eliminate the costs and the pressure caused by unreliable equipment. And we’d love to do the same for you.

Contact us today to see how we can help you keep your plant running.

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