Just wandering if anyone can help me,Ive got a schwing twin circuit and i let the differentual seal go a little to long.Now I think ive got water in my system,is there any way to eliminate the water,or maybe break it down a little.  Cheers .

A passing thought

I sure would be worried of other contaminents as well,such as anything in waterbox.I would drain tank,clean,using old oil for hopper,reinstall new oil,change filters.This is where the use of a filter cart really helps.Once unit has been run you can re filter the oil in tank (the drain to top of tank). There was a cause for the chevrons to fail,it's possibile the bushings in diff's are bad,plausable.Also a good rule of thumb is to use the filter cart at each truck service,just cause.

I dont know what access you have to equipment, but there are a few things you can do;

 you need to hook up your hydraulic tank to a filter cart, and filter as much as you can, overnight and over the weekend; we use the filter cart, that is offered by Schwing, it is not exaclty designed to remove water, but it does a pretty good job;

if that doesnt work, get a vacuum filter system;

probably the easiest would be to replace the hyd. oil, but you also need to flush out the oil that is in the system,

I found out that water gets in the system not only at the water box, but also from the agitator motor, you may want to look at that also

I have heard horror stories  about some kind of oil cooker, where you drain the oil into a barrel, heat it up and water appararently evaporates...DO NOT TRY THAT! you would have to heat the oil to over 100 deg Celsius, at this temp, hydraulic oil becomes waste oil! 

Many, those chevrons need to be replaced just like wear parts (Schwing does not consider those wear parts, but they should be); if you let the chevrons go for too long, the piston rod will start grinding away the brass at the guide bushing, and the you may be replacing more than just chevrons; I change mine once a year with good results, the seal set is actually fairly inexpensive for what you will save in the long run;

thanks boyz for your tips,I suppose Ill just dump the oil from the tank, and put some fresh oil in and hopefully by the time it gets through the machine it'll overcome the contaminated oil,and change the filters.

I trust you didn't miss the part about hopper oil or filter cart.The cart cost less than a couple loads of mud + further repairs.

Keep the water below the ram rods. Also drain a 1/2 cup or less of oil every morning. Your oil will stay and get better. As long as its not too bad now, mine used to get a little dis colored i think its common. There's a difference between white and a not quite clear. How bad is it?

thanks boyz i"ll take all that inforation in, but about the the filter cart or the vacuum filter wouldnt that just filter the tank only ? What about the other 250l of oil in the machine ( the pump circuit and the boom ) ?

I would drain the water off every morning.  While the oil sets overnight, the water will separate out and settle at the bottom of the tank.  You should be able to crack open the main hyd oil drain and drain off the water until you see oil come out.

You will need to locate the source of the water, though, and fix that. Once it's fixed, you could send a sample of oil to a lab to see if it's bad.  I like the filter cart idea.  Oil ain't cheap!  And definitly replace the hyd filters after you filter cart the oil.

And keep an eye on the hyd oil filler cap as well.  As the water boils in the system, it will need somewhere to go and you wouldn't want it to launch your filler cap.  If you can keep the cap off and cover the filler neck with something to keep all the dirt and dust out, that may help too, because the water will boil off and out of the oil.

FYI, systems do exist that will pull out that water for you. It can be in the form of either a filter cart or an on-board dedicated system attached to the tank.

For reference, here is a link to the Putz product:

 http://pmawatertech.com/products/dehydrator/index.cfm

52putz, you probably heard that story with water boiling out of the oil...let me reinterate, that water boils at 212 deg F./100 deg, at this temperature your hydraulic oil has gone way beyond its ability to do its job; your hydraulic tank does not create steam, and once water is dissolved in your oil, you cannot "cook" it out; unfortunately, on mobile equipment, because of space limitations, temps above 85 deg. C is not uncommon

I am always amazed, and I have seen it too many times,  that people running equipment worth a Million Dollars and some Joe Blow tells them how to keep this Million Dollar piece of equipment in running order; get yourself educated about the correct maintenance on your equipment, it will save you a lot of money and aggrevation!

A lot of good info I would like to add a bit more.

I am not an Oil Engineer but I have learned a few things over time.

1: the oil can look crystal clean and still be bad, the Chemical package and lubrication properties in the oil can be gone. So Just filtering isn’t enough.

2: There are different kinds of Chemical packages added to oil, Make sure you have oil that meets the needs for your unit.

Some Cheaper oils will allow the water to mix so well with the oil that it can be hard to get out.

So I would advise changing the oil and filtering with a water separator that will get the contamination down to acceptable levels.

CHECK with the machine MFG to get the oil that fits the needs of the hyd system.

Not all oil is created the same. The life of your pumps are at stake

Oil sampling is also a recommended necessity for all hyd systems.

With the economy the way it is right now a lot of guys are “saving money” buy  using cheaper oil, be carefully it can cost a bundle to replace the pumps if they fail prematurely.

Traveltech:

 Would you have the names of companies that will do the analysis for us in Ontario.  I know PM will do it for us but what a pain to get that little bit of oil across the border.  Seriously, Description Contaminated oil, Destination U.S.A. =hours of explaining.  The questions are stupid, Whats it from, answer a concrete pump. q. whats a concrete pump. A. long sigh are you kidding. Q Why are you sending it to PM A We can't find anybody here.  Q Whats it contaminated with. A. Look a@%h&*le  if I knew that I wouldn't need an analysis done.  Click they hang up. 

check with your oil supplier, usually a name brand oil supplier (Shell, Exxon, Mobil) have their in-house labs

Yes,it's a fairly known fact only has a certain life span,As with engine oils heat is a real factor.It is always best to use a filter cart at each 300 hr service.The reason is plain,hydraulic filter can and do fail.The return to tank filters can explode in cases when say plugged or horsing rough mixes.The pressure filters can and do implode in certain instances and go into bypass (same with engine),though different circumatances.

The best offence is a good defence.Yes,as far as oil analyses,a good idea.I would do annually unless catestophic component failure.This will give one an idea of just how many hours your oil is good for.Some smaller fleet pumps normally don't generate the hours the larger fleets do.

Just some thoughts

Grandad thanks for the laugh I can see you and the customs agent looking at each other with the same disgusted grin..... :-) The best so far as I have been told is the major suppliers like in the other post. Another idea would be to contact any fluid power parts and supply chain, even Rexroth might have a dealer there they might have a good source for testing. On the light side Next time tell them it is a Pee test. That should ring all the bells.

Granddad this guys have a place in Mississagua, Ont http://tribology.agatlabs.com/OilAnalysis/tabid/634/language/en-US/Default.aspx