We store our oil in their 55g drums, we am looking at buying diapers to protect them from the weather when they are stored outside,
Drum Covers Link


We are also looking at putting on breathers to keep mositure and particles out of the oil:
Breathers Link


Does anyone have any experience with these, or does anyone have any comments/ suggestions to what we should do instead? Thanks

Dear Josh,

I use dessicant breathers on our oil storage for the purposes your describe. We have worked hard in an attempt to get the oil delivered clean and dry so anything we can do to reduce the crud that goes into the stored oil, the better.

I have no experience with the "diapers" as we do not allow our unused oil to be stored outside. Actually, it was the environmental people who put that rule into effect and I thank them for it.

We are starting to break the old habits of using 55 gallon drums standing on end for storage (and dispensing) and we are getting the plants to put the drums horizontally on racks or into totes. We also like to keep our oil supplies at a 6 month to 1 year usage level.

Noria has some good information on best practices for lubricant storage.

Ken Culverson

Hello Josh,
Best practice would be to:
1. determine the oil cleanliness you need
2. test your new oil to make sure it meets your cleanliness standard
3. If it doesn't, then fitlter it so that it does meet your cleanilness standard. An easy way to do this is to filter it while transferring it from a 55 gallon drum into a nice clean plastic tote.
4. install desiccant breathers onto the totes
5. filter the oil again when transferring it from the plastic tote to your dispensing containers.
Keep in mind that the first thing you need to do is determine how clean your oils actually need to be. To get this info, you may need to invest in a lube audit. Don't start on your journey until you know where you want to go.

We store some oil drums outside in our main oil store. Each drum has a re-usable drum hat.
A bit more expensive than the shower cap posted. They're available here in Australia from;
Drum Handling Equipment.
$14.50 each (AUS)
16 Hi-Tech Place. Seaford.
3198 Victoria
Phone 61 03-9786 5244

You should be able to find something similar elsewhere in the world.

Keep the drums un-opened if stored outdoors.
Fit breathers when the drum is set for dispensing only, indoors - preferably.

Drum_Hat.jpg (33 Kb, 13 downloads)

Josh,
Drum covers….
Like Petri, we too use the thicker snap on drum covers for temporary outside storage. They work well. They are semi-transparent so it is easy to seen the drum label if on top. They also come in black. This is the source ..Drum Covers Link

Desiccant vents..
We use desiccant vents too and they do seem to make a difference. However, on many oil drum hand pumps there is a small built in vent hole just above the screw in threads. To get full use of your vent this hole needs to be plugged.

Jerry E. Baker
PdM, Lubrication
Tate & Lyle, Loudon TN Plant

I recommend that the first and foremost thing to do is to have a clean room to stock this lubricants. Exposing them to athmosphere can allow them to ingress dust and moisture thereby contaminating the lubricant

Joshua,
In the past I tried to implement these caps but after several weeks half of the drums were missing it. It'lll be challange to have all the machinists assuring it comes back on the drum after it's used. Horizontal storage is a better solution.