What are the shelf lives of Oils and greases. We have some oils having more than 5 years in store.

Shell supplier says a shelf life of 3 years and Chevron 5 years. But I read an article in "machinery Lubrication" mag. that recommends a shelf life of 1 year max.

Your valuable comments / guidance is welcome.

I'm no expert, BUT....

If manufacturers can claim a 'lifetime' or '15 years' or other very long time for the usable life for grease inside a sealed bearing, then I fail to see why it should go 'off' while sitting in a tube on a shelf in a Cool, Dry Place. The only 'storage lifetime' issues I can think of that would seem valid to me would be contamination if stored improperly, like in a drum where water can pool around the bung, or if stored 'open' such that volatiles can evaporate. Other than that... why should oil or grease 'go bad'?

Yahoo,

I recommend no more than one year's supply of lubricant in our plants. I have talked with all of the major oil companies and yes, they all say the shelf life is between 3 and 5 years for oil lubricants. The only problem, we don't know how long it has been since the lubricant was blended.

Lubricants go bad with age due to normal ingression of contaminants (primarily water vapor) even if closed, the fact that in use drums of oil usually have a pump and hose attached which pick up contaminants and seldom have an effective filter on the breather. The other problem is the settling out of additives.

Mike is right, the base oil will not go bad, but the lubricant will.

Ken Culverson