Nicholas Fluhart

I have accumulated a substantial equipment collection, much of which has not made it onto this blog yet. Nevertheless, when dealing with old equipment, you need a good supply of hydraulic oil. And given the cost of oil today, it’s a valued commodity. My friend Brad, having heard that I just purchased an Austin-Western road grader (a fully hydraulic machine), hooked me up with a great deal on some lightly used hydraulic oil…250 gallons of it!

Brad works for an industrial lubricants company that specializes is lubricant filtration. He travels around the country with his specialized machines and equipment to refineries, power plants, steel mills, offshore rigs, or anywhere there are turbines in use. They’ll flush the turbines, run the oil through an advanced filtration unit that restores the oil, and replace it in the turbine.

In the case of the oil I received, it was removed from a steam turbine after very little use because they decided to use a different weight of oil. Brad ran it through his machine and to my shop it came.

This is the most hydraulic fluid I’ve owned at one time. Given the amount of time it will take me to use it all, I placed it in one of my fallout shelters to keep the sun from deteriorating the plastic container.

Until next time…