Water contamination is a primary concern for many types of industries. In some climates and operating environments, water can be a more severe culprit than solid particulate contaminants and wear metals. For specific components in these environments, small amounts of moisture can have damaging effects resulting in costly downtime and loss of productivity.

Named for the inventor, Karl Fischer Titration is a widely used analytical method for quantifying water content in used oil samples. Titration is the process of determining the quantity of a particular target substance (water) by adding a liquid reagent of known strength and measuring the volume necessary to convert the target sustance to another form.

Karl Fischer Water Titration Brochure.pdf

• Rapid oxidation, corrosion and wear.
• Formation of acidic by-products.
• Diminished effectiveness of essential oil additives.
• Premature clogging of filter elements.
• Noxious bacterial growth.

Often triggered by the basic water contamination test in the Series 1 testing package, the Karl Fischer Water Titration method provides a quantitative determination of actual water content. Results are reported in %.

Water can permeate within the internal workings of a component in 3 different states:

• Dissolved water
• Saturate
• Liquid

The table below is an indicator of the small amount of the water that needs to be present to indicate a critical maintenance concern. Some OEMs set flagging limits even lower than those indicated. Water is rightfully being recognized as potentially damaging as solid particles.

With the ability to measure moisture at such low levels, our customers gain the benefit of having the earliest indicator of water ingress. Dissolved water can be detected using Karl Fischer Titration which would not be detected by basic testing methods.

Karl Fischer Titration is an excellent test for:

• Hydraulics
• Compressors
• Gas Turbines
• Steam Turbines
• Bearings
• Paper Machine Oil

• Reduction in component wear.
• Increased equipment reliability.
• Reduction in costly down time.

For customers using Fluid Life Data Management Products such as WinRoast and MyLab, monitoring of potential water contamination is easy and accessible and gives service technicians another predictive tool in their maintenance program.

If an elevated level of water is present, a maintenance professional could deploy:

• Hygroscopic breather
• Auxiliary filtration
• Vacuum dehydration