03/06/2015

Tips to convert from mineral oil towards Environmentally Acceptable Lubricants (EAL)

Chiel Michel

Changes in legislation, like Vessel General Permit (VGP), banishes all mineral oil to water interfaces. For those who don’t or can’t convert towards one of our air type seals, such as the Supreme Ventus or the Supreme Athmos, is switching to EAL the only option. Converting an existing system to EAL involves some precautions to ensure the expected lifespan of for example bearings and seal arrangements.

What to keep in mind when changing to EAL

There are a few things you have to keep in mind when changing to EAL.

Remove all old oil

In some cases a mixture of bio and mineral oil will cause a chemical reaction, resulting in a chewing-gum kind of mixture. It is therefore important all old oil is removed from the system. Tanks, piping, stern tube and the seal boxes have to be cleaned/flushed thoroughly to prevent future problems. For exact flushing instructions of the stern tube, please refer to its manufacturer.

New lip seals

All our Lagersmit Supreme sealing arrangements can be modified for use with EAL. To do so, all lip seals have to be changed to new lip seals with FKM specifications and the chambers in the seal arrangements have to be thoroughly cleaned to prevent the old mineral oil residues to interfere with the new EAL.

Cleaning of the seal boxes is part of any standard service procedure for seal replacement.

EAL lip seals

Are you using an Environmentally Acceptable Lubricant (EAL) instead of mineral oil? Our new lip seal has an especially developed FKM lip seal compound which ensures more durability when using EALs.