Call me crazy (using hydraulic oil as a flood coolant)

William G Darby · 2003-08-09T02:38:35+00:00

I just bought ten gallons of ISO 10 hydraulic fluid to try as flood coolant.I am just now draining out the rancid water soluble and drying out the sumpbefore I fill it with the ISO 10. There are two drains to my sump and I amgoing to block both so that the way oil cannot get to the sump and mix withthe ISO 10. It (the way oil off of the X,Y and Z slides) will collect inthe trough around the base and I will have to keep it cleaned out. I have anenclosed table and it is possible for me to drain the ISO 10 directly tothe sump via a holding strainer to allow the rough filtering out of cuttingsbefore they find their way to the sump.I know that one of the guys already uses hydraulic fluid as a coolant so Iam sure it will work but I would invite any comment on what I'm doing, thatmay pre warn me of potential problems or any pro or con comments. **************In cleaning my sump I did make one very cheerful discovery (That is, if youcan find anything cheerful about cleaning a sump!!) Well anyway usually if Ihave any liquids to vacuum I use my wet/dry shop vac but there is always theinevitable messy cleanup of the vac. So this time I decided to attach thevac to the poring spout of an empty 5 gal way oil can and a short length ofgarden hose into the air vent hole on the 5 gal can. It worled like a charm!The garden hose slipped easily into the sump's air vent holes and I was ableto get into every crack and cranny. The mess was confined to the 5 gal canand it was easily emptied when near to full. All round, a hell of a lotbetter experience then having the liquid go into the vac.Bill D

Aug 09, 2003 20 Replies

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Thanks ED

Well I have been doing a lot of yakking with Michael Hanz about the use of Omicron and meanwhile I have finished installing a half inch high dam to keep way oil out of my sump. It seems to be working as planned. So right now I can go with hydraulic fluid or Omicron as a flood from my sump or the fog buster that Michael and Carl speak so highly of. If I can figure a way to get the Fog buster going then I'll try it first.

Bill D

Ps thanks for the steer towards Fitch's system. Fitch and I have spoken about it!!