If you use hydraulics in your factory or business, there is a good chance that you want them to have as much uptime as possible. This is so you don't lose any productivity and can complete your work without issue. However, in order to maintain this uptime, you will need to make sure that you are regularly looking at and servicing your hydraulic cylinders. The problem with this is that there are hot fluids under high temperatures and pressures involved, which can create a safety hazard. Here are some tips for maintaining your hydraulics system with the highest amount of safety possible.

1. Check Your Counterbalance Valve Before Starting Maintenance

The first thing that you want to do is check your counterbalance valve before you start any maintenance. This is a type of pressure valve that controls the speed of the actuator in order to reduce the speed of the cylinder if it tries to get out of hand. This will take the cylinder down to a safe state that can be maintained and will keep the cylinder running without incurring additional pressure costs and repairs. You should always make sure that your counterbalance valve is working before you start maintenance in order to be sure that you are not going to get hurt.

If you notice that your counterbalance valve has not been working for a while, then you are absolutely going to need to shut off the hydraulics system and do a thorough inspection of the cylinders because they might have been running too fast and are therefore more worn out than you might have previously expected.

2. Check Your Relief Valve Before Going Near

The next thing that you want to check is the relief valve of any hydraulics systems you are going to be working near. This is critical because the relief valve reduces the pressure in a hydraulics system to a manageable level. If you are going to be working a system, first make sure that the relief valve is working by observing the pressure level. If the pressure level is in the appropriate range, then the relief valve works. Then increase the amount of relief the valve is providing to lower the pressure of the hydraulics system to a level that is safe enough for you to work on it. Make sure that the relief valves of all systems around you are working as well.

For more information, talk to a company that specializes in hydraulic seals.