MACHINERY LUBRICATION- INDIA MARCH-APRIL 2020 | Page 28

Devin Jarrett | Noria Corporation
BACK PAGE BASICS
Grease Guns
Best Practices for
Storing and Using
Grease Guns
“Grease guns
should be
treated
with care.
Although
some may be
inexpensive
in comparison
to other
equipment,
they are still
precision
instruments.”
I recently moved
across town. During
t he process of
unpacking the truck,
I quickly was reminded of the
value of organization and how no
two boxes are created equal. This
also made me think about the
importance of best practices as
they relate to the storage, use and
handling of grease guns.
Properly storing your grease and
grease guns is vital to achieving
longevity from your lubricant. It
is also essential to keep all your
lubricants clean, cool and dry,
with cleanliness often the most
difficult to accomplish. Have
you ever tried to remove a solid
particle from a tube of grease?
It is almost impossible without
introducing more contaminants.
How to Store
Greases and Grease
Guns
So, how do you keep your grease
clean whether it is in a grease
gun, keg or tube? The best way
to maintain a clean grease gun
is to hang it horizontally inside a
26 | March - April 2020 |
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clean, fireproof cabinet with the
plunger disengaged from the tube.
Grease guns should be stored
horizontally to avoid two potential
problems. First, you don’t want to
overexert the spring and plunger,
as this will cause the grease gun
to wear quicker and change the
amount of lubricant it exerts on
each pump. Secondly, if there is a
tube of grease inside the gun and
the base oil begins to bleed out of
the thickener, you would prefer
that base oil be evenly distributed
inside the tube. This will help
prevent you from just pumping
thickener into your machine.
Once a grease gun is no longer
working properly or has become
too dirty to clean, throw it away
immediately. The longer it stays
around the plant, the more likely
it will be put back into service.