Sensible ways to stay ahead of the “power curve”
David Miller
When I was a Marine, we had a concept called the “power curve.” While I never did learn where the phrase originated, I knew that one thing I did not want to do was to “get behind the power curve.”
Think of yourself jogging on a treadmill. There’s about 4 linear feet of surface on the track, of which about 3 feet is usable space. You can move within that 3-foot area without concern. If you are distracted and you start to lag behind to where you find yourself on that furthest 12 inches, then there is zero margin for error at that point. You are suddenly behind the power curve!
When it comes to fleet maintenance, you can easily get behind the power curve by not being prepared for breakdowns before they occur. It goes without saying that a good preventive maintenance program will keep most breakdowns from happening, but it can’t prevent them all. If you get caught flat-footed when a problem occurs, you are likely to face unnecessary and costly downtime.
Hydraulic systems play a large role in the operation of waste industry equipment. Flexible hydraulic hose is critical to the function of these systems, and the hose is often the weakest link. A proactive maintenance posture will not only replace hoses that show signs of wear during regularly scheduled PM service, but will also have a response plan in place if a hose fails in the field.
©timbrk/deposit photos
Becoming Hydraulic Hose Capable
An appropriate response plan is going to depend on the size of your fleet and the value you place on avoiding downtime. Typical strategies include:
- Mobile repair vehicle equipped to manufacture replacement hose in the field
- Hose crimping station in the shop
- Portable hose crimper equipped to handle hoses up to 1” ID with any larger hose repairs contracted with third-party provider
- Spare parts inventory of replacement hoses pre-manufactured to replace hoses most likely to fail
It would be impractical to keep spare premanufactured hoses for every hydraulic line in service in your fleet. Without some sort of ad hoc hose fabrication capability, your fleet is going to experience significant downtime as you order a replacement for every failed hose.
Making the decision to become hydraulic hose capable requires an understanding of the investment in materials and training necessary to do it right. Your fleet mechanics will need to work closely with your MRO parts supplier to make the effort successful.
The world of hydraulic hose is mystifying to the uninitiated. In the natural world we have a variety of birds and insects that use a variety of mechanisms to fly. In the world of hydraulic hoses, there is a similar diversity of design strategies that have originated all over the world, and crimping the wrong connector to the wrong hose would be as futile as giving feathers to a bumblebee. Your MRO parts supplier can provide you with the training you need, usually without charge as long as you are doing business with them. The supplier can assist you in specifying appropriate hose construction for your equipment and what connectors you will need to bring in. You will also need to decide which manufacturer you will use, because hydraulic hose components cannot be safely mixed and matched.
You will want to use the same manufacturer for the hose, connectors—even the crimping equipment. If your preferred vendor favors a particular brand, you are most likely going to be happiest committing to the brand that your supplier likes.
It is often the case that your supplier will have a loan program for your crimping equipment that is tied to a minimum consumption of hose and fittings. If your fleet is big enough or old enough, you should have no difficulty meeting the minimums to keep the program going.
Factors that Lead to Hose Failure
Apart from weakening and fatigue that are the inevitable consequence of old age, hoses can fail prematurely if they are exposed to abrasion, excessive torsion or flexing. Use of hoses that are not cut to the correct length will expose them to added stress, leading to failure. If a hose is placed into duty where it must bend more than 45° in the course of its normal operation, it must be a hose rated for that kind of duty or it will prematurely fail.
Abrasion is a common problem with equipment in the waste industry. It is not always possible to eliminate scuffing of hoses during normal operation and for this reason, many manufacturers offer an abrasion resistant line of hose.
Another consideration is blowout protection. Hose failures range from the mundane pinhole leak to the spectacular blowout, dancing like a king cobra and spewing hydraulic oil everywhere. Given the right hose at the wrong time, a dramatic blowout has the potential to cause a lot of property damage, not to mention injury to anyone in harm’s way.
The protection against this worst-case scenario is an ultra-tight-woven sleeve that encloses the hose and is fastened at both ends over the connector crimps with a collar. It does not prevent the blowout, but it contains the spewing oil and prevents the hose from dancing uncontrollably as it releases its pent-up pressure. This is an add-on to your chosen hose and all the ones I am familiar with must be installed at the time the hose is crimped.
Proactive fleet maintenance can go a long way toward keeping your team productive. Being able to fix a hydraulic problem within hours of it occurring is just one of the things you have to do to stay ahead of that power curve.
David Miller is the Waste Industry Manager for HUB Industrial Supply (Lake City, FL). He is a Certified Safety Professional and works with managers to effectively implement and manage PPE and MRO programs in the waste industry. He may be reached at [email protected]. HUB Industrial Supply is an Applied MSSSM company.