If you've followed our blog for any period of time, then you know how important it is to take regular samples of your fluids. Not sure how to do that? You've come to the right place. 

Watch the video for a detailed explanation. (It's just a few minutes, and we think you'll be glad you did!)

Video Transcript

Hi my name is Scott Howard with Hy-Pro Filtration and today we will be speaking about proper bottle sampling techniques. We have a 100ml bottle and that’s pretty much the industry standard. We have a filter cart and we’ll be using the upstream sample port prior to the spin-ons. So, there’s your pump, here’s your sample port.

This gives you good information on the barrel or tote or reservoir information as far as the overall Total System Cleanliness, which is very important. What we will be doing is assuming that the bottle -- through our testing this is pretty accurate -- the bottle will have contamination from manufacturing in the cap and in the bottle that can potentially affect your lab report. We want to remove this contaminant while at the same time using the proper sample location and sampling techniques.

When we start the sample valve or the sample oil flow, we want to keep it flowing the entire time, so as not to stop and start and have some contamination buildup in the valve if present, so here we go.

Once you have your flow set, you don’t need too much, just make sure it does not stop until you finish with your sample. Keep the cap pointed down so no airborne fallout can land in the cap. Recap the bottle and agitate. When you dump the bottle, make sure you do not splash the oil up into the bottle. That could potentially contaminate it.

We prefer at least two times filling halfway and agitating the bottle to remove the contaminant. You can do a third flush but two at least is preferred. Once you’ve completed your flush you can fill it to the throat of the bottle and then cap it.

Then at that point shut off your oil flow and your filter cart. It seems real simple to draw a bottle sample but what we want to eliminate if we’re talking about very efficient filtration and a very clean system, the trend analysis in the lab report, it’s critical to get the bottle sample correctly and not have background contamination from either the bottle, cap or even the sample valve so this is how you can make it real simple to get a good test and believe your lab report for a good trend analysis.