Hydraulic hoses: Considering the Service Life

Hydraulic hoses form an integral part of the hydraulic systems but most often these aren't paid much attention until and unless a failure occurs. Hoses have a limited service life and that too goes undermined due to various reasons. The additional costs incurred on its repairs renders a lot more cost than the entire hose's replacement. Problems like damage due to ingression of contaminants, ancillary damage to adjacent components , revival of hydraulic oil etc. adds on to the expenses.

The main reasons of hydraulic hose failures are:

Focusing Physical damage

Its a tested statistic that 80% of the hose failures are the resultant of an external physical damage. Most of the times crushing, pulling, kinking, abrasion etc. leads to hose failure. The brushing of hoses either against each other or against the adjoining surfaces (abrasion) is usually the most conventional form of damage.

A simple solution to all these problems is attentiveness. A little attention and timely check can help prevent all these problems. Routing should be paid special attention while the installation of replacement hose. Besides, polythene spiral wraps can also be applied to avoid abrasion. The security of clamps should be also paid attention.

Reviewing Multi-Plane Bending

Generally, if a hose bends in more than one plane then it consequently twists its wire reinforcement. This twisting can be fateful for the hoses as a five degrees of twist can deduct 70% of service life while a seven degree twist can end up reducing the service life by 90%.

Inefficient hose-assembly selection and routing leads to multi plane bending. In case the hose is subjected to the machine or actuator movement, inadequate and improper clamping too can be a reason for multi plane bending.

Maintaining Operating Conditions

The ultimate service life of hydraulic hose grossly depends on the operating conditions. In other words, the working conditions of hose actually determines its service life. Every hose's rubber tube and cover are sensitive to the extremes of temperature, too high temperature at day time or too cold temperature at night can effect the hose's age negatively. Extreme pressure fluctuations too, can prove harmful for the hose service life.