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Warning: Seasonal cold really messes with hydraulic elevator oil
I worked on a hydraulic elevator last year that kept starting slow every time the temperature dropped. I checked the pump and valves twice, but nothing seemed broken. Then it hit me that the oil was getting too thick in the cold, like syrup from the fridge. I told the building manager to switch to a thinner oil grade for winter, and we added a small space heater near the tank. Now the elevator runs smooth no matter how cold it gets outside. This saved me from multiple annoying callbacks on the same job. It's a small thing that's easy to overlook during routine checks. I make sure to bring it up with every client now when fall rolls around.
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the_margaret2mo ago
That idea with the space heater near the tank kinda makes me nervous. Portable heaters can be a real fire risk around oil and dust in those tight spaces. Just switching the oil grade is the safer move for cold weather.
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marybaker2mo ago
My old truck in Minnesota had the same issue every January. I tried a space heater once but got too worried about sparks near the oil filter. Like @the_margaret said, switching to a thinner oil made a big difference for cold starts. I used 5W-20 instead of 10W-30 and it worked way better. What oil grade did you end up going with?
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shane_mason622mo ago
So you're saying I should just pour hot coffee into my oil pan?
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