Why You Should Never Reuse Your Oil Sample Tubing
Oil sampling tubing should never be reused. To avoid minimizing sample contamination a new line of tube should be used for each sample taken.
A company recently hired me to train their samplers. The company used the drop tube method to collect their oil samples so I grabbed a line of tube and began waking around taking samples with a trainee. At the first piece of equipment I cut a line of tube and took a sample and then threw the used tube away. The trainee immediately stopped me and asked why I was throwing away the tube. I was shocked to learn that he was taught to reuse the tube.
Samples taken from a drop tube or drain port have a highest potential of producing inconsistency among samples. In situations where drop-tube vacuum sampling must be used on circulating systems, the best sampling location is between the return line and the suction line. This is known as the short circuit.
By: Tim Nelson, Technical Services Manager, Insight Services
