With the widespread use of plant-level particle counters, maintenance organizations are becoming more sophisticated and skilled in the management and control of oil cleanliness. This has led to the discovery of a host of new tactics and practices that involve combining the particle counter with other important onsite oil analysis tools and methods.

Contamination can be defined as any unwanted substance or energy that enters or contacts the oil. Contaminants can appear in many forms, and can be highly destructive to the oil, its additives and machine surfaces. It is often overlooked as a source of failure because its impact is usually slow and imperceptible yet, given time, the damage is analogous to eating up the machine from the inside out. While it is not practical to attempt to eradicate contamination from in-service lubricants, control of contaminant levels within acceptable limits can be accomplished and is vitally important.

Contaminants such as particles, moisture, soot, heat, air, glycol, fuel, detergents and process fluids are commonly found in industrial lubricants and hydraulic fluids. However, particle contamination is typically recognized as the most destructive to the oil and machine, which explains why the particle counter is the most widely used instrument in oil analysis today. Additionally, the central strategy to its success in reducing maintenance costs and increasing machine reliability is proactive maintenance.

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