Starting a career in British Steel and having an education in Fluid Power the company looked to me to troubleshoot some of the problems they were having in the Rolling Mill. They don’t teach you troubleshooting in University but you soon start to learn when the pressure is on.
In my next job I was sent to Europe to troubleshoot Hose Test Rig problems and have continued to fault find hydraulic systems problems throughout my career.
The foundation of any troubleshooting is the system data. That may be gaining information from staff of what has changed, when and what was done. This combined with pressure and flow data can help diagnose the problem quickly and accurately. Too often have I seen components changed needlessly, with the only reason “to see what happens”. I have had customers initially frustrated with me as I said I wanted data and time to think, then later they were pleased when I had diagnosed the problem quicker than they expected.
Hydraulic data loggers are a necessity when commissioning or fault finding problems in a hydraulic system. If you understand how the system should work then 90% of the time you can use pressure data to see the problem. Experience of having seen a lot of faults helps, but there is always a problem that you have not seen before.
