If you have any sort of hydraulic system the first thing you need is a pressure gauge or test point to connect one. Why? Firstly you need to know the pressure the system is operating at, is it higher or lower than when first set. This may tell you if you have a problem or someone has tampered with the pressure relief valve settings. If you are maintaining it you need to know the pressure is dissipated to safely work on the system. If you are setting the system up you need to know the pressure to adjust valves.
Test points are needed to check pressures in different parts of the system for troubleshooting and to check for trapped in pressure.
If hydraulic systems are operating unattended then instrumentation such as level and temperature switches are advised. If the oil level runs low the pump can be damaged beyond repair and may lead to a breakdown lasting many weeks. The same is said for temperature switches, high oil temperature affects the oil, seals, hoses and components. The effect of high hydraulic oil temperature can be very costly, and the problems may reveals themselves of many weeks.
For the past 20 years, real time monitoring of pressure flow, level, temperature and contamination has been available. There are many options available to suit all budgets. From my perspective there is nothing better than having data at hand to understand how a hydraulic system is operating.
Having no instrumentation is not an option from a working safely with hydraulics perspective!
