I replaced mine with sealed bearings and cap the zerk. I just went through a 20hp baldor I bought from a dairy farm (was used as a poo pump motor) and opened it up to inspect. The amount of grease inside was un-real. They maybe dumped a whole tube in both sides. The windings, everything was covered thick in grease. With sealed bearings these days, the life span is close to open. Replacing bearings is EASY with the right equip. But having to clean grease off everything sucks.
Thank you Keith for a very informative refresher on how to grease electric motor bearings. I work with electric motors and have encountered many conflicting opinions on the subject. The sonic tool fascinates me and I plan to look into this technology. What greasing and maintenance do you recommend for motors in storage? How would you safely remove grease from the motor end turn windings caused by over greasing?
Hi and thanks for the comment. Great question. There's no reason to regularly grease a motor in storage since it isn’t moving. If there's grease in the bearings and it’s not leeching it should prevent any damage from corrosion. As far as I’m aware, most modern motors have relief valves that would prevent any problematic over greasing. In case you have an older motor that doesn’t, you can run the motor with the grease cap off so any excess falls out. Lastly getting grease on your windings isn’t problematic as the grease itself is inert but if you really wanted to clean it off you’d either need mechanical agitation or an ultrasonic cleaner.
Keith, how about details around removing the grease drain plugs. How do we access grease drain plugs without removing the fan housing covers? Also if the motors should be running when we grease, how is it safe to do this with covers removed? Why do motor manufacturers make it so difficult to remove the grease drain plugs? Does this mean they don't want us to grease them? Thank you
Hi Carl, great question. Every brand of motor and every situation is a little different. In most cases the drain plugs are extended out, or can be extended out using some 1/8” NPT black pipe. If the only way to get this done was to have the fan cover removed, then you would also want to remove the cooling fan for safety purposes. Before installing a new or rebuilt motor, you should have a plan on how to grease it for the next 10-years, if this means making some modifications to the grease zerks or drains, now would be the time to do that.
Thank you so much sir, I really like your videos. But I have a question: some motor has only greaser fitting which for adding grease into the bearing, NO grease drainage plug/drain vent installed on the motor. I am always wondering if we add grease on regular basis, example monthly, do you believe over dosed grease could damage the seal, grease may run into motor winding chamber? if so, this will create another problem for the motor, damage isolations of the winding.... Even though we respect greasing amount each time, still afraid ....may end up some grease going into motor winding areas. I wish I make my question clear, looking forward to having your comments. Many thanks.
Great question. In my experience, it depends. You can grease these motors but it is likely not worth doing it and you should just run the motor for the bearing service life and then replace the bearings. Essentially the benefits are outweighed by the likelihood of failure. - Keith
Very nice explanation. I have a elevator geared motor " 90L/4 CUS BRE20HL " but 2hp but I don't know what kind of grease it needs. Please inform me in this matter. Thanks.
I don't understand how you can grease wihout first removing the drain plug to let the old grease out ? If you put new grease, where the old is going ? In the widing 😮 ?
Yeah good point! That is an important step. I do mention to remove the purge value cover at 4:44, but you don't see me do that step in the video. Easy to miss for sure. - Keith
..thanks for this good informations!!.. My question is, How can I determine the volumetric amount of grease needed by the bearings for any motors in grams?
Hi Mohamed, thanks for the question. There are multiple formulas for volume of grease from multiple OEMs so I would recommend whatever formula the specific OEM publishes for their motors. I should add that, generally, over greasing will only happen if you don't allow the excess to drain by replacing the relief cap prematurely or there is solidification/hardening that is causing a blockage.
Hai sir such helpful video this.. I’ve one doubt sir We are doing PPM for Electric motor we put grease in 1st PPM. After 3 months again we went for for PPM that time I found there is oil leak.. what is reason sir Why grease become oil..? Sir please explain
Hi Mohamed, thanks for the comment. Grease is just oil and a thickening agent. There are various reasons the oil could separate out and drip. The most common reason being excessive heat.
Hii Sir, I am Debiprasad Pattanaik. Sir I am observing more nos of motors problem due to bearing damaged in my plant. We are using Lithium complex grease(NLGI2) in our motors and maintaining greasing schedule once in 3months. We are opening to grease drain valve of motor during greasing but old grease is not coming out through drain point.can this cause harm to bearing? We are suspecting that grease quality is not good. I need your inputs/check points regarding the above problem.
Some motors have no inner retainer and rely on the shield on the bearings. Over greasing can pop these off and cause grease to enter the motor. in order to remedy, set up a greasing schedule with amounts of grease per bearing to avoid over greasing. This would not be a grease quality problem.
Hi Ramisio, it depends on your motor, how frequently it's being used, and the environment of the motor. Consult the manufacturer manual for recommended guidelines.
Motors come greased from the factory as they have to be tested before being shipped. You don't need to grease the motor before use if it's new. Thanks for the question.
@@Jadfitree Generally accepted practice involves running the motor so that the pressure on the grease mimics operation conditions and doesn't result in over greasing.
@emotorsdirect4643 What about slowly turning the shaft (if possible) while greasing? Sometimes, we get hit with motor PMs and it's impossible to start certain motors on the line due to interlocks in the ladder logic. Or sometimes we will get a PM for an asphalt pump motor with the system cold. That means if you try to start the motor, you're either gonna snap the impeller shaft, or just overload the motor if you're lucky. And they expect us to get PMs done on the day assigned 😅
@@that1electrician Sounds like they make your job real easy 😅 But great to hear that PM is getting done! If you don't have the option to start the motor first, you need to be careful to not add more grease than the manufacturer indicates for a given time interval and leave a note to remove the drain plug for the first 30 ish minutes of operation to allow any excess grease to leave. Hope this helps - happy PMing!
Great video. Thank you Keith
Thanks Ryan!
Nice video, good insight for the instruction!
Thank you for watching!
Thank you so much Keith
Thanks for watching, Sharifski!
I replaced mine with sealed bearings and cap the zerk. I just went through a 20hp baldor I bought from a dairy farm (was used as a poo pump motor) and opened it up to inspect. The amount of grease inside was un-real. They maybe dumped a whole tube in both sides. The windings, everything was covered thick in grease. With sealed bearings these days, the life span is close to open. Replacing bearings is EASY with the right equip. But having to clean grease off everything sucks.
Sounds like a stinky situation... 😂 How did the Baldor perform after all the grease was cleaned off?
Just finished it, really beautifully now! New Nachi bearings sealed as well. Had it re-varnished as well. Megged out perfect.@@emotorsdirect
@@davidiliyn good to hear! Those Baldor motors were built to last.
Thank you Keith for a very informative refresher on how to grease electric motor bearings. I work with electric motors and have encountered many conflicting opinions on the subject. The sonic tool fascinates me and I plan to look into this technology.
What greasing and maintenance do you recommend for motors in storage?
How would you safely remove grease from the motor end turn windings caused by over greasing?
Hi and thanks for the comment. Great question. There's no reason to regularly grease a motor in storage since it isn’t moving. If there's grease in the bearings and it’s not leeching it should prevent any damage from corrosion.
As far as I’m aware, most modern motors have relief valves that would prevent any problematic over greasing. In case you have an older motor that doesn’t, you can run the motor with the grease cap off so any excess falls out.
Lastly getting grease on your windings isn’t problematic as the grease itself is inert but if you really wanted to clean it off you’d either need mechanical agitation or an ultrasonic cleaner.
Keith, how about details around removing the grease drain plugs. How do we access grease drain plugs without removing the fan housing covers? Also if the motors should be running when we grease, how is it safe to do this with covers removed? Why do motor manufacturers make it so difficult to remove the grease drain plugs? Does this mean they don't want us to grease them? Thank you
Hi Carl, great question. Every brand of motor and every situation is a little different. In most cases the drain plugs are extended out, or can be extended out using some 1/8” NPT black pipe. If the only way to get this done was to have the fan cover removed, then you would also want to remove the cooling fan for safety purposes. Before installing a new or rebuilt motor, you should have a plan on how to grease it for the next 10-years, if this means making some modifications to the grease zerks or drains, now would be the time to do that.
Thank you so much sir, I really like your videos.
But I have a question: some motor has only greaser fitting which for adding grease into the bearing, NO grease drainage plug/drain vent installed on the motor. I am always wondering if we add grease on regular basis, example monthly, do you believe over dosed grease could damage the seal, grease may run into motor winding chamber? if so, this will create another problem for the motor, damage isolations of the winding....
Even though we respect greasing amount each time, still afraid ....may end up some grease going into motor winding areas.
I wish I make my question clear, looking forward to having your comments.
Many thanks.
Great question. In my experience, it depends. You can grease these motors but it is likely not worth doing it and you should just run the motor for the bearing service life and then replace the bearings. Essentially the benefits are outweighed by the likelihood of failure. - Keith
Thankyou sir
Thanks for watching Linos!
Great Video. Thank you
Glad you liked it!
Very nice explanation.
I have a elevator geared motor " 90L/4 CUS BRE20HL " but 2hp but I don't know what kind of grease it needs. Please inform me in this matter.
Thanks.
Thanks for the question. I need to check with the manufacturer on this one - hold tight!
- Keith
@@emotorsdirect 🙏
Chatted with the manufacturer and they said to use any grease. We usually go with the Mobil Polyrex EM at eMotors. - Keith
Holy shit, thank you!
No problem!
Excellent. Thanks alot
Glad it was helpful!
I don't understand how you can grease wihout first removing the drain plug to let the old grease out ? If you put new grease, where the old is going ? In the widing 😮 ?
Yeah good point! That is an important step. I do mention to remove the purge value cover at 4:44, but you don't see me do that step in the video. Easy to miss for sure. - Keith
In the case of the previous owners of most motors I open up, yes....
..thanks for this good informations!!..
My question is, How can I determine the volumetric amount of grease needed by the bearings for any motors in grams?
Hi Mohamed, thanks for the question.
There are multiple formulas for volume of grease from multiple OEMs so I would recommend whatever formula the specific OEM publishes for their motors. I should add that, generally, over greasing will only happen if you don't allow the excess to drain by replacing the relief cap prematurely or there is solidification/hardening that is causing a blockage.
Thank you so much sir, I really like your videos.
Thank you Merchiche!
Can you please explain , how do you calculate how much we must lubricate the motors
It is not a calculation. It is based on the manufacturer guidelines.
Nice!!! Keep it up!
Thanks Serlin!
Hai sir such helpful video this..
I’ve one doubt sir
We are doing PPM for Electric motor we put grease in 1st PPM. After 3 months again we went for for PPM that time I found there is oil leak.. what is reason sir
Why grease become oil..? Sir please explain
Hi Mohamed, thanks for the comment. Grease is just oil and a thickening agent. There are various reasons the oil could separate out and drip. The most common reason being excessive heat.
Thanks alot for this vedio, Kindly when we greasing the motor is should be Turn off or we can do it while the motor still Running?
Ideally the motor will be running and warm so that the grease can evenly distribute throughout the bearing.
@@emotorsdirectokey, so what the Best method to make the greasing in good way.
Best regards 🙏
Keith, what type of grease should we used when greasing electric motors? will it be the same al pillow blocks?
Hi Harry, always defer to the recommendations in the manufacturer manual. If the documentation is not available, Mobil is a good catch all.
How to select the right grease?
Thanks
Always consult the manufacturer guidelines, as they may recommend a specific grease.
Hii Sir, I am Debiprasad Pattanaik.
Sir I am observing more nos of motors problem due to bearing damaged in my plant.
We are using Lithium complex grease(NLGI2) in our motors and maintaining greasing schedule once in 3months.
We are opening to grease drain valve of motor during greasing but old grease is not coming out through drain point.can this cause harm to bearing?
We are suspecting that grease quality is not good.
I need your inputs/check points regarding the above problem.
Some motors have no inner retainer and rely on the shield on the bearings. Over greasing can pop these off and cause grease to enter the motor. in order to remedy, set up a greasing schedule with amounts of grease per bearing to avoid over greasing. This would not be a grease quality problem.
Didnt grab properly, how often should we grease and how to determine the amount of grease and number of strokes required?
Thanks.
Hi Ramisio, it depends on your motor, how frequently it's being used, and the environment of the motor. Consult the manufacturer manual for recommended guidelines.
Should i grease a new electric motor? Or i need to Run it first until next preventive maintenance then ill regrease the bearings. Any idea?
Motors come greased from the factory as they have to be tested before being shipped. You don't need to grease the motor before use if it's new. Thanks for the question.
@@emotorsdirect i just wondering is it ok to grease an electric motor while its running? Or should i turn it off
@@Jadfitree Generally accepted practice involves running the motor so that the pressure on the grease mimics operation conditions and doesn't result in over greasing.
@emotorsdirect4643 What about slowly turning the shaft (if possible) while greasing?
Sometimes, we get hit with motor PMs and it's impossible to start certain motors on the line due to interlocks in the ladder logic.
Or sometimes we will get a PM for an asphalt pump motor with the system cold. That means if you try to start the motor, you're either gonna snap the impeller shaft, or just overload the motor if you're lucky. And they expect us to get PMs done on the day assigned 😅
@@that1electrician Sounds like they make your job real easy 😅 But great to hear that PM is getting done! If you don't have the option to start the motor first, you need to be careful to not add more grease than the manufacturer indicates for a given time interval and leave a note to remove the drain plug for the first 30 ish minutes of operation to allow any excess grease to leave. Hope this helps - happy PMing!