A contract worth about R2-million a year for two hydraulic hose component assembly workshops has been awarded to hoses and fittings supplier Genflex Hydraulics by a min-ing plant in the North West.

“The mining sector never sleeps – it is operational 24 hours a day and requires as little downtime as possible owing to the high costs involved. “The application and use of hydraulic hose and associated fittings and components in the mining sector require that operators are fully trained to use the equipment that they work with,” states Genflex Hydraulics.

The workshops will be aimed at training appropriate staff in the manufacture, assembly and application of hydraulic hose and fittings. Genflex believes that improved knowledge of hydraulic operations available to the workforce through the workshops will prevent unnecessary stoppages.

Genflex Hydraulics already offers customers a 24-hour service-van facility with quali-fied technicians available to assist customers with hydraulic hose problems. The company views the hydraulic hose com-ponent assembly workshops as a natural addition to its offering.

Meanwhile, Genflex Hydraulics is aware that many trucks and trailers use the wrong hydraulic hose bore sizes for the pumps with which they have been fitted. On further investigation, it was established that the hydraulic hoses with bore sizes of 9.6 mm and 12.7 mm cannot pass the stated flow rate capacity through the system that the pump generates.

Most of these hydraulic systems only work periodically and are not in use during the driving of the vehicle, but only when the vehicle is loaded or unloaded.

“The recommended flow rate of a 12 mm hose is 25 ℓ/min, while the recommended flow rate of a 10 mm hose is 15 ℓ/min. Any more than this will eventually cause heat in the system, which will limit the life of the hydraulic hoses and can even cause cavitation in the pumps and further wear in the cylinders and valves,” says Genflex Hydraulics’ Alan Cosgrove.

means should be employed to limit the heat of the oil to less than 100 °C. The ideal temperature should be around 70 °C and forcing oil through smaller bores is what causes such overheating. If hydraulic hoses are chaffing, they should be strapped away from the obstruction or protected with some form of hydraulic hose protector, such as Genflex’s Spiral Guard protection hose cover, he explains.

“On a pump capacity of 60 ℓ, 20 mm hoses should be used on pressure lines and 25 mm hoses on the return lines,” adds Cosgrove.