In the world of industrial turbines, compressors and hydraulic systems, it is not spectacular failures that are the real silent enemy, but gradually accumulating oil deposits.
Like invisible ‘rust’, these deposits can paralyse even the most advanced machine, raising operating temperatures, reducing efficiency, and leading to costly, unplanned downtime. These seemingly harmless brown-amber deposits, technically referred to as varnish, accumulate in bearings and control elements, disrupting thermal conductivity and destabilising the entire system’s operation.
Although advances in tribology have extended the life of modern oils, their ageing is an inevitable process — chemistry, loads and high temperatures will always cause degradation.
This is why solutions such as Texaco® VARTECH® Industrial System Cleaner represent a real breakthrough: they enable deposits to be removed during normal operation. In combination with the right oils and systematic monitoring, they create a complete protective chain that not only cleans, but also prevents future failures. This demonstrates that the battle against oil deposits is no longer merely a reaction to an issue, but rather a proactive strategy that influences competitive advantage and production safety.
Texaco two-stage method: system cleaning and long-term protection
Imagine a turbine that starts operating at an elevated temperature. First, there is a slight increase, followed by successive alarms until the bearing finally reaches over 110°C. For maintenance services, this is a warning signal that something is happening in the lubrication system. What is the traditional response? Drain the oil and refill with fresh oil. However, this process is akin to changing the water in a dirty aquarium – deposits, lacquers and carbon residues remain on the working surfaces, ready to contaminate the new oil. This is where Texaco’s ‘Clean and Control’ concept comes in, offering a comprehensive approach that goes beyond simply replacing the lubricant to include complete system cleaning and future protection.
The first step is to introduce VARTECH Industrial System Cleaner into the operating oil system. This is no ordinary detergent; it is a technology that dissolves hard deposits, binds them in oil, and prevents them from redepositing. The biggest advantage? The process does not require the equipment to be shut down. This means that the plant does not lose hours or days of production and can be prepared for a new life. Once the deposits have been bound and removed with the old oil, the system can be filled with fresh Texaco oil: GST Advantage for turbines or Cetus for compressors. These products are developed using advanced additive chemistry to effectively reduce the risk of new deposits forming.
This difference between simple replacement and comprehensive cleaning is what sets VARTECH apart as a tool that changes the approach to operation, rather than just another ‘product on the shelf’. The implementation data speaks for itself: at a Swedish chemical plant, a compressor whose temperature had reached 110°C was stabilised by a 10% VARTECH solution, enabling it to operate safely until its scheduled shutdown. In the Netherlands, a steam turbine which was not due for inspection for another three years was at risk of premature failure due to rising bearing temperatures. Six days of cleaning with a 7% solution reduced temperatures at three measuring points, eliminating the risk of costly premature repairs.
However, these are not isolated cases. On an offshore platform in the Baltic Sea, a gas turbine was losing filters and overheating its bearings. Simply changing the oil did not improve the situation. It was only after several weeks of cleaning with a 15% solution of VARTECH Industrial System Cleaner that the bearing temperature reduced from over 100°C to a stable 93°C. Only then could the fresh GST Advantage EP oil begin to work under optimal conditions. At a Swedish waste incineration plant, preventive cleaning of the steam turbine confirmed the effective removal of deposits in laboratory tests and became part of a preventive strategy. Operators decided that this was the best way to avoid unplanned downtime.
VARTECH is more than just a cleaning agent. It is part of a broader ecosystem in which oil is analysed, potential problems are diagnosed, and lubricants that are resistant to deposit formation are selected. In practice, this results in not only temporary improvement, but also long-term reliability of lubrication systems, from power turbines and chemical compressors to offshore gas turbines. In an era where every hour of downtime can cost millions, the concept of ‘clean and control’ is becoming a necessity rather than a luxury. It exemplifies how modern maintenance is evolving from reactive firefighting to creating conditions that prevent fires from occurring in the first place.
