When you are in hydraulic cylinder repairs business, you will come across a lot of questions about different systems, components, maintenance, and the best types hydraulic systems among others. One of the most common issues that seem to confuse most clients is hydraulic powerpacks. What are they? And how do you install a powerpack effectively?

Generally, hydraulic powerpacks are basically stand-alone hydraulic systems that are employed in powering common machinery such as presses, lifts, pumps and other equipment. The powerpacks pump oil from one place to the next in a bid to power the separate piece of equipment. Hydraulic powerpacks come in a wide range of sizes—from something that can be transported in a small pick-up all the way to huge piece of machinery that’s stationary and would require a crane to move.

Installing Hydraulic powerpacks

Before installing Hydraulic powerpacks, there are a few things that you should avoid:

1. Connect the powerpack to an existing system without flushing or cleaning it: This issue is common in single acting systems such as tipper trucks and scissor lifts where the power unit is replaced but the cylinder and pipework have contaminated oil in them. The first time the equipment is operated, dirt will be returned into the powerback through the valves, making them to block and eventually fail.

2. Work on the hydraulic powerpack till electrical supplies are isolated: most hydraulic systems come with control systems, which include transducer or pressure switches. You can always configure these to automatically start the power back.

3. Overfilling the reservoir: This is critical with micro or mini packs where hydraulic oil tanks tend to be smaller compared to the amount needed by other standard hydraulic cylinders. Strive to fill the reservoir in stages and complete the filling level once all the air has been removed from the system and with the cylinder fully retracted.

4. Adjusting the safety valves or pressure relief beyond the manufacturer’s settings: This is one of the most common causes of hydraulic powerpacks’ premature failure. You can find yourself setting the safety valves beyond the hydraulic pump ratings if a powerback doesn’t seem to be pumping yet it continues to operate. In such a situation, the pressure will peak at high levels and damage the hydraulic pump.

Hydraulic powerpacks tend to take a lot of abuse, especially when not installed properly. Fortunately, installation procedures are very straightforward and simple. If you are new to hydraulic systems or not sure about how to handle an installation procedure, call a hydraulic repair professional to do the installation for you or check any potential problem before it becomes a serious issue and cause significant downtime.