Oil Coolers

Oil Coolers

Every hydraulic system turns part of its input power into heat. Once the oil is too hot it thins out, the film between moving parts breaks down and seals and pumps go early. An oil cooler moves that heat into the air or into a water circuit so the machine can keep working.

Buyers here run excavators and tipper hydraulics, truck cranes, forestry heads, log splitters, press packs and factory power units. Some coolers bolt onto a machine and run a 12V or 24V fan. Others stand on a workshop floor on mains power. The range is ASA Hydraulik, with Sovatec and MBD fans and the control gear around them.

Which type do I need

• Where can the heat go. With clean air and room for a fan, an air blast cooler is the simple answer. With cooling water or a chiller loop already on site, a water cooled plate heat exchanger does the same job in a far smaller box.
• Where will it sit. An air blast cooler goes in the return line and nowhere else. If the circuit spikes hard, or there is no return line you can cut into, an offline or circulation cooler carries its own pump and the core never sees system pressure.
• What drives the fan. Mobile machines take 12V or 24V DC. Fixed plant takes 240V AC with the motor supplied, or 240/415V AC where you fit your own D71, D80 or D100 B14 flange motor. Hydraulic drive on a Group 2 DIN 11cc motor suits a machine with a spare pump port.
• How much heat has to leave. You cannot read this off a part number. The factory publishes no cooling capacity in kW and no oil flow rating for these coolers, so we will not print one. Sizing is done on the machine's heat load, the oil temperature you want to hold and the ambient air. Call us with the duty and we will tell you which size fits.

The rest of the tree is the gear that makes a cooler work. Fan control sits under thermostats, switches and indicators. Rail connectors, ASA connectors, foot mounts and protection housings sit under cooler connectors and mounting. A rail connector carrying a spin-on filter head is under cooler filter kits. Fans and bare cores are under fan kits and cooler spares.

What else you need before it goes on

• Check whether ports are built in. Low Line coolers have threaded BSPP ports. TT Rail coolers need one complete rail connector kit each. ASA Series coolers take two connectors each.
• Order the bypass version if the machine sees cold starts. A BP suffix is an internal bypass, 2 bar as standard, and it saves the core on a cold morning when thick oil will not pass through it.
• Leave clearance behind the cooler for the hose sweep and do not box it in, or it recirculates its own hot discharge air.
• Size the fuse on fan inrush, not running current. A twin-fan model draws twice the listed current and needs two controllers.
• Put the temperature probe where it reads oil, not tank steel.
• On a plate exchanger, fit isolation valves and a strainer on the water side and plumb it counter flow.

Common questions

Can I put a cooler on a pressure line? No. These cores are return line parts and they will split. If the only place you can tap is a pressure line, use an offline unit with its own pump.

What kW rating do I need? The factory does not publish one, so we cannot answer it from a part number. Tell us the machine, the pump flow, the oil temperature you want to hold and the ambient air, and we will size it with you.

Will a 12V cooler flatten my battery? Only if it runs when it does not need to. Fit a temperature switch or a controller so the fan follows oil temperature, and size the wiring and fuse for the inrush.

Do I need a connector kit? A TT Rail cooler needs one complete kit. An ASA Series cooler needs two connectors. Low Line coolers need nothing extra.