Land & Water tackles water contamination

Land & Water Plant said it has overcome the problem of high water contamination in the hydraulic system of a mini excavator by fitting a Cardev filtration system.
Water contamination on the firm's Hitachi EX40 mini excavators had previously proved problematic, as they operate on barges with the dippers constantly immersed in rivers, lakes and streams. However, the Environment Agency's requirement to use biodegradable hydraulic oils threatened to make water contamination a very expensive problem.
"We were considering using a cheap biodegradable and changing it regularly, but that is still several times the cost of the mineral oil," said Land & Water Plant director Richard Maclean.
Instead, the company spent around £300 having a Cardev bypass filtration system fitted, which took the water content down from 0.8% to below 0.1% in less than 100 operating hours.
"We now have the confidence to switch to biodegradable hydraulic oil and know we will get a full life out of a very expensive lubricant," said Maclean.