Varnish Removal Machine

What Is Varnish?

Varnish is a thin, sticky residue (feels like WAX) formed from degraded turbine oil. It adheres to metal surfaces, especially in high-temperature zones like bearings, servo valves, and control systems — leading to sluggish performance, increased wear, and hence resulting in costly downtime.

Why It Matters to Control Varnish Formation Right From the Beginning

• Valve Sticking: Varnish clogs tight-tolerance servo valves, causing erratic control.
• Reduced Heat Transfer: Deposits insulate surfaces, raising operating temperatures.
• Unplanned Shutdowns: Varnish-induced failures can halt operations unexpectedly.
• Maintenance Overload: Frequent cleaning and part replacements drive up costs.

Proven Prevention Strategies

• Depth-Type Filtration: Capture insolubles before they settle. Install a dedicated RTES RRR depth filtration machine for the turbine oil maintenance.
• Varnish starts to form right from day 1 in all oil lubricated rotating systems if the oil temperature is not maintained @ 40/45 deg.C, moisture and particulate contamination at desired cleanliness levels. Our analysis is the long-standing varnish will take anywhere @ 6-12 months depending on the severity of the varnish formed in a particular turbine.
• Oil change will also not help in these conditions since the residual varnish will definitely contaminate the new oil as well. Even with new oil our Triple R filtration machine requires to be used for a long time on a dedicated basis till the varnish % reduces.