Can anyone point me to a distributor of Estrolene?
I am also in the process of checking in with Mr Pettijean as well.

Thank you very much.

IIRC Estrolene is a refrigeration lubricant. Try your local HVAC supply house

Thank you very much.

What will you do with Estrolene?

I think you have to order it direct from Estrolene.

You might also check out air oil from Interlube - have had good luck with it.

dave

Is it the Estrolene 30 you are looking for?

Try Al Switendale at:

RSI HVAC Supply
333 Route 46
Fairfield, NJ 07004
Toll free: 1-800-221-1000
PH: 973-227-7800
FAX# 973-882-2828

Clem,
Estrolene tends to cause rubber gaskets and o-rings to swell. a locomotive in regular service will likely have brake issues after 30 days or so, assuming a 26L system...problems are usually not incurred on more mechanically based systems such as 6et 0r th like. This is cause by the same issue that would occur if you put brakefluid in you power stearing system or r-134a in an r-12 system. The Rubber is not ment to handle the chemical composition of the oil.
Here is a link for some synthetic compressor oil that works well with air brake rubber http://www.anderol.com/compressors.php . It does wonders for compressors as well.

I have had the gasket issues with Anderol. The gaskets in the HC2 automatic swelled. I am in the process of flushing all the Anderol, changing gaskets and going to the carbonless Interlube product.

I am looking for some technical info on Estrolene.

There is a little more unique temperature scenario having 300 psi of superheated steam to your compressors.

I am researching all of my options right now including Interlube, Anderol, and Lubrication Specialties.

Thank you for all of the responses.

I was advised by an individual in the brake business that dex/mer III trans fluid is all but identical to the WABCO approved brake system lube and would work with the rubber, I did try this on several locomotives but none had a modern system. It worked very well for the pumps, some issues were had until all of the gunk was washed out of the checks. Like the synthetics already discussed the trans fluid cleans everything out...and it can take the heat.

I am looking for some technical info on Estrolene.

There is a little more unique temperature scenario having 300 psi of superheated steam to your compressors.

Wait a minute. Did I read this correctly? Estrolene is used on the air side. 300psi S/H steam doesn't have anything to do with it. Steam oil is for the steam side.

Maybe Clem is concerned about heat radiating or conducting from the steam end into the air end? Not sure what the difference would be once the heat has made its trip, maybe 20 degrees or so in the air end, probably not enough to make a lot of difference. Anybody have relevant experience?

dave

Yes sir, you did. There is a temperature differential of the steam going to the steam side of the compressors. (300 vs. 230 and saturated steam vs. superheated steam). One of our younger members is doing the math for me on this. He ought to have a good number in hand for me as to what kind of temperature I am looking at on the air side of the compressor at its hottest.

Since there are oil/gasket compatibility issues with anderol and estrolene, has anyone looked at what the diesels are running in the compressor crank cases? It obviously would be compatible. This is another option I am researching right now through my day time job.

For your information and in case you think that there is a big difference in temperature because of higher steam pressure:

Saturated steam pressure at 230 PSI has a temperature of 399.1 F
Saturated steam pressure at 300 PSI has a temperature of 421.7 F

Then on delivery you are dealing with both pressure and temperature line lose.

And i know that the question was S/H steam. I don't have the tables in front of me to figure that. This is much more complicated than just reading from a chart

I can not see any problems with heat radiation from the steam side to the air side. The two are separated except for the casting web and cylinder rod. I can not see where 22.6 degrees higher temp will make any difference.

Anderol does cause the rubber gasket material to swell. We have had our brake stand down changing gaskets an hour before departure. I have not tried estolene but I have heard the same stories about it.

I have used, in the past, a petroleum based compressor oil and it carboned the check valves badly. The valves were so bad that the compressor body was overheating near the valves. This would be a reason to switch air oils but now the gasket problem has me thinking of Interlube carbonless oil.

The Dextron Merc 111 automatic transmission fluid would also be one to investigate. This is not an oil that has only one use, automatic transmissions, and we are adapting it to the air side of compressors. The story that I heard was that Westinghouse developed the oil for compressors and ford borrowed it for automatic transmission use. The Dex Merc111 will take the high temps of the air side and will not attack rubber gaskets and O-rings.

I don't see where the S/H applies. Don't the compressors feed off a steam turret? That would be saturated steam, admittedly at a higher temperature at the higher boiler pressure. But, it's not superheated steam until after it goes through the superheater units on its way to the cylinders.