vacuum pump oil

[gabd]

[Osmium]

Depends how often you use your pump.
(Don't tell anyone, I have used pumps with the same oil for more than 2 years. The vac wasn't perfect but good enough for my purposes so I saw no reason to change it)
I'm not fat just horizontally disproportionate.

[netdiablo]

Well, I'm not sure if this would apply for all makes and models of pump, but I've got a nice old Gast pump in my lab that I needed to oil up about a week ago.

"Use Gast AD-220 oil or equivalent"... Where the hell am I supposed to get that?

So, I decided to jump on their site and look around. Lo and behold, someone else had been in a similar disposition, and they had answered the question on a FAQs page.

It turns out that regular old SAE 10W-30 "high detergent" motor oil works like a charm. Easily available, cheaper than sin, and manufacturer recommended, even.
I can't yet see a reason to shell out tons of money for expensive lab grade pump oil.  

[gabd]

I'll look into that. If this really works then its amazing! No need to worry about pump oil especially on week-ends!

[lugh]

I'd suggest you check out posts such as

Post 294180 (missing)

(Bozakium: "VACOIL", Chemicals & Equipment)

Post 304520 (missing)

(sYnThOmAtIc: "Why would you risk affecting the performance and ...", Chemicals & Equipment)

Post 217618 (missing)

(Bozakium: "Re: Compressor is not optimal...", Chemicals & Equipment) &

Post 247445 (missing)

(Bozakium: "Re: pump oil sub", Chemistry Discourse); which were all found in twenty minutes using the incredibly hard to figure out search terms: "vacuum" "pump" "oil"      

[wyndowlicker]

Well living in an area with no known chem supply.Swiw had to find somewhere to get decent oil.He really doesnt want to stress out his pump when oil is so cheap.Go to a car air conditioner repair shop or call one ask where the get there supplys from locally?usually they have a place you wouldnt of figured has it.alot of those places actually carry accesories like oil.If not there is usally a gr---ers mega hardware supply company around. Happy hunting !
You don't try and wake up a man,when hes trying to be dead. -oysterhead

[DiMethyl]

I use mineral oil from the pharmacy.
Pulls 10 mm of vac for 12 hours.
Seems to work just fine and the price is right.
If Something can go wrong----it will!!

[Osmium]

> Pulls 10 mm of vac for 12 hours.

I wouldn't call that 'seems to work just fine.
I'm not fat just horizontally disproportionate.

[baalchemist]

Baal uses mineral oil from the h-store in the 'ol Hy-Vac and it works great & its cheap. Thats got to be 10 torr or microns your pulling, surely not millimeteres/Hg. I get my old dog in the 29.5"+ range using regular mineral oil. Sometimes Baal adds a few squirts of 135w gear oil to it. 
    GODISNOWHERE
Shoot Narcs, Not Drugs

[hypo]

> Thats got to be 10 torr or microns your pulling, surely not millimeteres/Hg

torr == mm/Hg
standard pressure: 760 torr.
couch terrorist

[baalchemist]

For some reason I was thinking in inches of Hg even though I read it as 10mm/Hg. Never mind....

    GODISNOWHERE
Shoot Narcs, Not Drugs

[DiMethyl]

I thought one torr was one mm Hg.
I don't have a vacuum gauge so I distill safrole under the
vacuum from the pump and note the boiling point.
According to that technique the pump pulls 10 mm hg.
That is probably not great for a spendy vacuum pump, but the 10 torr does everything I want it to.
If Something can go wrong----it will!!

[ClearLight]

 Digital gauges with all scales are now available for around $150.00.  Do a google and look at the selection
Infinite Radiant Light - THKRA