If you want to increase the oil change interval, keeping the oil clean is the task. In turn, increasing the oil change interval usually makes it economical to use good synthetic process lubricants.

The combination of bearing protection seals and synthetic process lubricants can help to increase the life of the bearing environment. Common sense and statistical evidence show that downtime risks can be greatly reduced and maintenance costs can be circumvented.

Because synthetic lubricants are better than mineral oil, some users insist on using mineral oil as their process pump. They may also use non-bearing seals, because all they care about is the initial purchase price.

Erasable seals include lip seals, and some rotating labyrinth seals. The seals to be avoided are to allow the rotating O-ring to contact the sharp edge of the O-ring groove, or a wide enough O-ring groove to prevent this contact, but allow a large amount of contaminants to enter the bearing housing.

Although even small machine manufacturers need to limit both ingress of contaminants and oil leakage, inexpensive lip seals have been found in some pumps and drives to keep initial costs low. However, lip seals typically last about 2,000 working hours (three months).

When the lip seal is too tight, it can cause shaft wear and, in some cases, discoloration of the process lubricant, called "black oil". Once the lip seals are worn and not tightly sealed, oil can leak due to leaks or contaminants can enter the bearing housing.