No matter what the cost of a quart-quart high-film-strength synthetic oil is, it's trivial compared to the value of avoiding failures on critical, non-sparse refinery pumps. It is easy to justify their higher costs by four to six times the regular oil change (drain) interval and keeping the oil free from contamination. By installing bearing protector seals, oil contamination can be effectively avoided.

On pumps that have problems, use a synthetic pump instead. If you can access the drain hole of the sump when using the pump, you can drain the existing oil when such a pump is running online. Many synthetic oils are compatible with the oils currently used in certain pumps. However, verify compatibility.

Use of strong synthetic process lubricants

Good process lubrication practices include choosing the right oil, proper maintenance, and replacement before bearing damage. Lubricant quality can only be increased by using motor oils with good process lubrication. These would be good synthetic materials.

However, even in good synthetic process lubricants, engine oil performance can vary greatly due to the content and composition of additives in the engine oil. For process pump bearing lubrication, at least one company combines synthetic base oils including polyalphaolefin (PAO) and diester base oils with excellent additive chemistry to achieve high film strength.

Much has been documented in terms of good process lubrication skills that significantly change the reliability of the pump.