To add make-up oil replacing what has leaked, misted away or been sampled out. Top-offs are where most cross-contamination happens: the wrong oil grabbed from a shelf, a dirty funnel, an open bucket. Good practice uses sealed, labeled top-up containers and filtered transfer, and logs every top-off, because frequent topping on one machine is a leak signal in itself.
Who's been topping off the press, the reservoir took ten gallons this week and nobody wrote it down.
Ban the open bucket and funnel. A sealed, color-coded top-up container per product stops most mixed-oil failures before they start.
Also heard as
- top up
Related terms
Lube tag
Color- or shape-coded label at a fill point that tells techs exactly which lubricant goes in.
Bull's-eye
Round oil-level sight glass on a gearbox or bearing housing, with a center dot or line marking correct level.
ISO VG
ISO viscosity grade, the number on an industrial oil that names its kinematic viscosity in cSt at 40 C.
Kidney loop
Off-line filtration circuit that continuously pumps reservoir oil through a filter and back.