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5 Common Grease Gun Mistakes You Might Be Making

March 30, 2024

Though using a grease gun might seem straightforward, making one of the following five mistakes while greasing a device can lead to a breakdown or an inefficiently lubricated device. 

The grease gun is one of the most important slaughterhouse equipment tools, but it hasn’t gained much fame outside the industry. It is one of the most vital pieces of kit that keeps workflow moving; without it, as an owner, you’d have a disaster on your hands.

In this article, we’ll touch on the five main factors that affect the use of a grease gun, then move on to point out what they do in the field and showcase their versatility as a must-have abattoir equipment tool. 

5 Common Grease Gun Mistakes

  1. Incorrect Grease Selection

Greases, indeed, are not the same. Use the wrong one, and you do more harm than good. One must choose carefully to match the grease to the equipment and the operating conditions. Every manufacturer separates them, many by colour codes, so be sure you are not using the wrong cartridge.

  1. Improper Loading and Air Pockets

Failure to load the grease gun properly will result in air pockets, which impede the consistent delivery of the grease – ensuring the cartridge is correctly seated and the plunger is aligned will address this.

  1. Neglecting Grease Gun Maintenance

A grease gun is used to add lubricants to big, medium, and small mechanical devices. Every day, after the application is completed, you must quickly take the gun apart, clean it, and add fresh lubricate. Without cleaning the gun at all, grease will easily form a clog or contamination.

  1. Over or Under-Lubricating

Just as too much grease is bad, too little grease is also bad. Too much pressure and heat can be created by over-lubrication, and under-lubrication will, as you might expect, cause the pressures to wear out.

  1. Ignoring Leakages and Seal Compatibility

Leakages can occur if the gun overfills or gets blocked; meanwhile, the grease must also be compatible with the seals, or else the seals will degrade and suffer.

These are errors you want to avoid so your equipment continues to run on grease, which extends its life and keeps it productive. Above all, refer to the manufacturer’s recommendations on how to use and maintain your grease gun. 

The Importance of Grease Guns in Meat Processing

It is a commonly used tool in the industry of meat processing, keeping the machines and the meat moving. For a closer view of this type of tool, stick around to go through the importance of this tool in the field.

A Versatile Tool

It is used everywhere, from a small butcher shop, and abattoirs to a large-scale meat factory. This tool plays a crucial role by allowing workers to extract meat and make it ready for sale.

Meat processing plants are complex machinery that can easily get jammed due to the fat and inconsistency of various body parts. Consequently, it becomes essential to pump some kind of fat-dissipating liquid into the system, making it smooth and unclogged.

Moreover, once the machine starts running, a grease gun helps prevent blockage by keeping the moving parts lubricated with the same liquid. This plays a vital role in maintaining the machine’s efficiency in its operation.

Essential Lubrication

The meat processing industry very much needs machinery such as:

  • Grinders
  • Slicers
  • Mixers 
  • And Conveyors…

Which are used remarkably throughout the industry. Also, you can lubricate all the moving parts on these machines with grease guns, in order to lower the friction and hindering of mechanisms.

Maintaining Food Safety

And because meat is sensitive to contamination, food-grade fats and greases – specially formulated for use in the meat industry and deemed safe and legal for incidental contact with food products – are essential. 

For meat processors, the economic benefit of effectively distributing just the right amount of lubricant – enough to do the job but not so much that it becomes messy, unhygienic or prohibitively expensive – is the primary reason for investing in one in the first place.

Enhancing Machine Longevity

Grease guns are used to lubricate moving parts regularly, to forestall premature wear, corrosion and seizure. These prevent damage to the equipment and prolong its working life.

Improving Operational Efficiency

Heavy machinery that is well-oiled runs smoother, works more efficiently, and requires less energy to run because it has fewer breakdowns and need not be shut down for maintenance.

Water Resistance

The grease guns deposit greases with a low washout index, or likelihood of being removed by water washdown, which is an important feature for food processing machinery subject to regular washdowns for sanitary purposes.

Contamination Control

Grease guns pressurise these systems and flush out debris from bearings and other parts, helping to keep the machines clean.

Precision Application

Without grease guns, it would be impossible to reach the most minuscule recesses and ensure that all the needed parts are properly lubricated – and on the other hand, over-greasing can create problems with equipment and the environment.

Versatility and Types

Lever, hand pump, pneumatic and battery powered types of grease guns are made available on the market for different uses and distinct preferences of users.

So, as you can see, they cover a lot of the hard yards in the industry; they really are must-have slaughterhouse equipment. Just be careful with our five common mistakes, avoid those, and it should be as plain sailing as it can be!

SUMMARY

The meat industry would not be able to operate without its collection of grease guns: the hundreds of them (tens of hundreds of them) are vital abattoir equipment for the maintenance toolkit. Together, these guns allow for the most cost-effective production of safe, wholesome meat. They ensure reliable, smooth operation for processing equipment, and their specialised lubricants mean that the machinery is working at peak efficiency.