Hydraulic hose protection to ensure safe designs

Hydraulic hose protection is highly important for the applications. In this article we briefly cover: 

Importance of Hydraulic Hose Protection
Addressing Potential Risks and Hazards in Hose Protection
Types of Hydraulic Hose Protection
Overview of Hose Sleeves and Guards for Hydraulic Applications
Hydraulic Hose Protection with Spiral Wraps and Cable Ties

Importance of Hydraulic Hose Protection

A hydraulic hose plays a crucial role in systems powered by hydraulics. If a hose suffers damage, it may jeopardize the integrity of machinery or equipment, leading to operational disruptions and the potential for employee injuries. This underscores the significance of routine maintenance for hydraulic hoses.

During the course of everyday operations, hydraulic hose assemblies are exposed to moisture, dirt, cuts, abrasions, crushing and UV rays.

Addressing Potential Risks and Hazards in Hose Protection

Continuous movement and rubbing against other hoses or equipment—often caused by machine vibrations—can erode hose covers, while non-compatible fluids can eat away at them if left unprotected.

And once this outer layer of protection is gone, hose reinforcement is open to even more damage and rust. Thus, it is essential that necessary precautions are taken to protect them. We strongly recommend that you request free samples of the solutions you’re interested in to ensure they’re exactly what you need.

Types of Hydraulic Hose Protection

There are different types of hose protection to ensure safe designs. Below, you will see some examples for d ifferent hose protection materials such as sleeves and spiral wraps.

Overview of Hose Sleeves and Guards for Hydraulic Applications

A protective sleeve for hydraulic hoses is the last line of defense in protecting people, environment and machinery against hose bursts or leakage. They also protect hoses against abrasion.

Quick assemble hose or cable protective sleeves are suitable for:

• Use in the field where hose assemblies are already mounted
• Applications where the winding of spiral-formed products is difficult

Mining safety approved sleeves

Essentra’s line of mining safety-approved sleeves protects against:

• Hydraulic hose oil leakage
• Hose ruptures
• Hose spills

Its nylon 6 material means this sleeve is dense, yet not bulky, and provides a high degree of burst resistance and abrasion protection.

Fire protection sleeves

A full line of fire protection sleeves has excellent elasticity for protecting or bundling hoses, tubes and cables in a variety of hostile environments. The insulation properties of the outer silicone rubber and inner knitted glass fibre provide:

• Effective protection for personnel against burns from hot hoses and reduced heat energy loss
• Easy bundling of hoses that flex in the same direction; to increase safety, only bundle hoses of similar sizes and pressure rating, e.g.: bundle high-pressure hoses in one sleeve, and low-pressure hose sizes in another
• Aesthetics – more streamlined look to hydraulic hose on machinery

Also, take care to not bundle hoses too tightly and to give a proper amount of slack so fittings and hoses will not be stretched beyond their limits.

Hydraulic Hose Protection with Spiral Wraps and Cable Ties

Spiral hose wrap is offered in a variety of styles, protecting against abrasion and crushing, thus extending hose life.

Essentra’s spiral wrap isn’t only a hydraulic hose protector. It’s also suitable for pneumatic and hydraulic hose assemblies. It’s:

• Radial cut from extruded tube, enabling high natural recovery memory and flexibility to maximise hose coverage
• Manufactured in a high-density polyethylene material
• High-abrasion resistance, anti-crushing performance and resistance to UV deterioration
• A thinner, lightweight solution with industrial strength and quality
• Available as a heavy-duty or medium-duty solution

Spiral Wrap for mining and quarrying

For mining and quarrying applications, users might consider a mine-safety-approved, flame-retardant and anti-static series of spiral wrap tubing that protects underground hose assemblies. It’s suitable for the protection of most types of hydraulic, pneumatic and industrial hose assemblies across a wide range of industries:

• Mining, quarrying, drill¬ing & tunnelling
• Forestry & agricultural
• Welding, manufacturing & automotive
• Marine sub-sea, offshore oil and gas construction

Hose Wear Protectors

If weight and size are an issue, but some hose still needs protection consider point-of-contact protectors, also known as hose wear protectors.

These are a more economical solution when there are few single sources of hose wear. Made out of PVC, these are durable and have a high wear factor. Point-of-contact protectors are easy to assemble and remove as they are simply assembled with a cable tie. They are used mostly on:

• Hydraulic hoses
• Fuel and oil lines
• Brake systems
• Wiring harnesses and battery cables
• Can be used with hose protection sleeves.

Download Hydraulic Hose Protection PDF Guide