Oil for electric motor (Boiler circulator pumps)

[jatoxico]

I have 2 oil-able circulator pumps on my oil fired boiler. One is a GE and the other is a Westinghouse. The GE has little flip caps on each end over the bearings and says "use no 40 or 50 oil". The other just had little funnels over each bearing with no oil recommendation but sure it will be happy using whatever the other one gets feed.

I don't know what no 40 oil is. I heard somewhere your supposed to use non-detergent oil but not sure if that's true. So what should I use? I'm afraid I've probably neglected oiling these for too long so I don't want to wait too much longer but I don't want to damage the bearings by using the wrong stuff. I have some Rotella straight 30 but that has detergent. I added a little 3 in 1 just to make sure they don't run while completely dry while I figure this out.

 

[festerw]

I'm not sure if anybody makes non detergent 40 or 50 weight anymore. Plenty of 30w out there or the Valvoline VR1 race 40w but it does some detergents but an increased amount of ZDDP.

 

[jatoxico]

Not sure if non-detergent matters. Also don't know number 40 or 50 translates to. Not sure it means SAE 40. I see some electric motor oils are SAE 20

 

[johneh]

SAE 40 or SAE 50 is available at auto parts stores it is non-detergent

 

[CaptSpiff]

For sale at Lowes:

The bottom of the oil tube usually ends in a piece of felt. When I had the "Big Red" circulators I usually added 5 drops at the beginning of the heating season and 3-5 drops mid season. When I converted from oil to NG boiler I installed Taco 007's and never looked back.

 

[jatoxico]

The big reds are what I got. That 3 in 1 SAE 20 seems to be the choice. Thanks for the verification.