hydraulic oil leak

[Adrian_Stiff]

We have just had a hydraulic oil leak which has affected two of our greens, the grass has already discoloured to a  series of nasty brown spotty lines which are spaced neatly across. What are our options?

[Bill_McBride]

We have just had a hydraulic oil leak which has affected two of our greens, the grass has already discoloured to a  series of nasty brown spotty lines which are spaced neatly across. What are our options?

I don't know the answer, Adrian, but did see a beauty last Thursday playing at Scenic Hills CC here in Pensacola with GCAer Matt Davenport.  This dark brown stripe went all the way across a 30 yard green!  The greens crew had put a lot of sand over it, but I suspect that's not going to be the final solution.

I've always wondered how someone pushing a mower could miss that sort of leak across a green, but I guess it happens.

[Kalen Braley]

We have just had a hydraulic oil leak which has affected two of our greens, the grass has already discoloured to a  series of nasty brown spotty lines which are spaced neatly across. What are our options?

I don't know the answer, Adrian, but did see a beauty last Thursday playing at Scenic Hills CC here in Pensacola with GCAer Matt Davenport.  This dark brown stripe went all the way across a 30 yard green!  The greens crew had put a lot of sand over it, but I suspect that's not going to be the final solution.

I've always wondered how someone pushing a mower could miss that sort of leak across a green, but I guess it happens.

Bill,

When i mow my lawn, I watch where i'm going, not where I just mowed...

So if the leak started on one side of the green, it would take turning around when I reach the far side before I would have discovered it.

[Melvyn Morrow]

Adrian

Perhaps the old ways are still the best. Use modern equipment and at times suffer the consequence.

I think you are going to have to lift and replace contaminated grass and soil areas. Have fun.

Melvyn

[Greg Chambers]

Adrian,

If the grass is already discoloring, there's not much you can do besides replace it.  You may try seeding/topdressing the areas, but I've never had much success with that.

Bill,

Walk behind greens mowers don't have a hydraulic component.  So if you see that on a green it was most likely a triplex either mowing or verticutting.  If that's the case it is very easy for a hydraulic fitting or hose to be leaking either under or behind the operator, in which case the leak wouldn't be seen until he turns around to mow the opposite direction.

[Bill_McBride]

Adrian,

If the grass is already discoloring, there's not much you can do besides replace it.  You may try seeding/topdressing the areas, but I've never had much success with that.

Bill,

Walk behind greens mowers don't have a hydraulic component.  So if you see that on a green it was most likely a triplex either mowing or verticutting.  If that's the case it is very easy for a hydraulic fitting or hose to be leaking either under or behind the operator, in which case the leak wouldn't be seen until he turns around to mow the opposite direction.

Agreed, it wasn't the first I've ever seen!

[Randy Thompson]

The first problem results from the temperature of the oil, causing damge to the tissue but can recover in a couple of days. When this happens you need to put activated charcoal asap to prevent long term damage. You can usually find a good activated charcoal at a pool supply house, they use it in swimming pool filters. In defense of the operator it is not easy to detect when it first happens, it is almost invisiible but if 100% attention is used it should be detected. Many times this occurs when verticutting and that makes it even more difficult to detect. If it goers undetected for more then an hour or so,,,get ready to do some sod replacement. You can also buy a red dye to add to the hydraulic oil to aid in detection and I have heard of courses using an hydraulic oil used in food processing machinery that does less damage to turf. Little help for now but hopefully this will help for the future.

[Michael Dugger]

Greenskeepers across the world deal with this problem from time to time.

It sucks, but it happens. 

[C. Squier]

If it happens, there's nothing you can do until you turn the triplex around and see what happened.  No chance to immediately notice it.

Same thing if a stick gets caught in the reels. Nothing worse than turning around to see the perfectly straight trench you just dug out of a green.

My first day on the grounds crew in high school our "super" flipped me the keys to the greens mower and said good luck. You only forget to raise the reels once!

[Adrian_Stiff]

Thanks guys for the tips. I was kinda hoping someone would have some magic potion to make the lines go away.... good tip about the red dye, unfortunately for us the damage wasn't noticed until 2 complete greens were oil striped. I wonder how the insurance policy deals with this.

thanks for the info.

[Craig Sweet]

Hydraulic oil isn't all that easy to see...especially when the green is already wet...

Whenever we've had that sort of problem we try and get on it with some soap and water...lots of water.  But it will still leave a  browish orange trail...eventually...within a couple of weeks, the damage is no longer noticeable...unless of course it's a big blow out of a hydraulic line...I had that happen to me on a tee...I'd just dropped the reels for my clean up pass and a line blew spewing oil across the front of the tee...fortunately I was right beside a cart path and I could pull right off onto the path, limiting the damage to the turf....that little mess required some new sod.

[James Bennett]

Adrian

bad luck with two greens.  Those operators that see the fault on one single pass should get a bonus that month.  It is not easy to see the leak, especially if the greens are being cut in poor light first thing in the morning.

What sort of grass are you using?  Poa, bent or fescue?  That will influence the repair option I would expect.  Do you have similar grass available in the nursery, or perhaps use some from the rear of the greens affected.

Some mowers have hydraulic pressure alarms that are meant to go off when a leak occurs.  Leaks happen, but they aren't really the end of the world.  Although they never seem to happen at major events. 

James B

[Adrian_Stiff]

James - It happened saturday morning and our annual 54 hole tourney starts in a few hours time, its on SKY TV but the cameras wont show those two greens, It wont affect the putting this week, maybe it will just look worse than actually affecting ball roll. The greens are a bent, fescue poa mix, we don't keep a nursery although we do have several practice greens.
I cant decide if its best to just leave it to grow back in, or remove about 10 strips across each green and replace!

[A.G._Crockett]

It has happened a number of times at my club, once catastrophically, and there just isn't much you can do.  We actually had to sod a section of the 15th green, and the greens prior to the leak might have been the best they had ever been.  Very sad, and good luck.

[Ian Larson]

Adrian,

Everything already said is spot on, especially Randy Thompsons post. The worst has already happened. The thing that sucks about it is the tournament coming up.

This has happened to me before. Because of the tournament I wouldnt do any resodding or such till after the tournament. In your case what I did was (myself because I wanted to be responsible for it) get a 3 gallon pump sprayer and paint the lines with some green dye to atleast mask the appearance of it.

Its not affecting ball roll right now but it could in a couple weeks as that grass just dies and dies while everything around it is still growing. It could create a little depression noticed in the ball roll.

If you have turf that creeps you could just keep it painted and wait it out till it fills back in. Depending on circumstances that could take a month or two for it to creep across the line.

If you have a non creeper I would resod it after the tournament. But only do the sod cutting with one of those handheld manual sod cutter tools. You can get a blade that is only like 2 or 3 inches wide, enough to cut out only the hydraulic line out. This makes it alot less noticeable in the future and it minimizes the work and time taken into full slabs of sod that will look obvious and obnoxious for a long time. Replacing a 3 inch line on those greens would probably only take an afternoons worth of work with a couple of skilled guys. Then just roll it out.


So paint it green to take the sting out of the appearance till after the tourney then cut it out with a hand sod cutter with a 3 inch blade. Homerun.

ps...if you dont know what the hand sod cutter tool is look for a company called "Miltona", they have all those quirky handtools.