By the QISHANR Technical & Supply Team · Published 15 October 2026
Case review · Lubrizol Solest 170 (polyol ester, 175.2 cSt at 40 °C) · Palletised 18.9 L pails, released before dispatch
Solest 170 is a synthetic polyol ester compressor oil from the Lubrizol Solest range, made by CPI Fluid Engineering, and at 175.2 cSt at 40 °C it is one of the heavier grades in that range.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Buyer | A refrigeration oil buyer taking a palletised order (not named) |
| Product | Lubrizol Solest 170, synthetic polyol ester, 175.2 cSt at 40 °C |
| Pack | 18.9 L pails, four to a pallet in the filmed load |
| Checked before dispatch | Pail count, the label on each pail, the load condition, the go-ahead |
| Labelling reported | 18.9 litres, polyol ester, the refrigerant wording, the grade, the maker |
| Traceability | Lot number stencilled on the pail body, readable from a forklift |
| Documents | Batch certificate travels with the shipment |
We asked the buyer to set out what the order looked like from their side of the screen. This is the account they sent.
The video came before the shipment did, which I was not expecting. You filmed the pallet before it left and sent it over: our pails of Solest 170 standing upright in the middle of the load, the cartons around them, everything strapped down, the crates already banded behind. We went through it on the screen, checked the count, read the label on each pail, and gave you the go-ahead. Anything wrong at that point still costs a phone call instead of a container.
What I want to see on the label is all there: 18.9 litres, polyol ester, marked for use with HFC and other highly fluorinated refrigerants, Solest 170 by Lubrizol. The lot number is stencilled on the body in digits big enough to read from the forklift, so when we pull a pail off the pallet a year from now we can still tell which delivery it came from.
The part I did not expect was how easy you were to deal with. Every question I sent came back the same day, in plain language, from someone who had looked at our order rather than at a template. A pail count I queried was confirmed with a photograph inside the hour. That is the sort of service that decides who gets the next order.
Pre-dispatch inspection is the check carried out on a finished order before it is loaded. On a palletised liquid order it is the last point at which a short count or a wrong label can still be corrected without a return journey.
What the buyer looked at first was the load itself. The pails stand upright in the middle of the pallet, the cartons are packed around them so they cannot shift, the strapping runs over the top and down the sides, and the banded crates sit behind. All four pails carry the same grade, which is the check that catches a mixed pallet before it becomes a mixed delivery.
Then the count and the labels, one pail at a time. The grade marking, the pack size and the maker's name all have to be present and match the order, and the buyer reads them off the screen rather than a specification sheet.
The arithmetic behind the check is simple. A container that arrives wrong either goes back or sits until the paperwork clears, and either way the cost is counted in weeks. The same error caught on video costs a phone call and a relabelled pail.
The label carries the pack size, the oil type, the refrigerants the grade is made for, and the maker's name and grade number. Those are the four things a store reads before it puts a pail on the shelf, and the four things a pre-dispatch count is really checking.
On this pail the buyer listed 18.9 litres, polyol ester, the wording for use with HFC and other highly fluorinated refrigerants, and the grade Solest 170. The manufacturer's own application data for the range covers HFC, HCFC and HFO refrigerants, so the label and the published data point the same way.
A lot number is the manufacturer's identifier for one production batch, and stencilling it on the container body is what keeps a pail traceable after the pallet has been broken up. A number printed on a paper label leaves with the label. A number stencilled on the body stays there.
That is a commercial point as much as a technical one. A store that can read the lot off a pail on the rack can tie it back to the batch certificate, the delivery note and the invoice, which is the chain an audit or a warranty claim asks it to produce.
The paper half of the same chain is the certificate of analysis and the safety data sheet. On this order the certificate for the delivered batch travelled with the shipment rather than following it, so the pails and the paperwork arrived together.
Every figure below is published by the manufacturer, with the test method it was measured to, and the values come from the manufacturer's technical data sheet for this grade. Kinematic viscosity is measured under ASTM D445 and the cold end of the working window under ASTM D97.
| Property | Typical value | Test method |
|---|---|---|
| Oil type | Synthetic polyol ester (POE) | Manufacturer data |
| Kinematic viscosity at 40 °C | 175.2 cSt | ASTM D445 |
| Kinematic viscosity at 100 °C | 16.5 cSt | ASTM D445 |
| Viscosity index | 93 | ASTM D2270 |
| Density at 15 °C | 0.9516 g/ml | ASTM D4052 |
| Pour point | −22 °C | ASTM D97 |
| Flash point | 265 °C | ASTM D92 |
| Fire point | 287 °C | ASTM D92 |
| Dielectric strength | 46.6 kV | ASTM D877 |
| Refrigerants | HFC, HCFC, HFO | Manufacturer application data |
| Compressor types | Reciprocating, screw, centrifugal | Manufacturer technical data |
| Position in the range | High-viscosity grade for screw and scroll compressors | Manufacturer range table |
| Next grade down | Solest 120, 127.7 cSt at 40 °C, same base oil | Manufacturer range table |
| Pack size on this order | 18.9 L pails, four to a pallet | Product data |
Payment is by T/T, L/C, PayPal or another agreed method. Price terms follow any Incoterms 2020 rule, EXW through to DDP, quoted against your destination port, and supply on this grade runs to 1,000 pieces a year from our Foshan plant.
The order ships as the original Lubrizol Solest product or as Qishanr QSL-170H, our own 170 cSt polyol ester, blended at the same plant. Pack size is confirmed at quotation, and on this order the buyer took 18.9 L pails, four to a pallet.
The grade is confirmed before the price. Send the compressor model, the refrigerant and the operating temperatures, and we check the grade against the manufacturer's data and answer in writing rather than against a description.
Every order carries a technical data sheet, a safety data sheet and a certificate of analysis for the delivered batch. Export orders are issued CE, certificate of origin, MSDS and transport certification as standard. Private label and own-brand packing are quoted as an item, and trial quantities are supplied alongside wholesale orders.
The pre-dispatch step is available on request rather than being built into the price. Tell us at the enquiry stage that you want the finished pallet filmed, and the footage goes out before the order is loaded so the count, the labels and the load can be approved while a correction is still cheap.
The pail count, the label on every pail, the grade on the load, the condition of the strapping and the cartons, and whether every pail on the pallet carries the same product. The finished pallet can be filmed and the footage sent for approval before the order is loaded.
The pack size, the oil type, the refrigerants the grade is published for, and the maker's name with the grade number. A store reading those four lines can tell what it is holding without opening the container.
Because the label is the part that leaves first. A lot number stencilled on the body stays readable after the pallet has been broken up, so a pail on a rack can still be tied back to its batch certificate, its delivery note and its invoice.
A technical data sheet, a safety data sheet and a certificate of analysis for the delivered batch. Export orders also carry CE, certificate of origin, MSDS and transport certification, compiled with the quotation rather than after the shipment.
HFC, HCFC and HFO refrigerants, on reciprocating, screw and centrifugal compressors. The grade is a high-viscosity one within the range, which is why it suits screw and scroll machines.
Shipping a pallet of polyol ester and want to see it before it moves? Send the machine list and the pack sizes, and we will confirm the grade, quote the terms and film the finished pallet before dispatch.
