Cleaning an air filter

[Soundguy]

Mesh fibers sorry lol The paper filters are made with fibers that over lay each other. When you hit them with high psi it spreads them apart which lets the dust and dirt pass threw more easily moving on to the secondary filter.

see.. i read that one fine.

on my lil tablet I make plety of typo's.. too hard to use the non standard keyboard.... makes me learn how to read other's typo's fine too..

 

[Soundguy]

Is there an acceptable PSI to use compressed air for this purpose?

i use low psi.. something hand safe. you just want to blow dust off... spray from the inside out.. it blow it off the filter.. don't imbed it further...

 

[RandyT]

I have come across several manuals over the years that said to blow out the air filter from the inside out with compressed air that doesn't exceed 29 psi.

 

[ctlguy]

Fun thread I will have to agree w/ op blowing of the filters is probably the worst. This most certainly applies to much later generation, high end filtration systems that are simply a finer filtration system. The size of the particles escaping through the filter for the most part is probably more difficult to see w/ the naked eye than I think many folks believe. When I was a child I got to spend about 5 years on a combine crew (too long ago not going to give a yr) but in those days filter cleaning was a business. You took your filter to the local parts house and it was either shipped off or done in house on a specialized "shaker" machine. I still would not put the quality of those days filters to the air filters on a high end farm tractor. Back then it certainly made sense on a combine as the filters were incredibly expensive and probably those prices are still higher than what the small (in comparison) air filters compact tractors use. There are options out there in pre-cleaner design that have been around for years that can lengthen the life of air filters by helping to get rid of the biggest chunks before they even get to the air cleaner. This of course is all IMAO.

 

[scrappy isb67]

i use low psi.. something hand safe. you just want to blow dust off... spray from the inside out.. it blow it off the filter.. don't imbed it further...

Or worse yet push it thru the filter! then you have 2 problems, dirt in the filter and a hole for more dirt to follow!

 

[jlsmith]

see.. i read that one fine.

on my lil tablet I make plety of typo's.. too hard to use the non standard keyboard.... makes me learn how to read other's typo's fine too..

Lol sorry im at work and I try to get on here in between customers and helping the guys in the shop. I get in a hurry trying to reply sometime times. My wife tells me that all the time when i try and text her :laughing:

 

[Hooked_on_HP]

I agree with the OP that blowing out filters is a bad pratice. If you do blow out your filter and damage it you will never know until the damage is done. If you are working on your own equiptment and are willing to take the risk, that is up to you. I would hate to have to tell my boss that I trashed a $15K motor trying to save him 60 bucks. In the compact tractor world maby it is different because you put on less hoursand would take years to show up.For those of you that do blow out your filters, the next time you have your filter out take a white towel and wipe the inside of the air intake and see how clean it comes out.
Bill

 

[madmax12]

I agree with the OP that blowing out filters is a bad pratice. If you do blow out your filter and damage it you will never know until the damage is done. If you are working on your own equiptment and are willing to take the risk, that is up to you. I would hate to have to tell my boss that I trashed a $15K motor trying to save him 60 bucks. In the compact tractor world maby it is different because you put on less hoursand would take years to show up.For those of you that do blow out your filters, the next time you have your filter out take a white towel and wipe the inside of the air intake and see how clean it comes out.
Bill

That's a good suggestion.

So, does that mean u always put in a new filter when current one is dirty? Or do u have another way of cleaning it? Thx

 

[jlsmith]

That's a good suggestion.

So, does that mean u always put in a new filter when current one is dirty? Or do u have another way of cleaning it? Thx

You can still clean the filter by bumping it. This will knock most of the dirt and dust off of it. Then take a cloth and wipe the inside of the filter. There is no need in changing the filter each time if the filter is not destroyed. I have over 1200 hrs on one of my filters by doing it this way. Im not telling anybody not to blow out an air filter. The older filters would prob have been ok to do this but the filters that are built today are designed completely diff than the ones of yesterday.

 

[madmax12]

You can still clean the filter by bumping it. This will knock most of the dirt and dust off of it. Then take a cloth and wipe the inside of the filter. There is no need in changing the filter each time if the filter is not destroyed. I have over 1200 hrs on one of my filters by doing it this way. Im not telling anybody not to blow out an air filter. The older filters would prob have been ok to do this but the filters that are built today are designed completely diff than the ones of yesterday.

Thank-you

 

[D7E]

My manual says not to bump them on anything and to blow them out with compressed air. I'm so confused, now what do I do?

This is pretty much what i have ever read or been told farming or working at dealerships .

 

[orezok]

That's why I never go to schools/doctors....they are always telling you that the things that you've been doing all your life are not good for you. Thanx jl

...yeah, and have you ever noticed that there are far more old drunks than there are old doctors! :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

 

[Soundguy]

.For those of you that do blow out your filters, the next time you have your filter out take a white towel and wipe the inside of the air intake and see how clean it comes out.
Bill

imho.. you SHOULD be wiping out the dry filter housing ANYWAY....

 

[bigbull338]

im 1 of those that use the compressor to blow out air filters an rads.an have done so for years.its alot cheaper thanging filters every 6 months or so.my tractor will be 2 next month an i have to buy a new air filter for it.

 

[brain55]

Now as an equipment mechanic I will not clean an air filter if I can possibly avoid it. It is not worth the risk to my reputation.

As an example one of my best customers is putting 20 hrs/week on his 5 Kubota R-series wheel loaders, I am changing the oil every five weeks along with air and fuel filters. Every other oil change the inner air filters are ready to be changed. I guess it becomes a trade off on whether to spend the money on air filters or engines. One has 8500 hrs and a couple over 6500. None of these are showing any signs of engine wear yet.

I had the cylinder head off of one of the 6500 hr machines recently for a head gasket issue. There was no ridge on the cylinders at all, and when I took the valve cover off you would have sworn somebody had already taken it off and cleaned it.

So I think I'm going to stick with replacing air filters over cleaning them.

Brian

 

[Soundguy]

that's why I like an oil bath... no decisions like that..

 

[kneedeep]

My Dads old JD 450 Track loader had a dry cannister pre-cleaner that you could see the dirt in it. When it got to a line on the clear housing that read EMPTY WHEN DIRT TOUCHES LINE, we would empty it!!

Life was simple 40 years ago!!:construction:

 

[Hooked_on_HP]

imho.. you SHOULD be wiping out the dry filter housing ANYWAY....

I am not talking about the air filter housing, I am talking about the tube that goes from the air filter housing to the intake.

 

[cqaigy2]

Now as an equipment mechanic I will not clean an air filter if I can possibly avoid it. It is not worth the risk to my reputation.

As an example one of my best customers is putting 20 hrs/week on his 5 Kubota R-series wheel loaders, I am changing the oil every five weeks along with air and fuel filters. Every other oil change the inner air filters are ready to be changed. I guess it becomes a trade off on whether to spend the money on air filters or engines. One has 8500 hrs and a couple over 6500. None of these are showing any signs of engine wear yet.

I had the cylinder head off of one of the 6500 hr machines recently for a head gasket issue. There was no ridge on the cylinders at all, and when I took the valve cover off you would have sworn somebody had already taken it off and cleaned it.

So I think I'm going to stick with replacing air filters over cleaning them.

Brian

That's a good point. I've always blown out airfilters but will admit that it's possible that the filter element make be compromised but not visibly and allow small maybe micron sized or possibly larger size particles thru that would cause noticeable wear on high hour engines.

 

[Soundguy]

I am not talking about the air filter housing, I am talking about the tube that goes from the air filter housing to the intake.

i consider the feed tube onthe 'clean' side of the fitler to be part of the housing.. I try to clean all i can with a moistened rag.. a light oil makes a good dust collector.. helps clean any particles that get dropped in when removing old element.