Blogs for August, 2011

Whether your air filter is fitted to a car, a truck, a tractor or a digger its efficiency will be measured in the same manner.

Older equipment might have used an oil-bath air cleaner but today it is almost entirely dry-type air filters that are used. They are more efficient and easier to service. They generally use treated cellulose media, pleated to give as much surface area as possible within the filter container. The more media is used the greater the air-flow that the filter can handle and the longer the service life before cleaning or element change.

As little as 100 gm of dirt passing into a diesel or petrol engine can “dust” it to the degree where it needs to be reconditioned. A dry-type air filter, from any of the major reputable manufacturers, will have an efficiency in excess of 99.9%. In other words for every 100 gm of dirt hitting the air cleaner element less than 0.1 gm will pass through and into the engine.

But how is its efficiency measured?

Under laboratory conditions special test dust, typically a carefully defined mix of different particle sizes, often from the Arizona desert, is mixed with the air flow entering the air cleaner assembly. Any dust that passes through will be caught on a massive absolute filter which would first have been weighed. After the test period the absolute filter is weighed again. This weight difference is then compared with the difference in weight of the air filter element itself before and after the test. The efficiency is a simple calculation and is expressed as a percentage.

The most commonly used test dust is defined as coarse and has the following particle size distribution by weight;

Size in microns Percentage
0 –5 12 +/- 2
5 – 10 12 +/- 3
10 – 20 14 +/- 3
20 – 40 23 +/- 3
40 – 80 30 +/- 3
80 – 200 9 +/- 3

Before deciding on which air cleaner to use always check what its efficiency is – for the sake of your repair bills at least!

There are fewer things more annoying than trying to start the engine on your machine or vehicle only to find the fuel filter is blocked, but one of those more annoying things is turning up at the trade counter of your spares supplier only for them to tell you that it’s so rarely used they no longer stock the filter or it’s become obsolete altogether. This isn’t just an issue with fuel filters. Air, lube and hydraulic filters all become yesterday’s technology eventually. But with the economic conditions and tight company budgets that are currently restricting business growth you might not want to spend money on buying a completely new machine with filters that are accessible.

Here at Sterling Filtration Ltd we can sympathise with this situation. That is why we offer to the market a bespoke filter manufacture. Turning out small to medium sized, bespoke product runs we can offer you a solution that’s affordable and obtainable. So don’t bang your head against the wall next time someone tells you your filter requirements are impossible to fulfil, call Sterling Filtration and we’ll take care of everything.

We recently visited a large site of one of the leading scrap metal processing companies in the UK and were surprised to find the hydraulic oil tank of their primary baler “open to the atmosphere”.

From new it had been fitted with a series of three Filler Breathers one on each of the 76mm diameter tank top filler pipes. They had been initially removed because “It makes it quicker to top up the oil level” and never replaced.

We had been called to site to investigate short life on the expensive Pall hydraulic filter elements used in the baler circuit.

The results of an oil analysis showed a high level of 5 to 25 micron dust particles and a lot of free and emulsified water. The dust particles were “blinding” the filter element explaining the short service life. The emulsified hydraulic oil would result in accelerated wear of the pumps and motors in the baler circuit.

The operators had not appreciated the effects of their actions, that what seemed like a short cut would actually cause expense and cost more downtime.

All too often we witness similar cases where people underestimate the importance of quality well maintained filters and subsequently find machines and equipment being forced off line.

To rectify the problem the company had to hire a mobile off-line filter system with a water absorbing hydraulic cartridge and a separate 5 micron hydraulic element to clean up the system.

The elements in the breathers have been renewed and the breathers refitted. This small investment will be repaid many times over through the extended life of the hydraulic oil, the reduced frequency of hydraulic filter changes and the longer service life of the pumps and motors

PART No. 32943F (235ml bottle)

Stanadyne Performance Formula

Diesel Fuel Additive – helps to keep your engine running through the cold, winter weather.

Will treat 120 litres of diesel fuel

Suggested mix 1ml of additive per 5 litres of diesel fuel

• Helps prevent fuel gelling, waxing and icing
• Lowers pour point
• Increases fuel cetane
• Improves engine power and economy
• Helps prevent rust corrosion
• Cleans an lubricates the entire fuel injection system

CONTAINS NO ALCOHOL

In Stock

This week has seen some positive steps here at Sterling Filtration Ltd. On Wednesday 27^th July we were audited by BSI as part of our continuing assessment of our ISO 9001:2008 accreditation. After an interesting and successful visit we came through the assessment with flying colours. Our quality management systems and effective complaint procedures have now ensured that Sterling Filtration goes into a fourteenth consecutive year of ISO 9001 accreditation. Well done to all of the staff for their hard work, diligence in keeping the system working efficiently.

Also, this week sees the launch of the new Sterling Filtration Ltd website. Having been in the pipeline for several months we have finally updated our previous website which had begun to look aged and tired. The new site is much tidier and industry relevant and utilising WordPress makes editing and updating pages and news a far simpler task.. We also hope it is much more user friendly for visitors and with an ever expanding library of technical downloads, including our hefty Product catalogue we believe it is a further tool to be used in our ongoing drive to satisfy customer need.   Sterling Filtration has also launched on Twitter. You can follow us and keep up to date with latest news here.