The humble filter element is often not given a great deal of thought when specifying a compressed air system or indeed purchasing replacements elements to carry out a service on an existing system.

 

Generally when a compressed air system is purchased, a great deal of emphasis is quite rightly put on energy efficiency, with focus on the compressor and drying technology. Choosing a system that is best suited to the specific application, e.g. a variable speed drive compressor with a zero loss dryer, with compressor flow rates and dewpoints to match requirements. Within that system will be a receiver, condensate cleaner and pre- and after-filtration – a standard package.

On a new installation all this typically will be supplied by the same compressed air dealer or compressor company direct. All filtration equipment is built to an ISO standard – ISO12500-1, ISO12500-3 and, a little bit like motor cars these days, it’s difficult to buy a bad one. They are all made to a high standard and all performances are validated.

 

Just like the motor car industry, there is a massive sales potential for aftermarket spares. As with spare parts for cars, in our world of compressed air it also gets tricky.

 

 

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Consider what a filter element is – it’s a filter. A construction of media that sits in a filter housing, causes an obstruction and captures oil and particulate in its media. Effectively it’s a restriction in your air line. However, put too much of a restriction in your air line and you have a pressure drop. Once you create a pressure drop, your compressor has to work harder to push the air through or across that pressure drop. This is where significant costs come into play, costing European businesses around the world £6 billion per annum and the environment millions of tonnes of CO2.

 

 

The solution to this is simple and can save a small company thousands of pounds per year. When replacing a filter element, it’s more cost effective to change an element every 12 months than run with a high differential pressure or ‘partially’ blocked element. Make sure that the filter element you choose has a validated low differential pressure from the outset.

 

 

I recommend you choose a ‘pleated media’ within your element. A pleated filter element has four times the cross sectional area compared to a wrapped media element. This gives you a lower pressure drop, less carryover, better dirt holding capacity and a longer service life, saving you money.  Imagine a compressed air system with 20 or 30 elements across the site and it’s easy to imagine the savings. In terms of £s or KWs, imagine your compressor is working significantly less hard to give you the high quality air where you need it.

If you look at any filter you see in your day-to-day life, generally it’s a pleated design. Your vacuum filter, car intake filter, swimming pool filters are generally ‘pleated’ high flow, low differential filter elements. So when you choose a replacement element for your compressed air system the purchase price fades into significance when it comes to the operational costs.

I recommend that you choose:

•  Pleated filter media

•  High efficiency – 99.99999% as a minimum

•  Low differential pressure

•  Aluminium end caps – for a robust element

•  Stainless Steel support sleeves.

In many cases you can ‘upgrade’ your existing filter elements by fitting ‘copy exact’ pleated elements to fit in place of your wrapped element.

Selecting highly efficient pleated validated filter elements will not only provide the pleated essential protection for compressed air systems but also offers complete peace of mind and real cost savings.