My question has to do with specifications of filters for our filter cart. What is the recommended micron size of 1st and second filter. We currently use a 100 mic suction filter and a 16 mic secondary. I know this will all depend on what ISO cleanness levels we are trying to get to. But lets just say for costs sake ( only 1 filter cart) why would you recommend?

What is the environment that your machines live? What kind of machines are you lubricating? How much oil will you change out on a schedule?

Most of our machines are in a fairly warm (120+ F ) environment. We are pretty much in the beginning phase of working on a proper lubrication program. Most of our machinery is gear boxes that range from 5 gal to 35 gal. We started filtering the 35 gal gearboxes with fairly good results ( 17-14-13 ) but I am experimenting with some different filters to attain better results without plugging or bypassing the filters. I am not sure yet about the 5 gal gearboxes- I think we may just change out on a regular basis, while having the oil checked and also pre-filtering the oil we recieve in drums.

Do you have a very dusty environment along with the heat of 120+F? The dusty environment could cause a need for tighter filtering. Not sure what the recommended ISO Code would be for a gearbox (my chart not currently available) but what you have (17-14-13) looks OK. It sounds like you could reduce the size of both filters as long as the fluids can pass through. Consider taking the 16 mic to 10 and the 100 could stay for now. The 100 will filter out the rocks and the 10 would then polish. Of course your oil viscosity has to be considered at any time. (For example 460 oil would have more trouble than 68 passing through the 10 mic filter.) If the 17-14 were reduced you would extend the lubricant and machine life by some factor. There are charts that can help you with that calculation.

Can you please clarify your question, if your using a filter cart ? My understanding is that this is an offline filtration and portable one that can be used for several equipments or this is attached to a single equipment.

Since if this is a portable filter cart why use 100 micron.

My Warm Regards,

Dear Dan,

Micron rating is only one factor in filter efficiency. What is more important is the Beta rating. The Beta rating will tell you the efficiency of filtration at a particular Micron. I would not recommend anything unless it has a Beta Rating of 200 (95.5%). You can have a 3 micron filter, but if the beta rating is 1 or 2, then the best you are going to achieve is 50% of that particulate being filtered.

Also, if you are in an environment with dust or flour, your oil analysis will show tons of particle count and not any wear metals. This is usually combated by desiccant breathers on the gearboxes and filtering can be reduced.

If you have any specific questions you can e-mail me: solutions@xactfluid.com