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The recent thread on DC filter cleaners spurred me to post an exchange with Dick Wynn about the best ways to clean cartridge filters.
From Dick Wynn via email:
From speaking live with Dick, the most important point (expanding on his last paragraph):
ONLY use 'paddle-style' cleaners with the 100% polyester spun bond filters (can be cleaned with water & have 380 psi strength, wet or dry). The 80/20 blend and - especially - NANO filters should NOT be mechanically agitated from the inside; paddles will degrade the filtration performance. The degradation will not be visible, but the filter will emit more particulates than specified. Even when using a shop-vac from the inside, take care not to damage the filter (use a brush attachment).
From Dick Wynn via email:
Best: Blow them from the outside (with the filter in place) using 60 to 80 psi of dry compressed air.
Next: Same as above using the discharged air from a Shop Vac type unit and perhaps tapping the [outside of the] filter with a piece of wood at the same time. A leaf blower would certainly work.
Next: Shop vac with a brush from the inside would be good if the filter does not have a cage on the inside. Our 35A and C series filters do not have an internal cage.
Please see www.wynnenv.com/paddle_cleaner.htm
If you choose to make one, be certain that your filter is a Spun Bond filter as the paddles will abrade the filter material. Again, we don't offer paddles with our filters because we don't believe that they are as good as compressed air. Our NANO fiber filters are not of a synthetic spun bond material but they are 'surface loading' filters which clean down better and more completely than the others.
Next: Same as above using the discharged air from a Shop Vac type unit and perhaps tapping the [outside of the] filter with a piece of wood at the same time. A leaf blower would certainly work.
Next: Shop vac with a brush from the inside would be good if the filter does not have a cage on the inside. Our 35A and C series filters do not have an internal cage.
Please see www.wynnenv.com/paddle_cleaner.htm
If you choose to make one, be certain that your filter is a Spun Bond filter as the paddles will abrade the filter material. Again, we don't offer paddles with our filters because we don't believe that they are as good as compressed air. Our NANO fiber filters are not of a synthetic spun bond material but they are 'surface loading' filters which clean down better and more completely than the others.
ONLY use 'paddle-style' cleaners with the 100% polyester spun bond filters (can be cleaned with water & have 380 psi strength, wet or dry). The 80/20 blend and - especially - NANO filters should NOT be mechanically agitated from the inside; paddles will degrade the filtration performance. The degradation will not be visible, but the filter will emit more particulates than specified. Even when using a shop-vac from the inside, take care not to damage the filter (use a brush attachment).