Washing paper filter in kerosene?

[turbofiat124]

Way back at the beginning I seem to have recommended fitting a snorkel tube over the filter.
A Donaldson extreme dust filter would work really well being it is what demolition equipment is generally fitted with.
But for this purpose, a trig down to the 4WD wreckers ( breakers to some ) and a few $ for a snorkel tube off any 4WD would have done the job with the existing filter.
It is just a matter of breathing in where the air is cleaner.

I hear what your saying but the dust still blows in an 8 feet diameter from the mower. I'd need a snorkel 10 feet tall to get away from it.

 

[turbofiat124]

That's the problem with leaves, a lot of dust.
A K&N filter, a pre-cleaner, all these are good tips but I can't see getting away from the dust.

What is the part number on the filter you are using?

Here is the one that fits a 21HP B&S Intek. This filter sells for the same price as a replacement paper filter.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-UNI-Sin...ce67e9b:g:~4AAAOSw9N1VnGRN&vxp=mtr&rmvSB=true

Unlike oil filters which seem to fit all B&S engines, for some reason air filters tend to be totally different between engine sizes. I have an 18.5 B&S that is rectangular. Dirty air enters from below, get's filters, makes a 90 then another 90 into the carburetor.

The one on my Honda self propelled motor uses a square type which I believe fits about all Honda engines throughout the years.

I picked up some of this foam rubber at Hobby Lobby the other day:

The goal is to cut the screen out with a Dremel tool and cut off saw, remove the paper element and use the rubber piece as a gasket and then cut some foam rubber down and use it as the filtering element on both the 18.5 B&S and the Honda engine.

The main question is how do you cut a 6" piece of foam rubber? I need to take off about 1/2" to make it 1.5" thick. I have seen upholstery shops use an electric meat carving knife. I don't know if I have one.

My idea was to soak it in water, stick it in a freezer and use a fillet knife or something. So it's hard enough to cut through. Sort of like cutting a corn beef brisket when it's cold verses hot before sticking it in the microwave.

 

[Pumper54]

Try cutting the foam with a very sharp knife before you stick in the freezer. Seems that would make it way harder to cut. Also draw out where you want it cut and see if a local upholstery shop will cut it for you.
Tom

 

[BlazNT]

Serrated bread knife is the only easy way. Place 2 1.5" boards on the sides of the foam. Lay knife on both pieces of wood and start cutting. Now comes the bad part. That foam will not breath enough to work. It is too dense. Test it to with mouth on foam lightly blow on it and see if you can feel your breath on the other side.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Electric carving knives, the ones with two blades working against each other like a hedge trimmer will work even better.
As for being too dense, probably correct but the poster is having fun with his conspiracy theories on over priced & ineffectual air filters so let him run with it.
Worst that can happen is the engine choke, the highly flamiable foam get saturated with fuel then the mower catch fire & burn.
But the important thing is it didn't do it with the overpriced $ 15 air filter in situ.

When I was jockying an emmission spectrograph, it sat in an airconditioned room , in an airconditioned room in an airconditioned bulding.
Now these were fairly standard widow models with a finer foam pre-filter th a paper filter . The principle reason was dust exclusion.
One bright spark decided we could use dressmaking foam sheeting to replace the very expensive duel filters.
And it worked a treat, in fact they were finer than the paper ones and we had significantly less dust in the spectro room, a big bonus for me as I used to have to clean it 4 times a shift.
Then during a time of high humidity they both froze destroying one of the air con units and ending up flucuating temperatures in the spec lab to the point the results could not be trusted so in place of a 3 minute emission analysis, we had to do a full wet analysis for the major elements and atomic adsorbtion for the impurities.
To do the latter we had to buy 9 new tubes at over $ 1000 each and then near 100 analytical grade certified volumetric flasks to make up the synthetic refference solutions and run an extra chemist till we could get the air con unit replaced which was no longer available so the building had to be altered to fit the new unit and then wired up 3 phase.
Several batches of alloy had to be recalled and reprocessed and then muggins here had to spend a full week working 12 hour shifts in the total dark while I realigned all of the photo tubes, all 278 of them, after which we had to buy in several dozen more certified standard samples so the machine could be recalibrated followed by a month of double shifts to clear the back log.

But OTOH we saved about $ 1000 on filters and the new units were genuine laboratory air con units with a coarse prefilter & electrostatic final filter which is what the General manager vetoed when the gear was first installed.

 

[BlazNT]

If it starts, which I doubt it will it, will be because it is bypassing the new filter completely.
You have a good point about the over priced air filtration on mowers. I have always thought all the manufactures of air filters are getting together in a scantily lit room fixing prices so the consumer has to pay way too much for them. My cost this mowing season for air filters was a whopping $48.00. Less than 1% of what I made mowing. It is just killing my profit margin. Some one needs to make a cheaper one that is for sure.

 

[RDA.Lawns]

Filters are cheap until you buy trimmer filters and bp blower filters lol. My 3 z masters use the same filters . I may have spent 40 all year on them . I replaced filters in 1 bp blower and 2 trimmers last week that cost me 45 . Given the fact that was a whole season use no complaints. Think I'll try a new filter maybe one I can make myself and risk destroying a 10k$ mower or a 600$ blower lol. Not a chance!!!!!!

 

[turbofiat124]

OK so you guys think I'm too cheap to replace a paper element?

Or I think there is some conspiracy theory about the price of replacement filters? I never said there was a conspiracy theory. Just the fact that they tend to clog up fairly rapidly when my yard is concerned. People who have well manicured lawns less than 1 acre who probably have water sprinklers may not have to replace an air filter that often as I do.

I've never heard of a poly foam filter catching fire. These were used on lawnmowers before paper elements were introduced. Why did they stop using them? Lawnmowers catching fire?

Thanks for the support guys!

 

[turbofiat124]

Electric carving knives, the ones with two blades working against each other like a hedge trimmer will work even better.
As for being too dense, probably correct but the poster is having fun with his conspiracy theories on over priced & ineffectual air filters so let him run with it.
Worst that can happen is the engine choke, the highly flamiable foam get saturated with fuel then the mower catch fire & burn.
But the important thing is it didn't do it with the overpriced $ 15 air filter in situ.

When I was jockying an emmission spectrograph, it sat in an airconditioned room , in an airconditioned room in an airconditioned bulding.
Now these were fairly standard widow models with a finer foam pre-filter th a paper filter . The principle reason was dust exclusion.
One bright spark decided we could use dressmaking foam sheeting to replace the very expensive duel filters.
And it worked a treat, in fact they were finer than the paper ones and we had significantly less dust in the spectro room, a big bonus for me as I used to have to clean it 4 times a shift.
Then during a time of high humidity they both froze destroying one of the air con units and ending up flucuating temperatures in the spec lab to the point the results could not be trusted so in place of a 3 minute emission analysis, we had to do a full wet analysis for the major elements and atomic adsorbtion for the impurities.
To do the latter we had to buy 9 new tubes at over $ 1000 each and then near 100 analytical grade certified volumetric flasks to make up the synthetic refference solutions and run an extra chemist till we could get the air con unit replaced which was no longer available so the building had to be altered to fit the new unit and then wired up 3 phase.
Several batches of alloy had to be recalled and reprocessed and then muggins here had to spend a full week working 12 hour shifts in the total dark while I realigned all of the photo tubes, all 278 of them, after which we had to buy in several dozen more certified standard samples so the machine could be recalibrated followed by a month of double shifts to clear the back log.

But OTOH we saved about $ 1000 on filters and the new units were genuine laboratory air con units with a coarse prefilter & electrostatic final filter which is what the General manager vetoed when the gear was first installed.

A few years ago I tried one of those 3M Filtrete heatpump filters. Thinking it might help control some of the dust in our house.

Within a couple of days I noticed air was not blowing from the vents. I went down to the unit and as I suspected, the filter was blinding over with ice which always seems to happen if I forget to change the filter at the first of the month. I turned the A/C off and let the unit thaw out and replaced it with one of those thin fiberglass filters. 3M makes good products but their Filtrete filters are way too restrictive.

An AC repair man told me those are actually the best filters to use. Anything thicker causes stress on the blower unit.

One day I found a bunch of these at Ben Franklin's for about 50 cents a piece and bought a year's supply worth. The reason I bought so many was this heatpump takes an odd sized filter that nobody seems to stock. I usually have to buy a slightly larger filter and break the corners down so it fits and no air bypasses around it.

One day I was at Lowes and was looking for a filter in the size I needed. They did not sell any. So I tried one of these:

Same thing happened. No air coming from the vents. Filter blinded over with ice.

 

[BlazNT]

OK so you guys think I'm too cheap to replace a paper element?

Or I think there is some conspiracy theory about the price of replacement filters? I never said there was a conspiracy theory. Just the fact that they tend to clog up fairly rapidly when my yard is concerned. People who have well manicured lawns less than 1 acre who probably have water sprinklers may not have to replace an air filter that often as I do.

I've never heard of a poly foam filter catching fire. These were used on lawnmowers before paper elements were introduced. Why did they stop using them? Lawnmowers catching fire?

Thanks for the support guys!

1. No I think you are trying to find a way to save a few dollars on your yard mowing. This Started out kind of ok but still had elements of disaster. Cleaning a paper filter with a flammable liquid seens a bit drastic and expensive as well. It did not seem to be effective or safe from git go but I figured you would figure it out for yourself.

2. No manicured lawns here. Filthy dusty crap to mow all year long. I clean and replace the outer poly filter lots. Inner filter as needed. That is around 5 times a year.

3. What you are wanting to use is not the same as what engine manufactures use. This is why I chimmed in.

4. I will more than be happy to support you all the way when you get to a place that looks like it will work. Until then I will warn of potential problems so you can avoid disaster.


In the final thought. I have no malice in my heart. I only speak up when I think it needs to be said. The foam you are dealing with is designed to be used for your bottom not for cleaning moving air. What you are doing is how people come up with wonderful inventions so do not stop. As most successful people say. The difference between one who succeeds and fails is you do not give up.