Hey all-
What is the best way to wash WVO polyester filter bags w/o stretching the fibers??
I think that these filter bags I bought are great and not very pricey and I want to make them last a couple hundred gallons.
I've tried hot soapy water and multiple rinsings with hot water turned inside out. It takes about 3 days to dry. It will always stain gold brown, which is OK.
Any other easier, better methods out there?
How can I avoid stretching the polyester fibers of the bags?
Frankie

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Frankie
It never ends!
1985 300D Turbo 181K Anthracite grey, "SOPHIA"
1984 300 SD Turbo(sold)
2004 Subaru Forester XT,Cayenne red.

The goal is to make workable fuel and the filters may state 5 micron but will actualy start out at 10 micron and then durring use get to 5 micron unless you have 'Absolute' micron filters. Don't worry, your fuel system is probaly designed to handle 10 micron so if your fuel averages 10 or 5 your fine.
Cleaning sock filters. First turn the filter inside out (wear gloves) and scrap off the big stuff & compost. Then pour 1 gallon of hot water through non nylon sock filters. When you have several pre-cleaned ...I keep a 15 gallon plastic ag. chemical drum with 3/4 of the top removed (the lip saves mess). In goes my waterbed heater (submersable) heater or hot water, 1 gallon of degreaser, 7 gallons of water (stirr) and the sock filters. Every 1/2 hour I agitate (sp?) the mess. Rinse. hang to dry. They may never get real clean but who cares? They still do the job. They are still a bit oily and that's ok0.
Lately I've made my own filters from Wally World fleese. If you can sew you can make sock or tray filters to any size. I have a few 1 & 5 micron absolute filters and use these to judge my filters. Used blue jean material is roughly 5 micron. My filters are sized to my collection (cubies) to limit handeling time. I cold filter.
Now I clean filters once a year.

I used dish soap and water, and washed them by hand in the sink.

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1979 240D- 316K miles - VGT Turbo, Intercooler, Stick Shift, Many Other Mods - Daily Driver

1982 300SD - 232K miles - Wife's Daily Driver

1986 560SL - Wife's red speed machine

Wash them, outside and away from any fire, in gasoline. It cuts the fat quickly. You could use any solvent from kerosine on up but gas worked for me for the 2 years that I messed with wvo. Once the bags feel clean, no slippery fat feeling, wash them in hot soapy water. There are a number of industrial soaps or just use large quanties of cheap laundry detergent. Actually you don't have to wash them in water since the gas will disolve the fat.

So that sounds very effective, using the gasoline. If it is not necessary to rinse in water, then doesn't the gas leave a smell on the bags after the bag dries? Do you think that the gas has any deteriorating effects on the bag fibers? Do you remember how long a bag would last when you were working with WVO?
Thanks,
Frankie

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Frankie
It never ends!
1985 300D Turbo 181K Anthracite grey, "SOPHIA"
1984 300 SD Turbo(sold)
2004 Subaru Forester XT,Cayenne red.

Who cares if the bag smell of gas, your are filtering rancid french fry oil or whatever. As I said, you can wash the bag but, again, you are wasting time and effort for no good reason. I never saw that the gas deteriorated the bags. The bags are made of plastic and designed to filter all sorts of petrolium products so I doubt that gas will effect them.

Thanks Kip-
I'm all for less mess. I'll try this out as I only filter twice a month or so.
Cheers,
Frankie

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Frankie
It never ends!
1985 300D Turbo 181K Anthracite grey, "SOPHIA"
1984 300 SD Turbo(sold)
2004 Subaru Forester XT,Cayenne red.

I use Lye as a bag cleaning agent. I dunk the filter bag in a plastic bucket that contains about 75% water and 500ml of Lye. I stir/press with wooden rod. You can pull the bag out and force the soaps out of the bag by twisting. Reinsert the bag in the lye water to continue the reaction.

Leave the bag in this bath for a day or so, and change your Lye water as needed.

Quench the bags in a mixture of water and vinegar to neutralize the Lye, and let them air dry.

The dried product will look like a brand new bag. I have found that the bags can hold up to this abuse through many washings.

The only downside is that this method consumes more Lye than I like.

Which co. is best to buy these filter from?
I live in Canuckstan( Canada) , any fellow Canucks had any fav co. to deal with?
Another route is have it shipped to Point Roberts WA and pick her up myself. Do my own customs.
UPS is known to gouge big time. They obviously think us Canucks are very stoopid people too.

Thanks in advance.
Appy New Year.

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over 48,000 miles on WVO..never used a filter bag...bedsheets & linens for me.

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Matt (SD,CA)

1984 300SD.. White/Chrome Bunts..Green

1997 2500 Dodge Ram 5.9 Cummins 12 Valve 36 PSI of Boost = 400+hp & 800+tQ .. ..Greenspeed

2004 Dodge Ram 2500 4x4 Quad Cab Cummins 5.9 H.O "596hp/1225tq" 6 spd. Man. Leather Heated seats/Loaded..Flame Red....GREENSPEED

Global warming...Doing my part, Smokin da hippies..

Fight the good fight!......

SD300-
I ordered from filterbags.com because no minimum order required and prices are fair. I ordered 6 filters; 3 of size 5 micron and 3 of size 1. Shipping came to $9
The name of the company is Carribean filters phone 760-343-7757 or 219-879-8545 in Michigan. Offers all different sizes and materials.
Cheers,
Frankie

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Frankie
It never ends!
1985 300D Turbo 181K Anthracite grey, "SOPHIA"
1984 300 SD Turbo(sold)
2004 Subaru Forester XT,Cayenne red.

Filter bag cleaning: Gas or Lye
Is gas a lie ?

I just dunked some bags in gas and others in lye. They discolored the gas but produced no grease gunk I could find anywhere in the gas. They yielded gobs of gunk in the lye solution. I presume the lye solution is actually doing something. The gas I'm not so sure about. The real test will be when I start using the bags to filter again. Until then, I've got lye questions:

How do you know when the lye has done all it can do. The lye solution is supposed to be caustic. But after a few hours of it working on the grease bags, I find I can put my hands in it and still have hands when I pull them out.

Also, the 75% water and 500ml lye solution is a weird formula. The first thing I did was add 500ml to my location by the Pacific ocean which is 75% water at least (aside from the tsunami debris from Japan etc), and found the 500 ml of lye did squat. Next I tried following the directions on a box of lye powder which had me add 2 tablespoons of lye powder to 1 cup of water as if to clear a drain. This mixture worked as told above, but metinks 2 tablespoons is way less than 25% of a cup. So am I throwing good lye after bad?; am I overdoing way too much? Since the container of lye cost $3 and the successful mfg formula of 2 tbs/1 cup produces enough liquid (about a gallon is needed) to cover 3 filter bags (of the 4" x 14" type), to use this much lye costs about a third of the cost of new bags, which seems about as miserable a payoff as anyone could have the bad luck to discover.

My hat's off to the dudes on this thread if they're still with the program 10 years later.