Cleaning & Drying Foam Air Filters...

[WindyChuffer]

Am new to this so pls bear with me !

I washed my air filter for the first time the other day using Putoline air filter cleaning fluid, rinsed it well, squeezed most of the water out and , and left it in the shed to dry. Of course its not warm enough out there at this time of year and is still quite damp.

So I brought it into the house, but it makes the room stink of the horrible air filter cleaner fluid; a foul solvent type smell.

So how do you dry your air filters at this time of year?

Am tempted to put it in the oven at 40 deg C (the lowest temperature) and take a smell-hit for a much shorted period. Can burn the solvent smell out of the oven afterwards with a spell at 220 deg C.

Need to get it dried, oiled and dried again in time for Sat.

Thx !

 

[Timolgra]

Hang it on the washing line.

 

[Deleted account 211025001]

I have to admit that for the amount of off roading I do I *usually* just replace the filter annualy or so - for what they actually cost - and they are nearly always ready oiled so that could be an option if you're panicking?

Back to your question though, I see no reason why the oven on it's lowest temp would harm the filter.......but........are you sure the filter isn't just smelling of residual aromatics and oil as the solvent should have evaporated off long ago, regardless (within reason) of the temperature. I'd be oiling it up and bunging it back on if it was me

Andres

 

[Timolgra]

I have 3 filters for each offroad bike, 2 are cleaned, oiled and kept in a poly bag ready to fit, it saves pissing about at service time especially if you're using the bike several times a week

 

[Shep]

If it's just the foam bit, i'd buy a couple of those cheap bath towels from a market and wrap the filter up in one and squish it around, that draws most of the moisture out, then pop it in the bike, run it up for a few minutes to draw the last of the moisture out then remove & re oil the filter (in a plastic bag is best I found)

As Tim says spares are great things to have if you are out and about alot

 

[earthmover]

The tumble drier is not a good plan. DAMHIK.
Mark

 

[WindyChuffer]

The tumble drier is not a good plan. DAMHIK.
Mark

You could of course go to a launderette....

 

[Greg Masters]

I have 3 filters for each offroad bike, 2 are cleaned, oiled and kept in a poly bag ready to fit, it saves pissing about at service time especially if you're using the bike several times a week

You do the same with your under-crackers, don't you?

 

[Fanum]

The tumble drier is not a good plan. DAMHIK.
Mark

Could be fun though

 

[Greg Masters]

Am tempted to put it in the oven at 40 deg C (the lowest temperature) and take a smell-hit for a much shorted period.

Gas ovens won't dry anything.

Even with an electric oven, I'm not sure that it's a good plan!

Greg

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

Hang it on the washing line.

+1

As Tim says, best to have 2 at least, for each bike

I wash a batch at a time in Putoline Air Cleaner solvent, in an old ice cream tub bath and rinse them under the outside tap

Hang them on the line, with a bit of garden string or somewhere around the garage beams

They're dry in a couple of days

Re-oil in another ice cream tub bath or spray with Putoline Air Filter spray-on, squeeze out and pop in a freezer bag until needed

You can speed up the clean filter drying process with a hairdryer, but it stinks and burns your hands

Never do it in the house, as it stinks the place out and you'll be

 

[Timolgra]

+1




Re-oil in another ice cream tub bath or spray with Putoline Air Filter spray-on, squeeze out and pop in a freezer bag until needed

I oil mine and squeeze out the excess in a plastic carrier bag, it's less messy

Bit like a posh wank

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

I oil mine and squeeze out the excess in a plastic carrier bag, it's less messy

Bit like a posh wank

We're tighter up here, once we've squeezed out the excess, into the tub and the filter is ready for the feezer bag storage - the surplus 'new' clean oil is returned from the ice cream tub, back into the Putoline Air Filter Oil bottle

 

[earthmover]

Could be fun though

That is pretty much what it looked like.
In mitigation, I was young, I'd forgotten to clean the filter, and it was race day. Back then, fancy cleaning fluids were for factory teams, we used petrol, then rinsed with soapy water, then fresh. No amount of squeezing and wringing in an old towel was getting it dry enough to re-oil, so I bunged it in my Mum's drier for 15 minutes while I loaded the van. Job done, I shot off to collect Tony & Rob and head to wherever we were racing.
Upon my return, I found that my Mum had alerted my Dad to the "smell of fumes" from the room where the washer and drier were. This was the room behind the oil-fired Aga, and it's attendant pipework. He had methodically stripped all said pipework down in an attempt to find the source of the "smell of fumes", then got suspicious as to why the smell was strongest from the drier. His suspicions were then confirmed by the fleeting glimpse of guilt he saw before my brain registered the trouble I was in and hastened into denial.
Ka-blinking-boom!
My Dad, not the house, thankfully.
Grounded, again.
Mark

 

[Greg Masters]

Mine are both in the airing cupboard ....

 

[WindyChuffer]

Gas ovens won't dry anything.

Even with an electric oven, I'm not sure that it's a good plan!

Greg

40 deg C will be fine; its orders of magnitude below solvent ignition flash points (>= 200 deg C) and that kind of temperature won't harm the foam. After all its possible to ride in those temperatures...

In the end I just brought it into the spare room for the night and its dry now. The smell in the room went after cpl of hours on windows open.

All oiled up and sorted now !

Can't wait to try the NoToil stuff...I fekkin hate solvents.