Re: oil bath air cleaner

Posted by Tim Cole On 2022/2/19 13:42:28

Here are some references to help "clear the air" on this subject. As can be determined the oil bath cleaner suffers when subjected to high velocity.

Be aware as well that the fan and splash aprons are major contributors to clean intake air. The fan acts as a slinger that deflects large particles.

Below are the citations:

There are two basic types of air filter systems in use -wet and dry. Of the two the dry system, which uses a replaceable element is most popular and efficient. Efficiency levels at installation are in excess of 99% for the dry type and about 96% for the wet type filter.

The major problem with the wet type or oil bath cleaners is their inability to stop the very small particles from entering the air system. As the air enters the system it travels across the oil bath where the heavier particles are trapped in the oil. Regular service intervals are imperative on the oil bath, as build-up of particles in the bottom of the cleaner will cause a rise in the oil level and a pullover of oil and contaminants into the air flow to the engine.

Air filtration for your engine took a huge step forward when paper air filtering replaced running the air over a bed of oil. ALL the air goes through the paper filter. ONLY the particles that happened to be heavy enough to fall into the oil lake in the oil bath style filters got caught. The higher the RPM, the less likely the dirt is to fall.

When Carl Kiekhaefer was racing in the Carrera Panamericana (Mexican Road Race) and then started NASCAR racing in 1955 with the C300 Chryslers, he found that his race motors were being literally EATEN UP by the amount of dirt that was NOT falling into the oil bath. He is credited as being the first race team owner to send oil samples into a laboratory for analysis to find out what the heck was going on that he was losing motors. He worked with Purolator to bring the first paper filters into production that were suitable for mass production for the US auto companies. There had been after-market companies like Hellings that made competition air cleaners with horse-hair type elements and even those were superior to the oil baths.