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Thread: Cleaning filters

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    Hartford, MI
    Posts
    189

    Default Cleaning filters

    We go thru 4-6 felt cones and 12 to 20 paper cone filters every day we bottle. How do you guys clean them up a little, before you take them home to the wife to wash in washing machine? Sugar sand is pretty thick this year.
    5th generation
    2 1/2 Buckets
    815 gravity
    2 new flat pans. Back pan now has 16 V's
    Rebuilt the block arch 3x12
    Homemade pre-heater,steamhood
    MES Dolly RO

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2019
    Location
    Nashville, MI
    Posts
    939

    Default

    I use nothing but hot water. Do you have the felt /final filter marked up or top so it always faces the same way. It is not really a good idea to put them in a washing machine because of residual soap and other cleaners. You should not wring them out either just rinse and lay them out to dry. they work better to filter if they are damp.
    Last edited by Pdiamond; 03-08-2021 at 09:12 PM.
    2004 - 2012 2x3 flat pan 25 to 60 taps
    2012 2x3 new divided pan w/draw off 55 taps
    2018 - didn't boil surgery - bought new evaporator
    2019 new SML 2x4 raised flue high output evap. 65 taps
    made 17 gal. syrup
    2020 - only put out 53 taps - made 16.25 ga.l syrup
    2021 - Didn't work out
    2022 - 25 taps on bags / 8 taps on 3/16's line - late start

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Southern Ohio
    Posts
    1,349

    Default

    I have washed mine on the light cycle in the washing machine for years. Hot water and no soap. They get wayyy cleaner and preform better than rinsing. Sometimes I soak them in a bucket of hot water first and that gets a lot of nitre out. after the washer quits I hang them to finish drying.
    125-150 taps
    Smokey Lakes Full pint Hybrid pan
    Modified half pint arch
    Air over fire
    All 3/16 tubing
    Southern Ohio

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Northeast Vermont
    Posts
    649

    Default

    my wife doesn't wash them. i was them in as hot a water i can get. my regular faucet water gets plenty hot and cleans them up pretty quickly. Years ago i used the washer machine, but i could always smell a little detergent/soap so i stopped doing it that way.
    Awfully thankful for an understanding wife!

    “The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.”
    - Vincent “Vince” Lombardi

    Good luck to all!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Covington Twp. Pa.
    Posts
    580

    Default

    If you were to take the agitator out of your washer and see all the gunk and crud under it you would never again "wash" your filters in a washing machine. I attach a small hose to my hot water faucet, add a spray nozzle and power rinse them clean. Very clean.
    2x3 Patrick Phaneuf Divided Pan
    Homemade arch
    RB20 RO Bucket
    121 taps total
    Sugar Shack in future
    Wife into it as much as me
    Also do homebrew

    http://s928.photobucket.com/albums/ad121/ZMANSYRUP/

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Southern Ohio
    Posts
    1,349

    Default

    I have never noticed any smell of detergent of any kind. We do not have one of those high efficiency washers where they never fill with much water. We have a GE water hog, LOL. I can set the water level and I set it to fill as if doing a large load and run the water until it's hot in the utility sink. I'm satisfied with my results and people compliment my syrup, so I will continue. we all make our best choices for us. I also have my water heater turned up over 140. I used to rinse them with a hose and never came as clean.
    125-150 taps
    Smokey Lakes Full pint Hybrid pan
    Modified half pint arch
    Air over fire
    All 3/16 tubing
    Southern Ohio

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Oneida NY
    Posts
    11,547

    Default

    Just clean them in running hot water, no washing machine. Then squeeze them and hang to dry, never wring them out, it will completely ruin that filter.
    Dave Klish, I recently ordered a 2x6 wood fired evaporator from A&A Sheet Metal which I will be converting to oil fired
    Now have solar, 2x6 finish pan, 5 bank 7x7 filter press, large water jacketed bottler, and tankless water heater.
    Recently bought another Gingerich RO, this one was a 125, but a second membrane was added thus is a 250, like I had.
    After running a 2x3, a 2x6, 3x8 tapping from 79 taps up to 1320 all woodfired, now I'm going to a 2x6 oil fired and a 200-425 taps.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    wisconsin
    Posts
    3

    Default

    If you are using a wool filter you should never put it in the washing machine. The agitation will disturb the fibers of the wool and cause it to shrink. The hottest water you can use and lay it on a towel and roll it up, gently squeezing as you go is all you need. I have a degree in Clothing & Textiles and this is what we were taught about wool in Textile Chemistry.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    mauston Wi
    Posts
    424

    Default

    A hose and sprayer hooked up to hot water faucet for me...all seams on the outside for use and turn them inside out to clean..sit outside and I use a 5-6 gal bucket to hold the over spray to a min. it takes allot of hot water but I have an outside wood stove so i got an endless supply. I hang from the tip and drip dry

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Oneida NY
    Posts
    11,547

    Default

    How much syrup do you filter in a day, if you use 4-6 cone filters? Maybe it's time, if you prefer staying with felt or Orlon filters, that you should make or have made, a large flat filter rack to use the largest flat filters, they will filter way faster and easy.
    Years ago, I bought some tanks and small stuff from a retiring producer. He had a 4x14 oil fired evaporator so he did a lot of syrup. In his sugarhouse he had about 8 or 10 30"x30" flat racks that he filtered with, with a square tank under each.
    Dave Klish, I recently ordered a 2x6 wood fired evaporator from A&A Sheet Metal which I will be converting to oil fired
    Now have solar, 2x6 finish pan, 5 bank 7x7 filter press, large water jacketed bottler, and tankless water heater.
    Recently bought another Gingerich RO, this one was a 125, but a second membrane was added thus is a 250, like I had.
    After running a 2x3, a 2x6, 3x8 tapping from 79 taps up to 1320 all woodfired, now I'm going to a 2x6 oil fired and a 200-425 taps.

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