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Spent $800 on a fancy hydraulic filter skid, it clogged in 3 weeks | Dredge Operators - SMM Buzz

Spent $800 on a fancy hydraulic filter skid, it clogged in 3 weeks

Picked up that self-cleaning filter unit from a trade show in Baton Rouge, thought it would save me hours of swapping screens on the barge. First week it ran great, then the pressure gauge started bouncing like crazy and it jammed solid with clay fines. Took it apart and the internal mesh was way too fine for the silty water we're working in, now it's sitting in my shop as a very expensive paperweight. Has anyone else had luck with a different filter setup for dirty river water, or should I just go back to the cheap spin-on filters?

2 comments

2 Comments

julia5571mo ago

Did you actually clean the thing before you put it in service? Most of those high end units need a good flush cycle right out of the box, and if you skipped that step you basically fed it a mouthful of the worst sludge it'll ever see. Three weeks is honestly pretty good for a first run on raw river water if you didn't prep it. The real problem is you're blaming the fancy filter for doing exactly what it's designed to do, catch the fines. A cheap spin-on will pass all that clay right through to your equipment, so you're saving a little time now and paying for it later with worn out pumps and cylinders. Maybe the answer is you need a coarser outer screen to catch the big stuff first, then let the fine mesh do its job. I'd say pull that thing back apart, check the manual for the recommended pre filter setup, and give it a fair shot before you turn it into a boat anchor.

brian_rivera591mo ago

That Baton Rouge silt is a whole different beast, tbh. I've seen those self-cleaning units choke out on the Mississippi mud more than once, and it ain't always user error. Julia's got a point about the pre-filter, but honestly, three weeks on raw river water with that fine of a mesh is about what I'd expect. Ngl, you might just need to step down to a 40-micron spin-on and change it every couple weeks. That fancy unit is for clean oil, not brown water.