How do you clean your air filter

[Czed]

Dollar tree foaming shower cleaner
Then water.

 

[Carhartt]

Yes the HD filters and pre filter I use simple green and HOT water. Its amazing how dirty a clean filter really is.

 

[Wood Doctor]

I used Czed''s technique on my Husky 257's filter that I had not cleaned for several months. The saw's engine had been acting weak. What a difference that made! Today I bucked and noodle cut right though 18" ash and locust. The engine never bogged down once.

 

[HYPERSAWS]

I used Czed''s technique on my Husky 257's filter that I had not cleaned for several months. The saw's engine had been acting weak. What a difference that made! Today I bucked and noodle cut right though 18" ash and locust. The engine never bogged down once.

Ya you want the least amount of disruption in flow for good performance

 

[Lightning Performance]

Tapping it out never gets rid of the gas and oil caked with goo. I wash them in dish soap in this thing called a sink with a small brush when needed. Do you use soap when you wash up?....One can only hope.....
Compressed air to finish if not an early flocked type filter. A fan works wonders. I carry several prefilters and extra HD filters.
Ymmv

 

[junkman]

A firewood guy told me to soak it in cider .

 

[N8TE]

A little air.....inside out

 

[Leafy]

All of mine have paper elements, tap and go. If they get too crusty a new filter is $5 and it's worth the piece of mind to keep dirt out. I don't want to risk a cleaning method opening up the fine pores of the filter media to allow larger particles in. If I had any cotton gauss k&n style filter I'd wash it per the instructions.

 

[Fishnuts2]

I read an old post a couple of years ago stating that a guy used starting fluid sprayed from the inside out to clean filters. It works very well, and a can of ether will do 2 cruddy filters. Dries fast and filter looks like new.

 

[Carhartt]

I think I'd try brake cleaner before starting fluid. Ever get carb cleaner on an old primer bulb?

 

[Shanesaw80]

I usually just tap out my filters until they get real dirty, then I clean them with Fantastik and water. My MaxFlow filters I clean with a proper foam filter cleaner.

 

[dmb2613]

Sharp chain = less cleaning of the filter lol Tap em on a stump and go

 

[Wolverine]

I'm in the camp of light compressed air. Unless I'm using nylon mesh, then it gets washed w/ hot soapy water.

Years ago when some German engineers were at the print shop to oversee and train on some new press installs, they touched on filter maintenance. They told us to use an air nozzle inside out and never get paper filters wet.

 

[rogue60]

I've never seen actual damage done to a saw cylinder or piston by sucking fine hardwood sawdust and bigger chip's at times.
Any wear is more from what oil and oil ratio is used and possibly the quality of the powerhead some saw's are junk and do in things like crank bearings and the like no matter how good you treat them. all in IMHO.

This 066 had well over 10 years of hard work and lots of neglect in it's later years it ended up at the bottom of the back up saw's pile.
I used to give it to new dudes to use in the end it probably ate a wheelbarrow of hardwood sawdust over it's working life lol.
It was always a strong running saw. it's sucking chips and fines in the pic as the new dudes where tapping out the filter on the sealing lip the sealing lip was mostly missing and not sealing very well.

Yes I have pics of the piston and cylinder you might be surprised at how good of condition the piston and cylinder are in.


In the bush I do the tap filter out thing or if getting really clogged I rinse with the fuel mix and tap it out to keep going.
When air is available I rinse filter out in fuel and blow out from the inside with compressed air.

 

[huskyboy]

I've never seen actual damage done to a saw cylinder or piston by sucking fine hardwood sawdust and bigger chip's at times.
Any wear is more from what oil and oil ratio is used and possibly the quality of the powerhead some saw's are junk and do in things like crank bearings and the like no matter how good you treat them. all in IMHO.

This 066 had well over 10 years of hard work and lots of neglect in it's later years it ended up at the bottom of the back up saw's pile.
I used to give it to new dudes to use in the end it probably ate a wheelbarrow of hardwood sawdust over it's working life lol.
It was always a strong running saw. it's sucking chips and fines in the pic as the new dudes where tapping out the filter on the sealing lip the sealing lip was mostly missing and not sealing very well.

Yes I have pics of the piston and cylinder you might be surprised at how good of condition the piston and cylinder are in.
View attachment 193651 View attachment 193652

In the bush I do the tap filter out thing or if getting really clogged I rinse with the fuel mix and tap it out to keep going.
When air is available I rinse filter out in fuel and blow out from the inside with compressed air.

Pictures of the intake side of the piston?

 

[rogue60]

Pictures of the intake side of the piston?

There is a thread on here about this saw

High hr Stihl 066

http://opeforum.com/threads/high-hr-stihl-066.3514/

Don't worry about the mess getting in the crankcase I gave the saw a hit with the high pressure gerni to clean it before I put the cylinder back on.

 

[huskyboy]

There is a thread on here about this saw

High hr Stihl 066

http://opeforum.com/threads/high-hr-stihl-066.3514/

Don't worry about the mess getting in the crankcase I gave the saw a hit with the high pressure gerni to clean it before I put the cylinder back on.

View attachment 193658 View attachment 193659 View attachment 193660 View attachment 193661

Whatever gas oil mix your using is working very well. Not to turn this into a oil thread lol.

 

[huskyboy]

One time I had a older 046 in here for a service, someone put a winter filter on it and the chain was shot... there was like two inches of sawdust behind the filter lol. Cleaned it up and put on a am cheap azz white paper filter. I didn’t bother to look at the piston as I knew it wasn’t gonna be pretty. Saw was still running last time I saw it and the paper filter was doing a much better job. My opinion is that a little fines won’t kill a saw right away, but a lot of them aren’t good long term.

 

[rogue60]

Whatever gas oil mix your using is working very well. Not to turn this into a oil thread lol.

Yeah same not trying to make a another oil thread lol
All I'll say is I don't lose sleep worrying about fines getting through a saw's air filter.

 

[Leafy]

Fines shouldn't cause wear, it's dust, like from dirt and other harder substances. Fines can clog up tbr ring land and cause a stuck ring though.