If you own a Diesel generator, you need to read this.

Coastal

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Jul 14, 2003
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If you have a diesel generator that you use frequently, one of the best ways to save money on your generator maintenance and to dramatically lengthen the life of your generator is to install an oil by-pass filter that will micro-filtrate your oil. Normally, you should change your oil and filter every 150 to 200 hours due to the contamination of soot and dirt particles. With a Micro Oil filter installed, you may need only to change your oil every 2500 hours ! Here?s how they work: solid particles of 5 microns or more have a negative effect on the oil quality which reduces engine life due to metal abrasion. Normal oil filters only remove particles of greater that 20 microns, thus necessitating frequent oil changes. But the bad part is that at the end of your oil change cycle, your motor is using dirty oil which is damaging to your motor. The use of a by-pass filter will eliminate this contamination. Micro-filtration removes particle of 1 microns or smaller dependent upon which system you use. One well-known brand in the USA is Amsoil http://www.amsoil.com/products/bf.html which is used by many long-haul truckers. We are fortunate to have the Top-Oel system available here. It is sold and installed by Empresas Filtec, S.A. in the Sos?a-Caberete area. Contact is Achim Blank, phone number 571-3554, and they install and service country-wide. Once the system is installed, they come by (or you could do it yourself) and change the filter element every 750 hours or so, depending on your generator usage and operating environment. At other intervals determined by the same factors, they test the oil for viscosity, particulates, and other contaminates. Based upon these tests they will tell you when to change the oil, usually every year. I have the Top-Oel system installed in my three generators at the gas station and also in my home generator and I am delighted with their performance. This is one of those ?too good to be true? things that really works. If you have a diesel genset, this is something you should investigate.

Thanks,

Gregory
 

Ken

Platinum
Jan 1, 2002
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Coastal, very interesting. But I wonder if this is good for everyone. The reason that I ask is that the administrator of the condo complex where I live has looked into this and has been advised by the engineer that assists us when necessary (he is the chief engineer for Casa Marina) that we continue doing what we are doing because of the number of hours on our 13 year old generator. We used to change filters every 300 hours, but now that fuel quality is so bad, we change them every 150 hours. More expensive, no doubt, but we know that these frequent changes are helping to keep our generator in good operating condition.

The idea of changing to the filter you recommend has not been rejected out of hand, but are there users that we could talk with who have been using this filter for an extended period in a situation like ours?
 

Coastal

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Jul 14, 2003
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Yes it still makes sense.

The fuel quality is not related to how often you change your oil. You should have a fuel filter and water seperator on your fuel line that would be affected by poor quality fuel so frequent changes of these filters may be necessary. If you have poor quality fuel you should investigate your fuel supply tank, lines, fuel filters and supplier. Your oil filters are not affected by your diesel fuel. Regarding oil changes, most diesel engines need to have their oil changed every 150-200 hours maximum depending on the operating environment. Changing at 300 hours is too long and will damage your engine. No matter the age of your generator, having clean oil circulating within it is always preferable to dirty oil. Remember, the oil is the "life blood" of your motor. Some of the people that I know of with this system is Baldom in Santiago, Sea Horse Ranch, numerous hotels, etc. I am sure if you call Achim at 571-3554 he can give you a reference list. Also you can check out the website at www.top-oel.de , and click on Top-oel, after which you'll find a British flag for the english version. Just with the savings from the reduction in oil changes you can pay for your by-pass filter in short order. The only way that it would not make sense would be in an application where the motor doesn't run very much, like a private vehicle or a seldom used generator.

Regards,

Gregory
 

Coastal

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Jul 14, 2003
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I don't know JDJones,

but would guess that the manufactures sell the units in a base configuration, not knowing the conditions or time a genset will be spent running. For example, a unit that may only be used several times a year for short duration backup power (like some hospitals in the US) would not warrant the addition of a by-pass filter. Many manufactures do install the Top-Oel system at the factory. Top-Oel is also authorized and recommended by : Cummings, Kubota, Detroit Diesel, Duetz, Perkins, Sumitomo, Komatzu, Daimler Benz, VW, Volvo Penta, MAN, Clark, Jungheinrich, John Deere, GTE, Skoda, HBS Philatelist, Hysler, Scharf, Toyota, and Daihatsu among others. Concerning the oil quality, Achim of Empresas Filtec, SA checks your oil at intervals with an RNC check kit which immediately tells you the quaility of the oil and if it should be changed. The story of the filter removing additives seems to be of the urban legend variety. Remember, the filters remove particles according to size. So if you have an additive that exists in the oil as a solid larger than .5 microns, it is not protecting anything, it is a contaminate.
.
 

Camachosoft

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Nov 18, 2003
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hi,

i use amsoils filters (but no the by-pass) just the SDF filters for cars.

VERY VERY good oil filters, at 3,000 miles my motor oil (100% synthetic) is and look CLEAN, even at 5,000 miles too.

I dont use the amsoil motor oils because the shippment cost too much to birng them here to DR. I just use mobil1 full synthetic.

That combination (mobil1 /amsoil filter) LAST a lot of time... actually i change the motor oil ONCE A YEAR... yes, ONCE A YEAR with great results....

by the way, i tested it in a lots of cars (mine and freinds) and have 7 (SEVEN) years doing that way with NO PROBLEMS (related with motor oil lubrication).

peace
 

Camachosoft

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Nov 18, 2003
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JDJones said:
The question that begs to be asked is why don't the manufacturers of Gensets install these types of filters in the first place. Are these filters a fairly new technology?
I have always heard that dirty oil is not the only reason to change the oil frequently on diesel engines. Supposedly there are various additives and ingredients in oil that break down after a few hundred hrs of service.
Does anyone remember that years ago there was a company in the US selling aftermarket oil filters that used a roll of Toilet paper as the element? For some reason, I want to say it was offered by Amsoil. (Really pushing the old memory cells here) If I remember, it was taken off the market because it filtered too well, and removed not only the dirt particles, but the other protective additives too.

Oil will be contaminated in three major ways. One will be through debris that comes in through the air intake. Once it makes it through the air filter, it ends up in your oil. Once in your oil, it starts damaging your engine.

The second source of contamination will be metal shavings from the inside of your engine. The lesser the quality of the oil, the higher percentage of these shavings because there will be more metal to metal contact inside the engine.

The third source of contamination will be from combustion by- products. Combustion by-products will generally raise the acidity of your oil, which causes corrosion in your engine. In addition, they will be left behind as the engine oil burns off and will collect on the inside of your engine as deposits. To maintain the viability of your oil as well as protection of the engine, the contaminants have to be removed/neutralized.

Bypass Oil Filters

Engine wear is caused by dirt particles larger than 5 microns. The AMSOIL By-Pass Oil Filter removes particles as small as 1/10 of a micron, virtually eliminating engine wear.

It draws approximately ten percent of the oil at any one time and traps the extremely small, wear-causing contaminants and water that full-flow filters can?t remove. The AMSOIL By-Pass Filter typically filters all the oil in the system several times an hour, so the engine continuously receives analytically clean oil.

Approximately 60 percent of all engine wear is caused by dirt particles in the 5 to 20 micron range. These particles can get inside the precision clearances between engine components and cause severe damage. While full-flow oil filters generally stop contaminants no smaller than 25 to 40 microns, the AMSOIL By-Pass Filter effectively stops particles smaller than one micron in size, substantially reducing engine wear.

Water enters motor oil as a combustion by-product or as a condensate. Water contamination of the motor oil can cause extreme engine damage. Water causes metal surface rust and corrosion, which increases friction and wear and deteriorates the close-fitting tolerances between engine components. In addition, water reacts with other oil contaminants to form corrosive acids, which also damage metal components. The AMSOIL By-Pass Filter removes water, reducing the risk of oil degradation, engine rust and corrosion.

Because the AMSOIL By-Pass Oil Filter removes water and particles smaller than one micron, it significantly increases the time oil can safely be left in the engine. In fact , engines using AMSOIL Synthetic Motor Oil and an AMSOIL By-Pass Oil Filter routinely show much lower rates of engine wear - even when the oil is used for significantly longer drain intervals - than engines using conventional products and conventional oil drain intervals. That saves motorists time and money and helps protect the environment by creating substantially less used oil.

peace
 

Escott

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Jan 14, 2002
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Ken said:
Coastal, very interesting. But I wonder if this is good for everyone. The reason that I ask is that the administrator of the condo complex where I live has looked into this and has been advised by the engineer that assists us when necessary (he is the chief engineer for Casa Marina) that we continue doing what we are doing because of the number of hours on our 13 year old generator. We used to change filters every 300 hours, but now that fuel quality is so bad, we change them every 150 hours. More expensive, no doubt, but we know that these frequent changes are helping to keep our generator in good operating condition.

The idea of changing to the filter you recommend has not been rejected out of hand, but are there users that we could talk with who have been using this filter for an extended period in a situation like ours?
I recommended to Administrator that she look into these 6 months ago after speaking with Greg from Coastal. I was surprised that her answer was NO after consulting with the engineer. I just wonder if that would take money out of his pocket or if there was another reason for his saying it wasn't a good idea.

Scott
 

Eddy

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Jan 1, 2002
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Escott said:
I recommended to Administrator that she look into these 6 months ago after speaking with Greg from Coastal. I was surprised that her answer was NO after consulting with the engineer. I just wonder if that would take money out of his pocket or if there was another reason for his saying it wasn't a good idea.

Scott

I'm going to talk to my "Engineer" (Why is everyone in this country called an Engineer) and get back to everyone on this. It would be a lot less work for him as I pay a monthly rate and he doesn't charge extra to change the oil or filter which he has to do every 25 days or so.
 

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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I am definately going to look into this

If they make a unit that will fit my little Cummins unit, I am going to go with it.

We have had 555+ hours of blackouts since 10 July. That is three oil changes at $30 + each...actually $40+ each, now that I think about it.

I keep you posted...

HB
 

Camachosoft

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Nov 18, 2003
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wait wait wait....

1.- To use a by-pass filter you SHOULD change your oil to a full 100%synthetic one (mobil1 or amsoil).

2.- If your have a by-pass filter and use 100% synt you SHOULD make periodical test to the oil, because that way you REALLY know when you should change the oil (it can last THOUSAND of hours, or only a few hundred, a lot of variables can affect the motor oil).

3.- The use of by-pass filter work better if you use too a full flow SDF filter (amsoil) and a GOOD (VERY VERY GOOD) air filter.

:)
 

Neffgen Hans

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Aug 23, 2004
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Oil change after short time

Hillbilly said:
If they make a unit that will fit my little Cummins unit, I am going to go with it.

We have had 555+ hours of blackouts since 10 July. That is three oil changes at $30 + each...actually $40+ each, now that I think about it.

I keep you posted...

HB

These micro filtrations are sold in Germany and Europe since the early 60 th. If you go to US you will find on most of the trucks micro filtration. If these trucks (or only these motors) are leaving the US to Europe, they remove the filter systems. In Europe they will tell you that those systems are deadly for your engine. Loosing the market of oil change is a bad thing. Even with the companies we are dealing with: If they have a full service agreement, they are using our systems by their own factory. If they want to sell these engines the micro filtration is no longer a good thing????? This makes me always nervous.
We sold in the last 20 years more than 35.000 units to OEM and end users. Until today we only had 3 damages of motors. One was very old and died very fast, at two systems we made an installation fault. That?s a good quotation I think.
And:::: Empresas Filtec is covered by a insurance.

Hans
 

Neffgen Hans

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Aug 23, 2004
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Camachosoft said:
wait wait wait....

1.- To use a by-pass filter you SHOULD change your oil to a full 100%synthetic one (mobil1 or amsoil).

2.- If your have a by-pass filter and use 100% synt you SHOULD make periodical test to the oil, because that way you REALLY know when you should change the oil (it can last THOUSAND of hours, or only a few hundred, a lot of variables can affect the motor oil).

3.- The use of by-pass filter work better if you use too a full flow SDF filter (amsoil) and a GOOD (VERY VERY GOOD) air filter.

:)

Why should you take synthetic oil???
Do you have often temperature differences between -20C and + 45C?
These tests can be made by Empresas Filtec within 5 minutes work. You can see immediately if the oil is in good or bad conditions.
Using a full flow micro filtration doesn?t make sense, because of the flow of the oil. The oil pump normally has a capacity of 35 to 45 l/ min = 10 gallons/minute. The micro filtration with a mash wide of less than 5 microns has a flow of max. 1 l/min = 0,25 Gallons/min.. In this case the engine will die very fast (that?s what happened with the American company several years ago when they used the micro filtration in a full flow system.)
The micro filtration only makes sense in a bypass version, because in this case the oil flow through the motor is fully guaranteed and the bypass filter can be blocked .
You are absolute right, when you speak about the air filter (look at www.top-air.de under top-air and composit version) There you will find a very reasonable solution

Hans
 

Neffgen Hans

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Aug 23, 2004
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Hillbilly said:
If they make a unit that will fit my little Cummins unit, I am going to go with it.

We have had 555+ hours of blackouts since 10 July. That is three oil changes at $30 + each...actually $40+ each, now that I think about it.

I keep you posted...

HB

Yes they have. The micr filtration starts at a oil capacity of 3 l up to 500 l.
I visited the DR the last two weeks. You spoke about some blackouts since 10 July. I only saw one blackout (the total time) with a very few moments of electricity.

Hans
 

Neffgen Hans

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Aug 23, 2004
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Ken said:
Coastal, very interesting. But I wonder if this is good for everyone. The reason that I ask is that the administrator of the condo complex where I live has looked into this and has been advised by the engineer that assists us when necessary (he is the chief engineer for Casa Marina) that we continue doing what we are doing because of the number of hours on our 13 year old generator. We used to change filters every 300 hours, but now that fuel quality is so bad, we change them every 150 hours. More expensive, no doubt, but we know that these frequent changes are helping to keep our generator in good operating condition.

The idea of changing to the filter you recommend has not been rejected out of hand, but are there users that we could talk with who have been using this filter for an extended period in a situation like ours?

In former times they only used the generator a few hours a month. But in my hollydays, until the 18 August we had so often a blackout, that the generators of casa marina had to run nearly 24 hours a day. This makes sense to change the oil so often!!
Casa marina reef the hotel where I was located had three engines running nearly the whole day. Who is able to tell me, that these engines only run 300 hours a year? I saw nearly 300 hours in thes two weeks three engines running.

Hans