Compressed Air Filters

Compressed air filters are used to remove water, oil, oil vapor, dirt, and other contaminants from a compressed air supply. This product area includes water separators, centrifugal separators, oil separators, air oil separators, and demisters. Filter size rating, maximum air volume, maximum inlet pressure, and operating temperature are the most important performance specifications to consider when selecting compressed air filters. As a rule, filter size rating is the low end of the size-range that is filtered or blocked. Bowl size, bowl drain, and bowl material are also important parameters for compressed air filters. Bowls for a compressed air filter feature a manual or automatic drain and are made of aluminum, polycarbonate, steel, stainless steel, or zinc.  

There are several basic types of compressed air filters. All are designed to remove contaminants, but some have specific features that make them better-suited for particular applications. General-purpose compressed air filters can remove liquid and solid contaminants of various sizes. Coalescing oil removal filters are able to remove oil and other contaminants at the sub-micron level. These filters are used in situations where general-purpose compressed air filters would leave too many contaminants in the system. Adsorbent oil vapor removal filters are designed to maintain a very pure airflow.  They use adsorbent materials such as charcoal as a filter media to reduce vapor to less than 1 ppm.  These devices are often used in conjunction with instrumentation, fiber optics and other components that are highly susceptible to damage and misreading due to contamination.  Multi-stage compressed air filters that are capable of two or more of the above ratings are also available.

Compressed air filters carry port specifications that indicate the thread type and measurement. Thread types include national pipe thread (NPT), British standard pipe thread, and metric pipe thread. There are many choices for NPT compressed air filters. Examples include: #10-32, 1/8-in, 1/4-in, 3/8-in, 1/2-in, 3/4-in, 1-in, 1 1/2-in, and 2-in NPT. In terms of features, some compressed air filters include a service life indicator, pressure gauge, or integral lubricator. Others are rated for caustic or corrosive media. Service life indicators may read the pressure drop across the compressed air filter, or use more advanced techniques. A pressure gauge for a compressed air filter provides a direct measurement of operating pressure or pressure drop.

• Why Filter Compressed Air?
  This white paper gives insight into selecting compressed air filters and how they work to protect the compressed air system. The paper is broken into six sections. Links to each are below. To make...
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• Keep Your Compressed Air High and Dry
  Most maintenance and production engineers would say that oil is the major contaminant in their compressed air system. Wrong. Nearly all of the total liquid contamination found in a compressed air...
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• Options for clean, dry, oil-free compressed air
  It takes more than point-of-use filters to remove dirt, oil, and water from compressed air. In-line desiccant dryers provide dew points to 40°F, but require regular maintenance. Heatless...
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Part Numbers for Compressed Air Filters