Blowing Out Air Filters: Good or Bad Idea?

Nessism1

Nessism1

Joined
May 30, 2022
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Location
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Any opinions on the title topic? Sorry in advance, but this question stems from my lawn mowers air filter, but it could apply for motor vehicles as well.

My mower is a Honda, which has a paper filter element which loads up with dirt quite readily. My yard is typically quite dry, and sandy, so lots of debris is getting sucked into the filter.

On one hand, blowing out the filter may seem like a good idea. On the other hand, fear is that you could damage the filter element if too much pressure is used. Use a vacuum instead? Vacuum and low pressure air?

What say ye?
 
On a Honda mower, not a big deal to me, but air filters typically get better as they age according to a recent post.
Yhey are generally speaking changed too often in an automobile, for no gain.
 
A few previous threads on this topic you may find helpful:

Ed_Flecko

Thread 'Good or bad-clean air filter with compressed air?'

All of my life, from time to time, I"ve seen people blow out their air filters on their car with compressed air from an actual air compressor, and then reinstall the filter. I think they think they're doing a great service by "cleaning" the air filter and saving money by getting more mileage from the same filter. I don't think so.

*I* think if I had super vision (like Superman), they're actually blowing teeny-tiny holes in the air filter and doing the exact opposite - I think they're ruining the filter and allowing a LOT more dirt to just whiz right through and enter the engine. I...
C

Thread 'Blowing out a filter does not work.'

I put a air filter restriction gauge on my truck. It got pulled down a bit so I tried blowing the filter out. I spent a few minutes carefully blowing the dirt out from the clean side. When I was satisfied that I had it all out I inspected the filter for any damage I may have caused.

Didn't see any damage so I put it back in and reset the restriction gauge. Drove to work the next morning and then looked at the restriction gauge. It was sucked down again!

All I can figure is that the dirt gets stuck in the paper and cant be removed by blowing it out from the clean side.
J

Thread 'Cleaning of Air Filters?'

This is something that interested me when I was having a look through the owners manual on my Moms new Suzuki. I always thought that cleaning an air filter with an air gun was a terrible idea. I thought it would damage the element and no car manufacture would ever consider it an option.

What are your thoughts on cleaning filter elements? Is it unusual to see a recomendation like this in a manual?

20250222_110403.webp
B

Thread 'Cleaning Air Filters - Vacuum or Compressed Air?'

When it comes to air filters/cabin filters I usually just vacuum them and tap them to get leaves out. Anything wrong with using compressed air directed from the clean side to the dirty side? How much extra life does does the cleaning of an air filter afford for the filter?
N

Thread 'we need to clean paper filter with air compressed?'

Hmm before using paper filter, i used cotton gauze filter and it is not good in my are, because it is very dusty. The filter is dirty on 2000km..very short time and i dont have much time to clean and clean..

So i decided to change to paper filter. And i have a question.

Do we need clean the paper filter with air compressed for maintenance just to remove the dust until change the filter? Or no need to do that (i mean the maintenance) just change as per change interval?
T

Thread 'Cleaning the Air Filter'

Hi
guys is it ok to clean the paper based air filter with compressed air ?
I

Thread 'Vac out air filter box and filter'

I vac out the filter box and air filter on my vehicles at every OCI w/ a shop vac with the round brissle brush attachment.

Is this ok on the filter?
N

Thread 'Clean air filter with shop vac instead of replace?'

I'm starting to think replacing air filters every 30k miles is a marketing gimmick; especially if you buy a quality filter like a motorcraft. I just shopvaced mine after 30k miles, was 100% on paved road. Still looks good to run IMO. I put it back in the truck.
 
I take them out and bang them. Blowing hard enough to liberate dust can create tears.

It's the media that clogs. The loose dust that comes off wasn't clogging them effectively anyway.

If I do have to bang them I plan on replacing them, but just bang them to finish the job/ drive the car until the part comes in.
 
kschachn said:
A few previous threads on this topic you may find helpful:

Ed_Flecko

Thread 'Good or bad-clean air filter with compressed air?'

All of my life, from time to time, I"ve seen people blow out their air filters on their car with compressed air from an actual air compressor, and then reinstall the filter. I think they think they're doing a great service by "cleaning" the air filter and saving money by getting more mileage from the same filter. I don't think so.

*I* think if I had super vision (like Superman), they're actually blowing teeny-tiny holes in the air filter and doing the exact opposite - I think they're ruining the filter and allowing a LOT more dirt to just whiz right through and enter the engine. I...
C

Thread 'Blowing out a filter does not work.'

I put a air filter restriction gauge on my truck. It got pulled down a bit so I tried blowing the filter out. I spent a few minutes carefully blowing the dirt out from the clean side. When I was satisfied that I had it all out I inspected the filter for any damage I may have caused.

Didn't see any damage so I put it back in and reset the restriction gauge. Drove to work the next morning and then looked at the restriction gauge. It was sucked down again!

All I can figure is that the dirt gets stuck in the paper and cant be removed by blowing it out from the clean side.
J

Thread 'Cleaning of Air Filters?'

This is something that interested me when I was having a look through the owners manual on my Moms new Suzuki. I always thought that cleaning an air filter with an air gun was a terrible idea. I thought it would damage the element and no car manufacture would ever consider it an option.

What are your thoughts on cleaning filter elements? Is it unusual to see a recomendation like this in a manual?

20250222_110403.webp
B

Thread 'Cleaning Air Filters - Vacuum or Compressed Air?'

When it comes to air filters/cabin filters I usually just vacuum them and tap them to get leaves out. Anything wrong with using compressed air directed from the clean side to the dirty side? How much extra life does does the cleaning of an air filter afford for the filter?
N

Thread 'we need to clean paper filter with air compressed?'

Hmm before using paper filter, i used cotton gauze filter and it is not good in my are, because it is very dusty. The filter is dirty on 2000km..very short time and i dont have much time to clean and clean..

So i decided to change to paper filter. And i have a question.

Do we need clean the paper filter with air compressed for maintenance just to remove the dust until change the filter? Or no need to do that (i mean the maintenance) just change as per change interval?
T

Thread 'Cleaning the Air Filter'

Hi
guys is it ok to clean the paper based air filter with compressed air ?
I

Thread 'Vac out air filter box and filter'

I vac out the filter box and air filter on my vehicles at every OCI w/ a shop vac with the round brissle brush attachment.

Is this ok on the filter?
N

Thread 'Clean air filter with shop vac instead of replace?'

I'm starting to think replacing air filters every 30k miles is a marketing gimmick; especially if you buy a quality filter like a motorcraft. I just shopvaced mine after 30k miles, was 100% on paved road. Still looks good to run IMO. I put it back in the truck.
Click to expand...
Great info, but most threads are 10+ years old.
 
I have tapped out and blown out filters in the past. But no more. The light finally went on, and it occurred to me that all the dirt that I'm blowing out of the filter is becoming airborne. To say that there is an excellent chance that some of that dirt is settling on the "filtered" side of the filter media, is probably an understatement.

So no, I never do that any longer. At least not on car engine air filters. But for my mower, I will scrape off all the debris that builds up on the filter.
 
Nessism1 said:
Great info, but most threads are 10+ years old.
Click to expand...
Some of the best answers you will get come from Old Threads! You have a member that was nice enough to give you some Threads about the question you have asked. In the Future go to Google and put in your question and at the end of your question put in Bitog and see what you get!
 
kschachn said:
And that makes a difference how?

I think if you try really hard you might find an answer. One of the linked threads is from this year, perhaps the compressed air molecules are in that thread are more recent.
Click to expand...
While I can appreciate that google is great, if everyone searched out in depth, before posting, there would be 25% of the traffic here that we get. Is that what you want? A virtually dead forum?

Take a deep breath, and enjoy the air. People that get all uptight about repetitive posts might be spending too much time here. And besides, as mentioned, most posts are old. It's not as if there are 10 threads about the same topic posted this year.
 
Nessism1 said:
While I can appreciate that google is great, if everyone searched out in depth, before posting, there would be 25% of the traffic here that we get. Is that what you want? A virtually dead forum?

Take a deep breath, and enjoy the air. People that get all uptight about repetitive posts might be spending too much time here. And besides, as mentioned, most posts are old. It's not as if there are 10 threads about the same topic posted this year.
Click to expand...
Well fine, if you want to personalize it that's okay with me.

But I'm still a bit confused as to why older threads aren't relevant to your question. But maybe that's just me.
 
kschachn said:
Well fine, if you want to personalize it that's okay with me.

But I'm still a bit confused as to why older threads aren't relevant to your question. But maybe that's just me.
Click to expand...
What if some testing agency performed a study within the last 10 years, to understand what happens when cleaning a paper filter element vs changing it? What if the test included vacuum, knocking the filter on the ground, or using air? Technology marches on, and the worlds knowledge base is growing all the time. I did a quick search, and when I noticed how old most threads were, I felt it was fair game to post new. Hope you are not offended.

And for what it's worth, the tiny Honda filter in my mower literally gets completely coated with grit after just a short time...and I'd like to avoid replacing it half a dozen times each year. I was under the impression that blowing it out was okay, but some info in various threads suggests that disturbing grit on a filter may cause more harm than good. I'd truly like an up to date view on this situation, with as much current info as possible. I'm leaning towards using the vacuum...
 
Nessism1 said:
While I can appreciate that google is great, if everyone searched out in depth, before posting, there would be 25% of the traffic here that we get. Is that what you want? A virtually dead forum?

Take a deep breath, and enjoy the air. People that get all uptight about repetitive posts might be spending too much time here. And besides, as mentioned, most posts are old. It's not as if there are 10 threads about the same topic posted this year.
Click to expand...
We should just shut down BITOG and have a landing page that refers to Google AI.
 
Brian123 said:
Some of the best answers you will get come from Old Threads! You have a member that was nice enough to give you some Threads about the question you have asked. In the Future go to Google and put in your question and at the end of your question put in Bitog and see what you get!
Click to expand...
But are those really relevant now because no we have smart AI air molecules!
 
JohnnyJohnson said:
But are those really relevant now because no we have smart AI air molecules!
Click to expand...
No, it is not, but when you ask a question on AI, this Board might come up. This board here and the Members here do not like AI, because most questions that you see on AI will reference this board. I would like any newcomers to ask any question they want on AI and see how many things come up from BITOG! If it does not come up start a Thread and see what happens. I have gotten on AI and ask so many questions about 2 different Motor Oil's and this Bitog board comes up, and I read everything and got my answer.
 
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