Frequently Asked Questions

• Do Kleentek electrostatic oil conditioners charge the oil to remove contaminates?
• How does Kleentek's technology differ from conventional media-type filtration (also known as mechanical filters)?
• Can Kleentek handle instances of water contamination?
• How do I know when to change my collector element?

Do Kleentek electrostatic oil conditioners charge the oil to remove contaminates?

No. Kleentek oil cleaners use a voltage field to influence particles through electrostatic force, but no flow of electrical current is imposed on the particles (or the fluid). In fact, the power supply used for creating the needed voltage field is only capable of producing less than 20 mA (0.020 amps) of current flow.

How does Kleentek's technology differ from conventional media-type filtration (also known as mechanical filters)?

Conventional filtration involves the passage of fluid through a filter media with the intent of capturing contaminants within the fibers of the filter media. As the amount of captured contaminant increases, pressure drop across the filter also increases. Generally, the finer the filter media, the shorter the filter life and the greater the filter cost.

Unlike conventional filtration, Kleentek systems employ a collector element wherein fluid passes across the media rather than through it. Contaminants are influenced by an electrostatic field force to move in a perpendicular direction to the fluid flow wherein they are pushed into the pleats of the collector media.

There are three main advantages to this process over conventional media-type filtration:

• There is no pressure drop across the collector element, nor does a pressure drop develop even as the collector becomes fully loaded with contaminates.
• Because fluid passes across the media and not through it, the amount of contamination a collector can capture in its lifetime is measured in pounds of contaminate, compared to the milligrams of loading conventional filtration is limited to before it gets plugged. This extremely high contamination load capability translates into a lower operating cost for Kleentek systems.
• Due to the nature by which the Kleentek system removes contaminates, its efficiency is uniform throughout the particle range-from large particles greater than 100 microns down to below 0.1 micron. (See How It Works) This is in contrast to the diminishing efficiency of conventional media-type filtration as the particle size is reduced.

Can Kleentek handle instances of water contamination?

Yes. In cases where water is a concern, a water coalescer pre-filter or water absorptive pre-filter is added to the system. No properly designed oil conditioner should ever operate in a high-water contamination environment without addressing the need to remove the water from the oil, even if its core filtration technology is tolerant of a high water level.

How do I know when to change my collector element?

The Kleentek system panel is programmed to alert operators to check and/or replace the collector at 4,000 hours. There are two basic types of contaminants that are removed by Kleentek EOCs: naturally charged particles (rust and silt particles) and oxidized oil that has polymerized (also known as varnish, or that brown, sticky substance often found on hydraulic system surfaces). The naturally charged particles are conductive and will cause the high voltage reading of the Kleentek system to drop as they accumulate on the collector. When the high voltage has dropped to around 3 KV, the system will prompt for a collector replacement. For the oxidized oil that has polymerized (i.e., varnish), no reduction in voltage will occur, since varnish is electrically nonconductive.