FAQ

WaterShield Breathers should be fitted to prevent atmospheric contamination.

A breather should be designed to stop larger than 3µm entering the system.

WaterShield's high quality breathers have a micron rating of 10µm absolute (Beta 10©-1000) and will be effective in removing particles 3µm and larger when used as an air breather.

Working on the philosophy that prevention is better than cure, a WaterShield Breather is cost effective filtration for your equipment and reservoirs.

Once you have removed your silica gel breather, most of the time your intake tube will require to be fitted with our adaptor bushing. This can take 15 -30 minutes to install depending on your intake.

Replacement of our breather can be replaced in about 30 - 60 seconds.

Our breathers are fitted with a re-setable visual indicator or a duplex panel timer depending on the model.

Depending on equipment application and size of breather you install the time period will vary. Our customers have found our breathers last up to 4 - 6 times longer than Silica Gel breathers.

WaterShield Breathers are 300% more effective and outlast silica gel four times.

How clean is clean enough? What if we told you that several of our customers have reduced the amount of oil related maintenance problems by 70%! While doing so, they have also decreased the amount of power required to operate their equipment!

This is in addition to the other, more obvious benefits of extremely clean oil. The fact is that oil cannot be too clean, but it surely can be too dirty. Only in the past few years have removal of particles smaller than 5 microns (half the size of a red blood cell) been considered as part of an oil cleanliness program.

The real small contaminants, which are measured in angstroms (one one-hundred millionth of a centimeter) are the problem children, causing restriction problems, and are the source of tars and varnishes in an oil system.

How about the larger sized particles? Well, contaminants in the 1 micron size and larger range do rapid damage in areas of close tolerance like gear pumps, hydraulic cylinders, servos, bearings and spool valves. When these large particles enter moving components, they break off machined surfaces and cause more particles.

There are several university studies, which document the damage caused by these particulates and the life extension achieved by having extremely clean oil. The long-term benefits of continuous filtration with Electrostatics, as the contaminants are purged from the system, will become evident through reduced downtime and maintenance expenditures, extended machine life and vastly improved (3 to 5 times) fluid life.

Coupled with a water absorber (standard equipment with ASL Systems) this product will protect the lifeblood of the oil system from three of the five major factors that contribute to fluid degradation.

As stated previously, the life span of an Electrostatic Cell is approximately one year of 24/7 operation, or 8760 operating hours. At this point, the Electrostatic Cell should be replaced with a new one. ASL re-manufactures thousands of Electrostatic Cells each year, so fresh cells are always on the shelf.

In order to keep costs as low as possible, ASL needs your spent Electrostatic Cell core returned. Each returned core is completely disassembled, cleaned and inspected. The internal components are disposed of, and only the tube and end caps are re-used, provided they meet stringent requirements. All internal components are replaced with new parts; the Cell is tested, labeled and packaged.

As your Electrostatic Cell nears the 8760-hour point, a fresh cell can be shipped to you in advance. After installing the new Cell, place the used cell in the shipping container the new cell arrived in, and return it to ASL. We will allow 30 days to receive your spent Cell, before reminding you. Spent Cells that are not returned are subject to a core charge.

Quite frankly, there are several reasons.
Initial Cost. Our Systems are the lowest initial cost Electrostatic system on the market today, period. In fact our Electrostatic Systems are priced lower than many other conventional “size exclusion media” type systems.
Performance. Our systems have competed head-to-head against many other off-line filtration systems over the past 10 years, and we’ve always come out on top.
Cost of operation. No other Electrostatic System can even come close to a 4 CENT per hour operating cost.
Ease of maintenance. Our Electrostatic systems are the most maintenance-friendly systems out there. Quick disconnects on the Electrostatic Cell, makes for a 5 minute, hands clean operation.
Back flush ability. No other Electrostatic system can be back-flushed with shop air to extend Cell life to an unprecedented one-year interval.
Longevity. ASL Electrostatic Systems have accumulated over 20 million operating hours. We’ve been around.
Personalized service. When you call us, you’ll speak to a real person, someone who knows the system, and can get you the answers you need, not some answering machine with multiple menus to traverse. You’ll get the same people too, not a “new face” every time you call.

The Unique design of our Electrostatic Cell is such that it can be easily manufactured in a variety of positive to negative “spacing” to accommodate many different fluid conductivity levels. Hydraulic Fluid such as DTE-25, for example, has almost no conductivity, so Electrostatic Cells employed on this fluid have close positive to negative spacing.

Fluid such as Air Conditioning compressor oil has higher conductivity, so the Electrostatic Cell for these applications is manufactured with somewhat wider positive to negative spacing. Phosphate Ester “fireproof” hydraulic fluids, which become more conductive as fluid temperature rises, require an Electrostatic Cell with even wider spacing.

Note that there is no extra charge for any Electrostatic Cell configuration.

While high procurement costs may exist from some of our competitors, ASL Electrostatic Fluid Purification Systems are the most cost effective systems on the market today. ASL system prices rival conventional off-line filtration systems, and, more often than not, can cost less than the fluid in your reservoir. Really!

The Unique design of our Electrostatic Cell is such that it can be easily manufactured in a variety of positive to negative “spacing” to accommodate many different fluid conductivity levels. Hydraulic Fluid such as DTE-25, for example, has almost no conductivity, so Electrostatic Cells employed on this fluid have close positive to negative spacing.

Fluid such as Air Conditioning compressor oil has higher conductivity, so the Electrostatic Cell for these applications is manufactured with somewhat wider positive to negative spacing. Phosphate Ester “fireproof” hydraulic fluids, which become more conductive as fluid temperature rises, require an Electrostatic Cell with even wider spacing.

Note that there is no extra charge for any Electrostatic Cell configuration.

Our Electrostatic Systems use 15,000 VDC @1 milliamp. Research has shown that 15,000 volts is optimum for fluid filtration. However, with DC voltages in this area, the water content must be in the 300 to 500 ppm (KF) area to be effective without shorting out.

This is one of the reasons that ASL incorporates a water absorber pre-filter to remove free and emulsified water from your fluid prior to the Electrostatic Cell.

Other Electrostatic system manufacturers use much lower DC voltage in their Electrostatic chambers to tolerate this conductivity, but performance and efficiency.