—”The inside of my dust collector’s filter bag is clogged with a solid layer of dust, and the airflow seems weaker than before. Should I hire a filter cleaning service? Isn’t that cheaper?”
Short answer: “Maybe not…”.
Long answer: Read below!
Pros and Cons of Wet and Dry Cleaning Services For Filters
Cleaning weakens the filter, reducing its strength, lifespan, and risking structural failure
Many see paying for a wet or dry cleaning service for their cartridge and bag filters as a great deal. But is it really?
The cost of having a filter cleaned is significantly lower than buying a new one. However, the perceived savings quickly diminish when you factor in the resulting shorter filter lifespan and decreased efficiency caused by cleaning.
Cleaned filters need to be replaced more frequently, leading to more change-outs, downtime, and cleaning charges.
Usually, a cleaned filter lasts about half as long as new filters before clogging again. Consequently, cleaned filters require more frequent replacement, resulting in increased change-outs, downtime, and cleaning expenses.
In the following images, you can see the true difference between new filters and filters after it has been wet cleaned or dry cleaned.
As shown in the images, cleaned filters still retain particles. Independent lab tests comparing new and cleaned filter media revealed the following:
- ● Cleaning weakens the filter, reducing its strength, lifespan, and risking structural failure.
- ● It can damage filter pores.
- ● The nanofiber surface layer degrades, reducing efficiency at the submicron level by up to 18%.
- ● Only about 52.8% of the filter’s overall dust holding ability is recovered, using up over half of its lifespan.
- ● Wet cleaning may remove flame retardant treatment.
- ● Aggressive cleaning can cause weak spots or holes in filters.
Wet cleaning can remove flame retardant treatment
Apart from these reasons, consider disposable safety equipment, travel time for service personnel, or downtime costs, which can be double the cost of new filters.
By the end of the year, this average scenario shows that it is actually more expensive to use cleaned filters than new filters. Why spend more money just to compromise the integrity of your dust collection system?
Additional Factors to Consider
- ● Turnaround time for cleaning can be two to three weeks.
- ● You need to keep spare filters and packaging available while filters are being cleaned.
- ● Shipping and handling increase the risk of filter damage.
- ● Cross-contamination and receiving back another customer’s filter are possibilities.
- ● Contaminants can migrate during cleaning, introducing them into the plant environment.
Dry-cleaned filters lose almost 53% of their original dust loading capacity
"We thought we could save a bit of money by washing our filters instead of replacing them. I figured it was worth a try. Initially, everything seemed fine — they looked cleaner, and airflow improved. But just a few days later, we noticed the collector wasn’t performing like it used to. The differential pressure started rising and not coming down after the cleaning pulse, and we had buildup inside and outside our facilities. It wasn't a good idea. The filters started clogging up much faster than before, and we had to replace them anyway. In the end, we lost valuable production time and the costs added up quickly. Looking back, I would have been better off sticking with new filters and avoiding the headaches altogether."
So... Should I Wash My Dust Collector Filters?
If you’re debating whether to clean or replace your dust collector filter, the answer is to replace it.
Filters should always be changed when they become blinded and the differential pressure gets consistently high. This is especially important even if the filter media looks undamaged. Materials like polyester, cellulose, or corrugated filters aren’t built for high-pressure cleaning — attempting to do so can cause holes or tears that may be too small to see but will still allow dust particles to pass through the filter. These particles can accumulate in the clean air plenum and continue blowing into your facility, even if the filters seem “clean.”
While a clean filter and a seemingly normal differential pressure reading might suggest everything is working properly, the truth is that the lower dP could be misleading — a result of contaminated air passing through tiny holes created by repeated cleaning.
