quick & dirty ebay catch can baffling (1 Viewer)

[Timpanogos Slim]

I've got the air compressor water trap installed on the pcv hose like a lot of us, but i live somewhere that experiences hard freezes in the winter and the 5 micron sintered filter bothers me a little as it could clog with ice.

I've got one of the ebay catch cans that can be opened up and modified without any real drama. More or less this one:

Though i would buy this one if i were doing it again:

The thing about all the cheap ebay catch cans, pretty as many of them are, is that they lack any baffling at all.

The key element in the two i've pictured above is that they can be opened with a screwdriver rather than a saw.

Anyway, I played with a lot of ideas about baffles.

Like using jb-weld to install a little wall between the inlet and the outlet, maybe made out of perforated aluminum.

I thought about stuffing them with stainless or copper scouring pads.

I never really got around to any of that. Instead i had a brain storm while wandering the aisles of my favorite freight salvage dealer.

I borrowed a trick from cheap bastard home brewers.

I bought a 3 foot long stainless steel braid jacketed faucet hookup hose for a couple bucks (may be more expensive at regular hardware stores), used my dremel tool to cut off both of the fittings, and separated the jacket from the hose inside.

Then i tapered one end with my fingers and pinched it off with a short length of copper wire, shoved the other end through one of the hose barb fittings from the inside, and then flared it and bent it over the end of the barb.

So with the stainless braid jacket coiled up inside the catch can, there is a path of a few feet of open channel with a whole lot of pores in it. The can would have to be completely full to freeze over.

There is also no possibility that the pcv vapors can bypass the coalescing baffle. Just some variance in how dense it is.

Does that make sense? I'll post pictures if there's interest.

 

[SHREDwagon]

Great idea - but for all that hassle, you could have just got on of these:
https://www.mann-hummel.com/industrialfilters/upload/doc/HBVFLGOcGNM.pdf

No problems with cold.

 

[Chester]

$0.02 worth, similar to mann+hummel, ingersol and others make a variety of coalescing vapor traps specific for de watering and de oiling air streams. But, if what you're trying to accomplish is removal of the vapor and not interested necessarily in collection, the blowdown style used in line on air compressors should be sufficient, just have to open the outlet periodically. From what I've seen collected, the volume of condensed mixed fluids is slight, unless the pcv check valve is stuck. They're also cheap, durable, almost disposable, unobtrusive and easy to plumb in.

 

[Timpanogos Slim]

Great idea - but for all that hassle, you could have just got on of these:
https://www.mann-hummel.com/industrialfilters/upload/doc/HBVFLGOcGNM.pdf

No problems with cold.

two hundred dollars. that's why.

 

[NLXTACY]

two hundred dollars. that's why.

I noted these on my catch can thread. Agreed, it was just too spendy. Even though I had spent $130 on the AMV one.

The one I was looking at was from Lingenfelter

 

[Timpanogos Slim]

I may end up buying a mann-hummel ProVent 200 for the aft breather on my VW, strictly because it has 1" inlet and outlet. They cost two hundred bucks. But I'm tired of having oil all through the charge pipes and intercooler.

I was going to use the ebay catch can along with a $100 pcv adapter plate on the forward breather on my VW but ended up buying another solution. It was an unusual solution. A guy in vegas on monday saved my bacon by giving me, straight up, a working in-tank fuel pump that would have cost me $260 at the dealership and helped me install it so i could drive home. And then offered to sell me a BSH catch can, less PCV adapter. Already had the PCV adapter. I couldn't turn it down - i even overpaid.

I believe I'll shorten the braid jacket and coil it so it only sits in the top third or so of the ebay can and use it in the truck, bolted to the charcoal canister mount or something.

 

[Chester]

$0.02 worth So long as pressure is below 40 PSI, and throughput is below 35 CFM, Grainger sells an overpriced polypropylene coalescing batt for $24. They also have (way overpriced) a clear polycarbonate or not clear pvc housing for $22. It could look cool with brass or billet style swagelok fittings, but plain hdpe hose barbs will suffice, use appropriate size heater hose and you're around $60. Scintered or even prismatic membrane surfaces made of polypropylene can withstand freeze flex, as well as the vessels. I'd be concerned possibly with aluminum or the like

 

[Timpanogos Slim]

my freezing concern is more that the relatively tiny 5 micron sintered bronze filter in the water trap will clog with ice, causing pcv blockage until engine heat melts it.

there isn't a lot of water vapor in the pcv fumes, but there is some.

Edit: and i had a further brainstorm and just sort of tied the hose of stainless braid jacket in a knot so it stays in the top of the can.

 

[Chester]

sounds like it's solved, can you drain the tank easily?

 

[ontopofm]

I had the one similar to the 2nd one in the picture in my other car and it leaked. I ended up putting jb weld everywhere. Not worth it imo.

 

[98 SNAKE EATER]

http://www.conceptualpolymer.com/new_page_1.htm

 

[Timpanogos Slim]

I had the one similar to the 2nd one in the picture in my other car and it leaked. I ended up putting jb weld everywhere. Not worth it imo.

Where did it leak?

The square one has cardboard gaskets, but it wouldn't surprise me if the fittings needed sealing.

http://www.conceptualpolymer.com/new_page_1.htm

Expensive solution. I'd rather spend the money on something else.

 

[ontopofm]

Where did it leak?

The square one has cardboard gaskets, but it wouldn't surprise me if the fittings needed sealing.

The square ones need better sealing and so does the drain screw. It needs some sort of an o-ring.

 

[Timpanogos Slim]

The square ones need better sealing and so does the drain screw. It needs some sort of an o-ring.

I ended up tapping the drain 1/8npt and installing an air compressor drain cock. Not ideal because it limits baffling options to things that don't get caught in it. Like copper scouring pads.

The round one has a more normal drain plug, from the look of things.

 

[Timpanogos Slim]

if anyone cares, I bought one of the round ones as pictured above, and the damn thing seems to be glued welded or pressed together or something. I took out all the screws and it doesn't come apart. I baked it at 500f for a few hours and that made no difference.

My solution above with the braid hose has been working well. There's a half cup or so of stuff in my can that i haven't bothered to drain. I need to check the outlet hose to see if it is still chalky. The one time it caused a leak, it was because the stupid sight glass fitting popped off.

fwiw, if i were going to spend the money of the conceptualpolymer product, I'd save $50 and just get a mann-hummel provent 200, which is standard equipment on Volvos these days, won't clog, and has replaceable filter media.

 

[4G63 POWER]

Quit being cheap asses and buy these >> Saikou Michi Co. Design

 

[Tredwards]

Or this one by AMW
Accurate Machine Works

 

[4G63 POWER]

That one doesn't show how the internals work. I like Saiko because you can get a dual unit as well >> S1 DC3 Oil Catch Can

 

[Timpanogos Slim]

Or the Provent 200, from a company with a reputation, and a product that is factory equipment in several vehicles:

[3931070550]mann-filter industrial provent 200(si - industrial off-hi