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Introduction
to Basket Strainers
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| 1 |
How
They Can Improve a Process |
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| The
problem of unwanted material in pipelines is a never
ending one. Whether the flowing material I seawater, oil, paint or a variety
of food or chemical products, there is often something present that can
cause trouble. Dirt, foreign matter, or even clumps of the product itself
can clog or damage pumps, spray nozzles, condensers, and similar equipment.
Sometime a finished product has to be rejected because of the presence
of undesirable solid matter.
Basket strainers
remove unwanted particles from pipeline flow. Furthermore they are relatively
inexpensive compared to the equipment they protect or compared to the down
time, inferior products, or loss of production if they were not doing their
job in the piping system. |
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| 2 |
Just
What is a Basket Strainer? |
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| An official
definition adopted by the Fluid Controls Institute is
: "A closed vessel with cleanable screen element designed to remove and
retain foreign particles down to 0.001 inch diameter from various flowing
fluids." Note the term "foreign particles". Strainers do not necessarily
remove only dirt. They take out material which is not wanted in the fluid
and this can sometime be a valuable product which may be saved. |
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| 3 |
Strainer
and Filter Differences |
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| What
is the difference between a strainer and a
filter? Actually there isn't any since a strainer is, in reality, a coarse
filter. The question is then one of semantics. Generally it is assumed
that if the particle to be removed is not visible to the naked eye, the
unit is filtering, and if the particle is visible, the unit is straining.
The average human eye can detect a specific particle between 50 and 70
micros. Most people cannot see anything smaller than 325 mesh, or 44 microns.
Since 200 mesh is equivalent to 74 microns, a general rule would be that
if the screening device is coarser than 200 mesh, it is a strainer and
if it is finer than 200 mesh it is a filter.
One of the best
uses for a strainer is in conduction with a filter. By installing a strainer
directly ahead of a filter, the large heavy pieces which would quickly
clog the filter are removed. The filter is then free to do its major job
of fine particle removal and does not have to be cleaned so often. |
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Back
to Hayward Back to PEP
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Copyright
HAYWARD Industrial Products, Inc. 1999
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Introduction
to Basket Strainers