Frequently Asked Questions
NTF, while under a new name, has a long, successful history in the filtration industry. NTF was purchased from NTZ International B.V. in the Netherlands in January 2017 and continues to offer the same products. We provide a variety of high-performance filtration products for original automotive equipment, industrial, off-road, construction, fuel, hydraulics, engine, and agricultural. We have the added services of developing and specifying filter media to suit your specific application and system's cleanliness requirements.
NTF produces bypass and inline microfiltration systems for engine and transmission applications throughout the industrial and transportation industries. Our products are applicable to several markets:
- Automobile and light trucks
- Heavy-duty vehicles (including trucks, off-highway, agricultural, etc.)
- Fleet operations (both heavy-duty and passenger cars)
- Marine engines
- Aerospace
- Industrial (including such varied products as heavy-duty equipment, static simulation equipment, parts manufacturing equipment, windmills, steel industry equipment, and paper and lumber industrial applications)
Ultra-high efficiency filtration filters down to a submicron level, leading to an overall cleanliness level superior to normal fuel flow filtration. The filtration system utilizes patented compression technology in combination with depth media to ensure the highest filtration efficiencies.
Every engine and automatic transmission is equipped with a standard, or full flow filter, which removes the large particles that could cause immediate damage to vehicle systems. But because an adequate flow of fluid through the filter must be maintained, the element has to be permeable, resulting in the filtering of particles no smaller than 10 to 15 microns.
However, the majority of contaminants are much smaller than 10 microns, and they can easily pass through a standard filter. Bypass filtration is necessary to filter out 5-10% of fluid flow, thus avoiding any counter pressures caused by placing additional filtration directly into the oil circuit.
Microfiltration results in superior fluid cleanliness for any lubrication or power transmission fluid system, including automatic transmission fluid (ATF), continuously variable transmission (CVT) fluid, dual-clutch systems, engine oils, and hydraulic oils. Overall, microfiltration results in fewer malfunctions, reduced downtime, reduction of waste oil, and increased equipment life.
Factory full-flow filters are designed to provide a minimum screening of particulates (15 microns or larger particles of soot and carbon) to keep ongoing bearing protection and still maintain a specified flow rate, but in turn, it loses a considerable amount of oil cleanliness. Ninety percent of engine wear is from particulates between .5 and 2.0 microns in size. The NTF filtration system removes contamination particulates down to .5 microns in size. The reason for adding the NTF filter to your existing system is to clean the lube oil, allowing the engine to run on clean oil 100% of the time. By keeping the oil clean, you are eliminating over 90% of most engine wear.
Excessive coolant contamination within an engine can occur with gasket leaks and cracks in engine materials. This type of excessive contamination, due to mechanical failure, can be prevented by the NTF system. Ours is the only system that can absorb coolant and water molecules without the use of electrical heating elements.
Corrosive acid is formed primarily from sulfur blow-by in the combustion process. When sulfur particles combine with moisture in the crankcase, acid is formed, which in turn reduces the TBN or the amount of alkaline base material in the oil. If one of the two products needed to form this acid (sulfur particles and moisture) is removed from the oil, the excessive acid formation cannot take place. The NTF bypass filter maintains a high and acceptable TBN level by removing the moisture in the lube oil. To combat the non-sulfuric acids that may form in minute quantities (due to atmospheric oxidation), any small amounts of alkaline base reserves that are used are replenished with the addition of make-up oil at the time of servicing the NTF bypass oil filter.
There are two basic reasons: First, adding aftermarket products as factory equipment drives up the price of the products. Secondly, the manufacturers have planned obsolescence built into the engines to enable them to keep selling replacement parts and engines to you, the consumer.
I’ve heard that oil “breaks down” during service and must be replaced at regular intervals to protect engines and hydraulic systems from damage.
Most experts agree that the basic properties of oil do not change during service. Oil can, however, become contaminated by particles and moisture to the point that it cannot protect the lubricating system from wear and corrosion. Contamination can be reduced and maintained at low levels with the use of ultra-fine filtration. NTF ultra-fine filtration can extend the useful life of the oil by 80-90% in engine crankcase lubrication systems.
Full flow filters do what they are designed to do, which is to remove solids in the 15-25 micron range. They are not designed to remove particles in the so-called wear range (the .5-15-micron clearances found in bearings, pumps, and valves), nor do they remove moisture or varnish compounds that form in the oil. Over the life of the equipment (even well-maintained equipment), varnishes and sludge can form on parts and clog valves, seals, pumps, and fluid passages.
New oil frequently contains particles in the wear range which exceed the maximum contamination levels specified by the equipment manufacturer! By removing particles in the wear range, as well as the moisture and varnishes which form in oil during service, NTF actually maintains oil at cleanliness levels that exceed the new oil and equipment manufacturers' specifications.
No! The principal behind our 20-year success is that the system is hooked into the oil circuit "IN BYPASS." Even if you would create a complete blockage on both the inlet and outlet lines of the NTF unit, the full flow system would still be doing its job. In reality, conventional oil filters can never filter effectively. They are placed in the mainstream of the oil circuit and need to be relatively coarse to guarantee a sufficient flow rate. The best possible retention values of these full-flow filters in use today are approximately 15 microns. You must add oil to the engine to equal the volume contained in the filtration canister and connecting line. But the flow rate through the NTF element is low compared to the oil flow to the engine. No changes in oil pressure or volume will be detectable. We strongly recommend that part of the savings from using NTF be spent on quarterly oil analysis (or analysis at the usual oil change intervals). This will provide better information on engine conditions than oil changes alone and provide assurance that the additive package and particle count in the oil make it suitable for continued use.
Sometimes yes and sometimes no. Some industrial lubricating fluids will show dramatic recovery of their original color, possibly to the point at which they cannot be distinguished from the new fluid. Nearly every fluid will show some visible improvement in cleanliness with the removal of moisture and particles in the “wear range” (.5-15 microns) for engines and hydraulic/lubricating systems. The dark color that will remain is the dyeing effect the carbon ash has on the oil molecules. We rely on laboratory analysis to tell us how clean the oil is and that the oil is suitable for continued service.
You can learn more by contacting NTF or completing an RFQ
Email Address: info@ntf-filter.com
Copyright © 2022, NTF MICRO FILTRATION USA, INC. All Rights Reserved.
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