Walker Airsep

[Old deckhand]

Anyone add an Airsep to a FL 135 or any other engine? Did it perform as advertised? Thanks

 

[mbevins]

Anyone add an Airsep to a FL 135 or any other engine? Did it perform as advertised? Thanks

Made a huge difference on my DD 6-71

 

[kchace]

I'm interested also. I'm considering getting Airseps for my FL135's.

Ken

 

[Capt.Bill11]

What's the point?

 

[Old deckhand]

Walker claims cleaner and less noise.

 

[Baker]

Do you have a "misting" problem?? If not, then I don't think it is worth it.

 

[Old deckhand]

Do you have a "misting" problem?? If not, then I don't think it is worth it.

No misting problem but noise reduction would be nice.

 

[Capt.Bill11]

No misting problem but noise reduction would be nice.

I would fine it hard to believe that an Airsep would be much help with the noise from a Lehman.

Vibration transmission seems to be more of a factor in the vast majority of installations I've come across.

 

[Baker]

I would fine it hard to believe that an Airsep would be much help with the noise from a Lehman.

Vibration transmission seems to be more of a factor in the vast majority of installations I've come across.

Fully agree.

 

[jleonard]

There is an article on boatdiesel about someone who fitted a Lehman with an airsep. (you may have to be a member to read it, not sure).
That said I agree with above comments about not reducing noise much. Put a bigger air filter on if you want to reduce noise.
I don't hear much at all from my Lehman and not much mist to worry about either.

 

[timjet]

I removed the AirSep's from my Cummins on the recomenation of Tony Athens on boatdiesel.com. The reason as I understand it is the AirSep's collect any blow by and reintroduce it back into the oil pan which is then mixed with the engine oil
.
The Envirovent system designed by Tony is a simple device that collects the blow by in a "puke" bottle that is disposed of. An added benifit for me was the AirSep connector to the oil pan I connected to an oil change pump which makes changing oil much easier.

I don't know if this reasoning applies to a Lehman.

 

[Brisyboy]

Anyone add an Airsep to a FL 135 or any other engine? Did it perform as advertised? Thanks

Ummmm - whats an airsep and what does it do (or not)?

 

[BobH]

One function is supposed to be that it creates negative pressure in the sump thereby reducing oil leaks. Put one on our four cylinder Perkins on our sailboat and it was a total waste of money.

 

[kchace]

My purpose would be to help reduce noise. If it doesn't provide a significant reduction, then I would rather put the money into better sound proofing.

Ken

 

[Baker]

It's main purpose is to capture crank case ventilation(CCV) gases. These "gases" have a lot of oil in them...in fact mthey are mostly oil. It is an oil mist. I do not think these gases are an issue with a low revving lightly loaded engine like a Lehman. They are an issue with a highly strung heavily boosted engine...like the 6BTAs in the higher horsepower ranges. Detroits as well. Basically any engine that is heavily boosted and ran in the design horsepower range. If you do not do something with that "mist" it will be all over your engine room or engine space. That is why it is called an "Airsep"....it separates the air and the oil and returns that oil(in theory) to the crank case instead of allowing it to become decoration on everything in your engine room.

PS....to give you an idea of "highly boosted". My Cummins is almost exactly the displacement of your Lehman....yet it squeezes almost 2.5 times the amount of power(330hp) out of that same displacement.

 

[Baker]

One function is supposed to be that it creates negative pressure in the sump thereby reducing oil leaks. Put one on our four cylinder Perkins on our sailboat and it was a total waste of money.

That may be a byproduct but it is not the primary reason.

 

[Baker]

My purpose would be to help reduce noise. If it doesn't provide a significant reduction, then I would rather put the money into better sound proofing.

Ken

There are a lot of sources for "noise" from an engine. Intake noise(which I highly doubt is an issue with a Lehman and the only thing an Airsep MIGHT help with). Exhaust noise. Vibration. What kind of "noise" are we trying to control here???

 

[FlyWright]

One function is supposed to be that it creates negative pressure in the sump thereby reducing oil leaks. Put one on our four cylinder Perkins on our sailboat and it was a total waste of money.

Ha! I'm convinced that the only way to stop oil leaks on a Perkins is to shut it down. Now I'm kinda fond of my "Perkins patina".

 

[remwines]

Ha! I'm convinced that the only way to stop oil leaks on a Perkins is to shut it down. Now I'm kinda fond of my "Perkins patina". :

Makes it easier to slide in and out of the engine room.

Just speaking for the engine that will soon be coming out of my boat, a fair amount of oil mist is emitted from the breather tube. After several hours at cruise rpm, I can see the mist hanging in the ER air. Even with the blowers running, a certain amount of it is going to settle everywhere and also sucked through the alternator. And even though it is not a lot oil, it adds up and contributes to ER odors that find their way into the cabin. My breather also allows a small amount of oil to drip into the bilge. It is a ridged tube and in my boat, there's really no way to put a puck can under it. If I were going to keep that engine, I would put a CCV system on it. I am going to put a CCV system on the Cummins that is going to replace it.

Old Deckhand said he really doesn't have a problem with oil mist, but would like less engine noise. My current engine uses the same thin oil foam intake filler as his FL 135. I know a lot of engine noise comes through that thin filter. I looked at the Airsep intake system for the FL 135 and can see why they can claim less noise. But before laying out a bunch of money, I would want an approximate DB reduction over what you have. I couldn't find any info on noise reduction in their publications. And this system requires a double filter replacement every 250-500 hours. Here's the link to that system:

Walker Engineering - Product Detail

Bob

 

[FlyWright]

Makes it easier to slide in and out of the engine room.

Bob

LOL! I haven't gotten stuck in there yet!

 

[petdoc4u]

According to Bob Smith at American Diesel the Airsep filter will reduce the noise coming from turbo charged diesels. There is no benefit to using an Airsep on a FL135.

 

[FlyWright]

Welcome aboard, petdoc4u! Do you run Lehmans on your boat?

 

[petdoc4u]

Yes, a single 135

 

[stubones99]

Ummmm - whats an airsep and what does it do (or not)?

As the pistons go up and down in their cylinders, the total volume of the crankcase changes. Since there is often a mist or fog of oil in the crankcase, the crankcase vent can breathe in and out, exhaling oil in the process. That's one reason why many engine rooms smell like oil.

An AirSep is a filter that captures the oil in the air and returns it to the crankcase preventing oil in the engine room air. It also muffles the "breathing" sounds of an engine.

I tend to agree with the others that a good set of engine mounts would do far more to quieting down an engine (or two) than the crankcase vent noises.

I've not seen the alternatives to AirSep from Tony Athens, but have read his work and in my opinion he knows what he talks about.

If you have turbos, a bigger air filter with more surface area can cut down on some of the turbo whine. Just remember, when you hear them, they are not working... Under load, a turbo operates far above our ear's audible range.

 

[MurrayM]

If you have turbos, a bigger air filter with more surface area can cut down on some of the turbo whine. Just remember, when you hear them, they are not working... Under load, a turbo operates far above our ear's audible range.

Not working, or not working at peak efficiency?

 

[stubones99]

If you can hear them, they are not doing much other than free spinning. That happens below about 25,000 RPM. Under load, they can go over 110,000 RPM...

Reminder, keep clean oil in them

Stu

 

[R_p_ryan]

Maybe I'm missing something, but the crankcase breather line goes to the intake side of the turbo on my T6.354. This is a similar setup as I've seen on lots of cars too. Why not just do that to eliminate the oily mist in the engine room?

 

[stubones99]

Many perkins and older engines simply had a breather pipe down from the top of the crankcase.

What you're talking about on a car is called a PCV - Positive Crankcase Ventilation line and often it clipped into the air filter so that any escaping vapors were consumed.