do filters have a shelf life?

[stefan_r]

I have got my 'emergency' set of fuel / oil / water separator filters under my bunk. They are all still wrapped in cellophane but I am wondering if they have a shelf life.... they are 10 years old now (no emergency engine problems!!) - should I throw them out??

In future I am going to start rotating the filters each year...I just don't really want to throw out ten or twelve filters.

Cheers
Stefan

mailto: stefan@athito.com

 

[david_bagshaw]

Oil filters have an indefinate shelf life, most paper fuel filters same, water sep ones have a special coating which can degrade,(if it does in the bag I dont know) suggest you speak to Mfr for his view,
I know both of the main suppliers say the filters in service should be changed once a year even if they are clean due to the loss of the waterrepelling surface.

David ps Take a look at my site www.yachtman.co.uk

 

[vyv_cox]

I guess that the paper part has a pretty much indefinite shelf life but the elastomeric seals do not. 10 years is certainly too much to expect a Viton or nitrile seal to retain all of its initial properties. My daughter's car recently suffered an engine failure when the seal of a recently-replaced oil filter split. We don't know how long the filter had been on the shelf but the seal felt quite brittle and was cracked in several places.