GAF Bag Filters and Filer Bags

 

 

GAF (General Aniline & Film Corporation) was founded in New York City in 1923 and was a manufacturer of dyes and chemicals for the emerging film industry. By the 1960’s bag filtration systems became recognized as a method of increasing filtration efficiency through support of higher flow rates and ease of use/maintenance. Sometime during the late 1960’s GAF developed an industrial bag filter product line and the ubiquitous “goose neck inlet” design was patented in 1975 (applied 1972) by Edward Smith on behalf of GAF Corp.

GAF also manufactured filter bags for their bag filter housings and notably invented what is now referred to as the SENTINEL® filter bag sealing ring, an innovative, chemically resistant and bypass free seal which significantly increased filtration efficiency. Building on that 1990 patent, they patented a multiple layered filter bag in 1994, now referred to as the PROGAF™ series which provides Beta 5000 (99.9%) filtration efficiency for particles as small as 1 micron.

GAF would continue to expand and develop its industrial filtration product offering, eventually being acquired by ISP Industries in 1997, which subsequently sold the GAF filtration product line to Hayward Industries in 1999. Eaton’s newly formed filtration division was formed in 2005 with the acquisition of Hayward’s filtration products and in the years that followed they acquired other manufacturers of filtration equipment including Ronningen-Petter (2007), and Internormen (2011).

Thus, the GAF product line and trademark is owned by Eaton Hydraulics LLC, Filtration Division, although the actual products currently manufactured by Eaton are an evolution of the original GAF products and design, reflecting advancements in materials and manufacturing techniques during the past 25 years.

We still receive inquiries for GAF brand filter housings, usually to repair, replace or duplicate an “original” GAF bag filter manufactured in the 1980s and 1990s; this article will highlight the current Eaton designs and note which components can be replaced.

Due to current manufacturing techniques, identical “drop-in” replacements for the GAF bag filter housings do not exist. Instead, Eaton offers the “evolved” version of the GAF product line.

If you have the #3 and #4 sized GAF bag filter housings with clamp style cover (RBX-CL) or with swing bolt cover (RBX-LP), you would refer to the Eaton MINILINE™ bag filter housing series.

If you have the GAF RB1-SE #1 and #2 size bag filter housings, then you would use the Eaton SIDELINE™ bag filter housings. The “gooseneck” style GAF RB1 model is the Eaton TOPLINE™ bag filter housing.

The GAF twin chamber RB2-SL model is no longer provided in that form, instead Eaton combines two TOPLINE™ bag filter housings and it is referred to as a DOULINE™ bag filter housing.

This is a good point to plug our website https://factory-direct-filtration.com, because it lists additional bag filter and filter bag designs that have been developed during the past 20 years. Our site contains helpful articles, detailed descriptions of each product and links to the Eaton datasheets. We are a phone call, email or online chat away from assisting you with your specific application or question.

The multiple chamber bag filter housings GAF RB 2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12 C2L series is now referred to as the Eaton MAXILINE™ series bag filter housings. This is a great example of how the original GAF design “evolved” under Eaton. Whereas the GAF design had inlet and outlet nozzles protruding from the lower dished (bottom) end of the filter housing, the Eaton design employs an upper side entry with an outlet nozzle connected tangentially to the lower dished head. This improves the flow distribution for multiple chamber bag filter housings and the tangentially mounted outlet nozzle significantly reduces the filter housing height; in-turn this improves the ergonomics of filter bag access and changing.

The GAF filter bags in the industry standard #1 - #4 sizes are still available under the Eaton brand; GAF’s SENTINEL, ACCUGAF and DURAGAF are still referred to as “SENTINEL”, “ACCUGAF” and “DURAGAF”. The other GAF filter bags which have a snap-ring style seal are referred to as “SNAP-RING” and the tie-on style bags (nylon monofilament #1 size filter bags designed to be “tied” onto something) are also still available.

Akin to how Eaton improved and expanded upon the GAF bag filter housings, likewise they have improved and expanded their filter bag offering to include higher surface area designs, niche designs (beverage, pharmaceutical and automotive industries) and accessories such as the Splash Guard, a safety cover for FLOWLINE and FLOWLINE II bag filter housings to direct leakage due to o-ring seal failure away from personnel.

Spare Parts
Some components such as o-rings, swing bolts and the filter bag support baskets are either interchangeable with the current Eaton offering or still available, however that is not for every GAF bag filter housing model. Please provide us with the filter housing serial number so we can ask Eaton if the components you require are still available through Eaton.

GAF Cartridge Filtration Products
Eaton manufactures and supplies a comprehensive product line of filter cartridges which include meltblown, pleated, membrane and porous alloy designs. Their filter cartridge housings are offered in industrial and sanitary designs. Eaton’s overall microfiltration product line also includes stacked disc cartridges and filter sheets; thus, they have a plethora of micro filtration options to satisfy just about any liquid filtration application.

This article and webpage was designed to assist those with existing GAF brand bag filter housings to provide them with a better understanding of how to obtain support. As always, you can reach us directly by phone, email or online chat for assistance with your specific product, application or support issue!