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[Randy Stankey]

I...I discovered that the layer of goo on the outward facing side was so bad that even after two hours of full immersion in a sink of warm water and dish soap. ...

You probably could have put them through a dishwasher, using regular dishwasher detergent. Fail that, lye and hot water would be the next thing to try.

Be careful! If any parts of the filters are made from aluminum, you don't want to use anything that is strongly alkaline. Sodium hydroxide will corrode anything made from aluminum, quite quickly.

[Leo Enticknap]

You probably could have put them through a dishwasher, using regular dishwasher detergent. Fail that, lye and hot water would be the next thing to try.

It boils down to what is possible within the constraints of a service call, and what isn't. I have what I call my "Barco wet kit." This is a bucket containing the bits and pieces needed for a coolant flush described here, plus a large kitty litter tray (don't worry: not one that was ever used for its intended purpose!) and a jar of sodium bicarbonate / baking soda for washing Series 2/3 and 4 air filters. On this particular day, my call instructions were to replace a failed Enigma board at a site that is a 180-mile drive away, not one of our service contact sites, and that we do not do regular one-time calls to. In fact, this was the first and so far only time I've been there. So the wet kit did not go in the trunk of the car that morning.

When I got there, I found that the card cage air filter was the worst I'd ever encountered, and by a big margin. I had to do something to it, or else the replacement Enigma would likely have overheated and died again. A large sink and some dish soap was the best thing I and the site manager could come up with, within the constraints of the budgeted time on site and what was available.

Be careful! If any parts of the filters are made from aluminum, you don't want to use anything that is strongly alkaline.

I guess they must be steel mesh, then, because this is how Barco tells you to clean them:

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[Randy Stankey]

Just a fun fact: You can make sodium carbonate from sodium bicarbonate by heating. Put some baking soda in a shallow, glass container and heat it in the oven at 100º C for about an hour. The stuff will bubble and release carbon dioxide plus water vapor as it decomposes. When it's done, you'll be left with sodium carbonate.

You can also find sodium carbonate in the grocery store. It is often sold as coffee pot cleaner. If you decide to try it, be sure to read the ingredients on the label. Sometimes, companies put in other stuff.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Just a fun fact: You can make sodium carbonate from sodium bicarbonate by heating. Put some baking soda in a shallow, glass container and heat it in the oven at 100º C for about an hour. The stuff will bubble and release carbon dioxide plus water vapor as it decomposes. When it's done, you'll be left with sodium carbonate.

You can also find sodium carbonate in the grocery store. It is often sold as coffee pot cleaner. If you decide to try it, be sure to read the ingredients on the label. Sometimes, companies put in other stuff.

Brad needs to change your Forum name to Mr Wizard...

[Randy Stankey]

Prior to my current job, I was a lab tech in a plating shop, taking samples, performing titrations and adding chemicals to the plating baths all day.

Sodium carbonate and sodium hydroxide were often used to clean and degrease parts prior to plating.