Originally Posted By: David1
However if you go to the FRAM site, it claims it does not need as many pleats as other filters b/c the material is made out of is HIGH QUALITY then the others.
That's a claim I can't agree with... at least on the surface. When you are talking about cellulose, it's a surface loaded media. None of them are very thick and they carry most of the contamination on the surface. While there may be differences in capacity per square inch of media between one cellulose media and another (even given more or less equal efficiency), surface loaded media is going to be largely the same... per square inch of media ( I said largely, there are exceptions to the rule). While efficiency is a product of the density and pore sizes of the cellulose media, capacity is all about how many square inches of that media are in the can. You could conceivably have a high efficiency cellulose media in a filter but if you chintz out on the amount you get a high efficiency filter with a short life (a 3-5K filter). And low flow all the way thru that life (versus a filter with lots more of the same or similar media).
So, yes, the amount of media is an important factor. I think most of us know that. One common perceptive mistake I see here is when people forget to factor in the media type during visual comparisons. That mistake appears mostly when visually comparing cellulose and synthetic fiber. A cellulose media needs lots more media to achieve the same capacity and flow as synthetic fiber but we see some comments here when a syn filter is dissected, such as, "Oh look how few pleats it has.. it must not flow very well." Not true, of course, in this apples to oranges comparison. The syn media is thicker and caries a lot of contamination inside that thicker media. It may actually have (many do) variable (graduated) efficiency, where the outer part catches mostly the bigger stuff and the inner part catches the smaller.
So bottom line, if the media is of a similar type and efficiency, then comparisons on media area are valid and more of any type is better for flow and capacity.