# Dust Collectors from PSI



## redbirdfan (Dec 28, 2011)

Does anyone have any experience with dust collectors from Penn State Industries? I have never owned a DC but I am in the market for one and PSI seems to have some good prices. However, I don't know anyone that has used their products. I am considering the DC2000B.

http://www.pennstateind.com/store/DC2000B.html

It comes with a 1 micron filter and I can upgrade to a canister later at no cost penalty. Yes, I have 220V.

Any input is appreciated.


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## knotscott (Nov 8, 2007)

I've not overly familiar with them, but they have a good reputation in general, and are known for stating credible ratings.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

nothing


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## joesbucketorust (Dec 13, 2011)

woodnthings said:


> http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f12/dust-collectors-psi-33431/


? ?


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## Chip578 (Dec 30, 2011)

I have had 2.5HP PSI Tempest Cyclone since 2005. It works great. The SP and airflow are right where I expected them to be. 

However, I just recently moved and the guy that bought the old house wanted the ducting left in place so in the new house I have the PSI Tempest installed but not connected to any machines. The reason is that I ordered $1600 worth of new "premium" ducting from PSI. When the order came I was missing parts, and many of the parts I got were anything but premium. I have had to make 15 calls to them and while they sent the missing parts I have yet to see the replacement ones. 

In my opinion I had a killer experience in 2005 with them. My Tempest rocks, but there customer service is gone to heck in a hand basket. I would not order ductwork from them ever again. What a  mess.

I have posted a couple of pictures of the Tempest waiting for ductwork and a photo of the PSI "Premiumu" ducting.


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## joesbucketorust (Dec 13, 2011)

Chip578 said:


> I have posted a couple of pictures of the Tempest waiting for ductwork and a photo of the PSI "Premiumu" ducting.


I didn't see the link, could you repost it please? And I'm sure I'm going to end up with shop-envy for asking this, but how big a place are you setting up that it takes 1600 bucks just for the ductwork?


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## rrbrown (Feb 15, 2009)

joesbucketorust said:


> ? ?


Ditto


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## Chip578 (Dec 30, 2011)

I do not know why the pics did not post, I will try again. The shop is three rooms, the main shop (equipment area) a little over 70sq ft, with a separate wood rom and a separate bench room and storage, all in about 1100 sq ft of basement.


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## rrbrown (Feb 15, 2009)

I'm not familiar with those but this is my opinion.

2hp motor, 12" impeller, 6" inlet and 1 micron filtration or all good. My only concern is the bag instead of a canister because you get more then double and up to 5x the filter area depending on the type of canister instead of a bag. More filter area means greater efficiency. However 1 micron bag is still more then sufficient.

PSI is rather slow on shipping items and while customer service as been good. They have shipped items from the same order 3 additional times because of missing or wrong items. 

Overall that sounds like a good price for what should be a good DC. 

The HF model can be bought for about $140 on sale or with coupons and allot of users like it. The difference is Smaller 5" intake, smaller impeller, higher 5 micron filtration and I question the 2 hp rating. However as I said allot of members like them.

Personally I would try the PSI.


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## joesbucketorust (Dec 13, 2011)

Chip578 said:


> The shop is three rooms, the main shop (equipment area) a little over 70sq ft, with a separate wood room and a separate bench room and storage, all in about 1100 sq ft of basement.


Yea, that's about twice my 600' shop, so I'm jealous, but glad it's not me who has to run that much pipe. Hopefully they get their act together and ship you everything you need to get it done.


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## redbirdfan (Dec 28, 2011)

Thanks guys for all of your replies. Pretty much confirms what I have read so far. I'm going to give it a try :thumbsup:


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## Mdm0829 (Dec 19, 2011)

My recent experience with them was not good. I would look elsewhere based on that experience.


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## knotscott (Nov 8, 2007)

Mdm0829 said:


> My recent experience with them was not good. I would look elsewhere based on that experience.


Please share your experience...what happened?


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## jschaben (Apr 1, 2010)

A freind of mine installed a 2.5 HP cyclone from PSI a few months ago. He also had a few issues with missing parts but they took care of him. Seemed like the resolution was timely enough. The real value was they helped him layout the whole system. I think he had to send in a layout of his shop and they sent back a layout with specs for the right sizes pipe, elbows, gates and such. 
If can swing the extra $$, IMO the cyclone is really the way to go. My small shop I just use a shop vac and just putting the Oneida Dust Deputy on cut my vac bag use to near zero.:smile:


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## yocalif (Nov 11, 2010)

My only dust collection is my shop vac, but I'm trying to educate myself for the day I can afford more. The below site give plenty of info to help understand the complexities of a properly designed dust collection system. I know many WWT members have either checked out or studied this info but incase you are not aware here is the link.

Dust Collection

regarding brands, I don't know if this is better or not, but you know the name, price is comparable.


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## Chip578 (Dec 30, 2011)

Here is an update. I WILL NEVER GIVE PENNSTATE INDUSTRIES ONE DIME MORE OF MY MONEY!!!!
I am still missing parts from the original order. The parts that they did send were crap and I returned them at my cost because Mr. Bill Whitacre at PSI said they would be replaced. HA!
I have not seen the parts and every call to him gets a new story. He is a great story teller. Here is the latest one, "Hey I am a one man show here, we are losing money on your order. What do you want me to do?" We lost money just in the shipping" (I bought $1600 in duct work; I want the “premium” ducting that I purchased and I want all of the parts that I was billed for)
Well I have a half completed project, missing parts, and no one at PSI could care at all. Oh yeah, up until the 30 days were up they were saying, they would take care of it. They strung me along just until the 30 days was past and then I am on my own.

I have posted a few photos of the junk they sent. I will be happy to send anyone who wants it the video.
:furious:


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## dodgeboy77 (Mar 18, 2009)

Chip said: <<_Here is the latest one, "Hey I am a one man show here, we are losing money on your order. What do you want me to do?"_>>

I'm local to PSI and stop by their showroom from time to time. Believe me, it's not a one man show. Their retail outlet is combined with MLCS and though it's not real big, there are always 2-3 employees there. 

I needed a piece of duct-work recently that they didn't have at the store but had at the warehouse. The contacted the warehouse and gave me directions to get to it, which was a mile or two away. I was surprised because I always thought the entire operation was where the store was. It's a big warehouse! It's not big like in IBM or anything but it was substantial and that's where all the shipping takes place.

So if he told you he was a one man show, he may have meant he was in charge of dust collection or something but PSI is definitely not a one man operation.

However, they've always treated me well and the products I've bought from them and MLCS have been good, too.

Bill


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## rrich (Jun 24, 2009)

Let me toss a couple of things out here to muddy the water.

I have a Jet DC. I switched it over to 230 Volt operation.

The kids got me the 1 micron bags from PSI. I don't know if it was ordered but an additional clamp for the bag was needed and PSI shipped it overnight on the basis of an e-mail. The bags are thick and heavy. Really good bags. 

I have a 30 gallon galvanized trash can with a Woodcraft separator before the DC. I dump the trash can about every two or three weeks. I have dumped the bottom bag of the DC 3 or 4 times since I bought the DC in 2008. The point here is that only the wood flour makes it to the bottom bag of the DC.

The canister model IMHO doesn't really buy very much in terms of efficiency and I've heard that too much paddle use can wear out the filter cartridge. I considered the cartridge system but I just couldn't justify the extra dollars. AND I felt that the bags would last a lot longer than the cartridge.

The price that is shown in the PSI catalog page is about what I paid for my Jet which is only 1100 CFM. However the bags that the kids got me were around $70 so the price is very good. I would go for the PSI DC just as it is with the 1 micron bags.


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## redbirdfan (Dec 28, 2011)

OK, I purchased the DC2000 with the 1 micron bags. I placed the order the week after Christmas and there was a message saying they were off that week and it would be processed when they return after the 1st of the year. It was and I received it on the 16th. Kind of a long time but OK, I guess.

The metal chute running from the impeller housing to the bag holder was bent during shipping and the paint was chipping off. Still functional but I was not willing to start with something less than 100% correct. Not the fault of PSI but still their responsibility and an opportunity to try out their customer service. I used their email contact online and typed very specifically what the item was as it showed on their parts list. I got a response back right away from someone saying that it had been referred to a manager named Joe (something).

One day I was at work and got a call on my cell from PSI wanting to confirm the replacement parts. I did not have my information in front of me but she said she was going to ship me a hose. I said that didn't sound right and she kind of got flustered, transferred me to someone else and in that time I found the part numbers from my email history. We talked for a while and they said they would confirm it was the right part and get it out. Took about another week to receive it but it was the right thing and in good shape. There was also a sawtooth washer missing and they sent me one but it was the wrong size (not a huge deal).

While I haven't challenged the equipment yet it seems to perform like a champ.

The company does seem slightly podunk buy that is not all bad. They really wanted to make it right and that is the important thing. I would probably buy from them again if the deal was right like this one was.:yes:


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