# 142 CFM House Vacuum



## SawScat (Dec 9, 2020)

So my wife and I moved into this house in 2018 and it has a house vacuum. I've since removed that but I'm looking to potentially use it as a two stage vacuum?

Here's the model:
Beam SC375

Air flow is stated as 142 CFM
So I have a very small (one small garage stall) shop. And I was thinking about mounting this on a wall, connecting it to a cyclone separator (or something like that) and essentially using this as a two stage (that's the right term, right?)

I have zero experience with any dust collection outside of hooking my shop vac up to my table saw or planer, so figured I'd just ask if this is a viable option.

Could I hook this up and actually utilize it or will it not pull enough air to really make me happy? Look, I have 5 kids and debt I'm trying to pay down so if I can save some money and reuse this that'd make me happy, but I also don't want to go through the whole process if it might just pass me off 

Please, apply me with your laughter and your ideas


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## Tree Hugger (Sep 1, 2011)

Looks exactly like the one in my house. An awesome upgrade IMO, why would you remove it.
Not much capacity for what your thinking on using it for.


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## SawScat (Dec 9, 2020)

Tree Hugger said:


> Looks exactly like the one in my house. An awesome upgrade IMO, why would you remove it.
> Not much capacity for what your thinking on using it for.


No desire for a house vacuum for my wife and I. 
It has good suction and obviously was able to do it through tubing in our whole house, so I'm curious why it wouldn't work for sawdust. Is it just that our machines kick out too much dust and the device needs WAY more power?


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## _Ogre (Feb 1, 2013)

my wife insisted i install one in our house, she loves it
if you tore it out nicely you could sell it on craigslist for enough to buy the harbor fight dust collector made for a shop. they probably make the same amount of noise


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## SawScat (Dec 9, 2020)

_Ogre said:


> my wife insisted i install one in our house, she loves it
> if you tore it out nicely you could sell it on craigslist for enough to buy the harbor fight dust collector made for a shop. they probably make the same amount of noise


Dammit! Why didn't that ever occur to me!!! 

Well, the vacuum itself is fine. All the tubing is still in the walls, but I could sell the engine and the powerhead and hose though.


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## m.n.j.chell (May 12, 2016)

SawScat said:


> It has good suction and obviously was able to do it through tubing in our whole house, so I'm curious why it wouldn't work for sawdust.


Huge difference between drawing air through a vacuum head picking up floor dust/dirt ... and pulling large quantities of air, and the accompanying dust/sawdust/wood chips, through open ended tubes. Even the strongest house vacuum would be a poor dust collection system.


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## _Ogre (Feb 1, 2013)

SawScat said:


> Dammit! Why didn't that ever occur to me!!!
> 
> Well, the vacuum itself is fine. All the tubing is still in the walls, but I could sell the engine and the powerhead and hose though.


yeah, leave all the piping and outlets in the walls, never heard of anyone removing central vac
just sell the power head, hose and vac unit
this is assuming you are going to stay in the house for a long time
if not central vac is a good selling point and really isn't taking up much space in the basement or garage


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## SawScat (Dec 9, 2020)

_Ogre said:


> yeah, leave all the piping and outlets in the walls, never heard of anyone removing central vac
> just sell the power head, hose and vac unit
> this is assuming you are going to stay in the house for a long time
> if not central vac is a good selling point and really isn't taking up much space in the basement or garage


This is my tree farm. I will die in this house if I can help it


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## Jim Frye (Aug 24, 2016)

I installed a Prolux CV12000 in our home last February. it is rated at 150 cfm and 700 air watts. It also has a three stage filter. Cyclone, 1 micron bag, and a large pleated HEPA canister. It's also rather quiet. I've measured it at 74 db three feet away. My current dust collector in my shop is a 165 cfm ShopVac which works fine with even my planer.


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