# floor dryer as air cleaner



## Rhaugle (May 12, 2017)

got myself one of these floor dryers recently and im looking to turn it into an air cleaner. Plan is to encase the unit in a mobile "box" with air filters on all sides (and use it as a base for my belt/disc sander). A couple questions... will it work as is, or do I need to take off the plastic case? It has 3 speeds, which is the best setting to use? I plan on shimming the outlet a bit, so it blows at an up angle.


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## difalkner (Nov 27, 2011)

I would think that if the box is air tight except for the filters then you'll have negative pressure inside and it will work just fine. It may work better if the filter is only on one side or maybe two, though, and that probably depends on the size of the box you'll build. Have the switch accessible from the outside and adjust the speed as needed.

David


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## Rhaugle (May 12, 2017)

This was the design I was going from. You think only one or 2 filters would be better?


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## Jim Frye (Aug 24, 2016)

My shop air filter is based on a cast off HVAC air handler that was mounted in a steel cabinet. Similar design to your floor drier. I added a plywood plenum on the output side for a floor register and an duct up to the ceiling. I mounted a 4" thick computer room pleated filter on the front side, put the whole thing on a 2x4 frame with casters. It runs at 700 cfm or 1,100 cfm. and clears the 12'x22' shop very quickly.


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## difalkner (Nov 27, 2011)

That's a nice looking design, very clean. I guess you can build it to accept filters all the way around and if it doesn't seem to pull enough then maybe start blocking one filter at a time.

David


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## Catpower (Jan 11, 2016)

The face velocity of the air through the filter or filters isn't fast enough to capture the dust surrounding the unit, but the fan will do a good job of moving enough air to clean it


4 filters will cost 4 times as much but hold 4 times as much dust, so one filter or 4 really makes no difference


When I did mine I made it to use 2x20x25 filters and use pleated filters. If you don't manhandle the filters you can blow them out many times before they fall apart, but if you are spraying any finish, it will ruin them, the finish drys and glues all the dust to the filter


That fan will probably move about 2000 cubic feet per minute so you can figure out how many air changes you will get per hour. My shop is a 30x50x12 or 18,000 cu ft, the blower on the a/c in the shop is a 2500 CFM so I get about 7.2 changes per hour


I'm not real sure which way to direct the out flowing air would be though, across the floor would probably stir up the most dirt, at an angle up might be a little better


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## Rhaugle (May 12, 2017)

Another question... placement of the exhaust.. my area is the 3rd stall of a 3 car garage. Should I face the exhaust side towards the 2 car portion, or face it towards a wall in my 3rd stall area? Does it matter?


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## Jim Frye (Aug 24, 2016)

Rhaugle said:


> Another question... placement of the exhaust.. my area is the 3rd stall of a 3 car garage. Should I face the exhaust side towards the 2 car portion, or face it towards a wall in my 3rd stall area? Does it matter?



I built mine so the floor output blows along one wall and around the room. The second outlet is ducted to the ceiling and diagonally across the ceiling to the opposite corner. The idea is to get airflow to sweep down and back towards the intake.


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## difalkner (Nov 27, 2011)

Mine is pretty simple and is mounted on a swivel above the table saw. It's a simple inexpensive box fan and works pretty good. It has one 20x20x1 filter and I pull it down to vacuum 6-7 times before replacing. After I got a DC the airborne dust went down considerably so I used to change the filter on the fan about every 3 months. Now I change it every 7-8 months or so because I have very little airborne dust.

























David


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## OldDon (Feb 19, 2018)

You might want to size the opening to use the same ilters used by the various air filter systems. That way you can use a HEPA filter plus the outer filters. I think most brands all use the same filters if the same imported unit.



Filters: 



https://www.amazon.com/WEN-90243-02...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=AWYJH4N03BQXMTZRC444


plus


https://www.amazon.com/WEN-90243-02...CKYCQ2TPW7Y&psc=1&refRID=ZJ6N3GPKZCKYCQ2TPW7Y


That way if you later upgrade to one of the brands you'll have the filters on hand too.


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## Larry42 (Jan 10, 2014)

The more filter area the better since it will provide less restriction to air flow. Direct the exhaust to minimize the amount of dust it is likely to stir up. Filters are rated by the smallest size of particle they will stop.


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