# Dusty Neighbors



## Jim Moe (Sep 18, 2011)

I want to thank the post on here that said they vented their dust collector outside. Looked for it but could not find it.

But anyway, that's what I accomplished today. I used a Rockler through the wall kit and added a dryer vent with shutters on the outside to keep the Chipmunks from exploring. What a difference it makes in the amount of suction I have now and it greatly reduced the noise. The neighbor behind my garage can enjoy it now!

This forum is great for ideas. Keep em' comin!


----------



## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

Glad that worked out for ya! I'm guessing you have a cyclone separator? Any wood flour getting out?

~tom. ...GEAUX TIGERS!... ...GEAUX SAINTS!......


----------



## mdntrdr (Dec 22, 2009)

How do you deal with the negative pressure in your shop?

Do you heat your shop??? :smile:


----------



## Gene Howe (Feb 28, 2009)

Mine is vented outside, too. Negative pressure isn't an issue for me. I heat the shop but can't tell that I'm losing any heat. There's a 35 gal. trash can separator before the DC. There is a noticeable increase suction now that those darned bags are gone. Much quieter running, too. There's hardly any flour escapes to the outside.


----------



## Jim Moe (Sep 18, 2011)

Yes, my shop is heated but I doubt the negative air pressure will be that much of a problem. I could stand to have a new garage door as it has a good air flow between one of the panals and at the top. Only question I have is why do you need a blast gate? I have one and always keep it wide open and don't understand what function it is supposed to serve. Never seen a instance where it has too much suction. :huh:


----------



## Woodworkingkid (Jan 8, 2011)

that looks realy neat wish i could do somthing like that but if i did if i did that my neighbors would be real mad.


----------



## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*heat loss?*

That amount of heated air leaving the shop we could estimate at 500 CFM for example. For a shop size of 10ft x 20 ft x 10 ft for an volume of 2000 cu ft. Dividing by 500 CFM, you get 4 minutes to empty the shop. Double the floor area you get 4000 cu ft. or 8 minutes to empty the room of all that valuable heat.

Of course it's much more efficient to just blow it outside, no filters or restricting bags, but there will be a price to pay. ...just sayin'. Here in Michigan where it was 10 degrees this AM, I don't think I could use this method, but may be worth a trial run. :blink: bill


----------



## Jim Moe (Sep 18, 2011)

woodnthings said:


> That amount of heated air leaving the shop we could estimate at 500 CFM for example. For a shop size of 10ft x 20 ft x 10 ft for an volume of 2000 cu ft. Dividing by 500 CFM, you get 4 minutes to empty the shop. Double the floor area you get 4000 cu ft. or 8 minutes to empty the room of all that valuable heat.
> 
> Of course it's much more efficient to just blow it outside, no filters or restricting bags, but there will be a price to pay. ...just sayin'. Here in Michigan where it was 10 degrees this AM, I don't think I could use this method, but may be worth a trial run. :blink: bill


I guess I really never thought of that aspect of heat loss. I live in Minnesota, so I am in the same boat. I guess I will keep an eye and ear out for how much the heater runs when I am using tools, especialy the Planer. If my dogs ears start flapping in the air when I am running it, I might have to rethink my strategy!


----------



## tcleve4911 (Dec 16, 2006)

jimmomech8 said:


> Only question I have is why do you need a blast gate? I have one and always keep it wide open and don't understand what function it is supposed to serve. Never seen a instance where it has too much suction. :huh:


Blast gates are used when you have multiple lines going to dedicated machines. If you had five inlets wide open, you would experience a huge loss in vacuum at each port. By closing gates you're not using, you can get maximum vacuum from each line.


----------



## Gene Howe (Feb 28, 2009)

woodnthings said:


> That amount of heated air leaving the shop we could estimate at 500 CFM for example. For a shop size of 10ft x 20 ft x 10 ft for an volume of 2000 cu ft. Dividing by 500 CFM, you get 4 minutes to empty the shop. Double the floor area you get 4000 cu ft. or 8 minutes to empty the room of all that valuable heat.
> 
> Of course it's much more efficient to just blow it outside, no filters or restricting bags, but there will be a price to pay. ...just sayin'. Here in Michigan where it was 10 degrees this AM, I don't think I could use this method, but may be worth a trial run. :blink: bill


Bill,
Using this method of calculation, it would take 14 minutes to empty my shop. Probably, why I don't notice any differences is that I don't run it that long and there's plenty of recovery time between periods of operation. Plus, the ceiling is at 10' and it's all extremely well insulated with 6" of batts in the walls and close to 24" of blown in the ceiling. Also, it seldom gets below 20* during the day, here. 30* is probably closer to winter norms for daytime lows. 
The shop has it's own 50 gal propane tank, so monitoring usage is easy. I've seen no major differences in consumption since I modified the DC.
The mod, saved me valuable space, there's far less noise, it's way more efficient, and *there are no blasted bags to empty*:thumbsup:. For me, the trade offs (if any) were worth it. 
If one were more inventive (and motivated) than I, a simple exchange box could be devised to set outside. That would somewhat alleviate the heat loss, negative pressure concerns and definitely, the neighbor's concerns.


----------



## del schisler (Nov 5, 2009)

jimmomech8 said:


> Yes, my shop is heated but I doubt the negative air pressure will be that much of a problem. I could stand to have a new garage door as it has a good air flow between one of the panals and at the top. Only question I have is why do you need a blast gate? I have one and always keep it wide open and don't understand what function it is supposed to serve. Never seen a instance where it has too much suction. :huh:


Blast gates are used in the line to close off a hose to other machine's so that only one line is open at a time. Meaning which machine is running that is the only line open for the most dust removel.


----------



## DST (Jan 10, 2011)

I think you need to consider that there is a difference between dust collection and air filter. I run my dust collector just during the cuts. Except for some longer sessions at the router table my collector wouldn't be on long enough to empty my shop. My family opens the door often enough to let some fresh air in. Any negative pressure would be balanced by the positive of not having dust going into the house.


----------



## Taylormade (Feb 3, 2011)

Hmmm, I REALLY wish I'd seen this a couple of weeks ago when I was planning out my DC system. I have the exact opposite problem, though, as I need to keep my COOL air in the shop 9 months of the year. It may still be worth a shot, though.


----------



## Jim Moe (Sep 18, 2011)

Here are some pics of my system. Have not noticed my garage heater running anymore than usual. Was 22 degrees today and did a couple hours of dovetailing.


----------

