# What happened?



## big treble (May 10, 2012)

Ok, I had built my own lid style separator for a 50(?) gallon trash can. The simple style with two 90 degree elbows. Worked wonderful for nearly 1.5 years, got 90-95% of material collected in the trash can. Now i simply elevated the jet collector added a little more hose and taped the joints, now I seem to be gathering only 50% of dust in the can. 

I have attempted to make my own style of baffle, and the results have not changed.

I have also noticed the sides of the trash can will suck in a bit, while the collector is on.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

Perhaps a good illustration of how sensitive a separator can be to overall duct/fitting configuration.

You mentioned elevating the Jet collector by adding "a little more hose".

The flex hose has a lot more pressure drop than normal duct. More pressure drop, less airflow. Less airflow means less air velocity and then less dust will be dropped out in the separator.

If you are able to replace the flex hose with solid duct you may be able to get your performance back.


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## big treble (May 10, 2012)

First of all, don't mind the mess.....

I appreciate the info, and am looking for answers and do not want to seem argumentative. The hose between the collector and separator is about the same, I just had one hose to run to the tool I was using at the time, and now have a couple of do duct lines(using the black hose). 

I would think any loss of suction would only reverse the situation I am in. It now seems I have more suction and am sucking dust and chips from the separator. 

Does that sound right?. There are no 90's except at the trash can, all are double 45's.


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## big treble (May 10, 2012)

Can't seem to add two pics


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## ChuckR (Apr 30, 2013)

If your saying that the can is sucking in, I would be looking from the can back to your main lines for a possible restriction as the collector sounds like it's suffocating.

Remember Andy Granatelli and his STP air cleaner commercials where he pinched his nose talking about good air flow to the carbeurator? Probably not, it was a 60s thing. Same deal though.

Crazy question, you do DID a blast gate open when you tried it right?


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## rrbrown (Feb 15, 2009)

How much more hose did you add?

Any new turns etc. 

If I understsnd right its now sucking in on the can and debris is getting past and to the bag. 

Seems crazy but if the airflow in decreases because of a clog or slower sir the blower is still working. Rake into considration the wsy it works. It blows air out and must pull aur in to keep up. 

When you moved the collector up you probably made a better flow of sir in that line ( Less turns ). However you added more hose to the other side creating more resistance and probably slowing the air. 

So now the blower is actually working more effeciently and therefore sucking harder. Less flow in from the other end is making the can colapse which tells me its sucking from the can some since it can't get enough airflow in to keep up properly. 

Just a thought. You did empty the can right.


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

when you say, 50% less, is it not collecting as much of the dust at the source, or is the dust still being sucked up at the source, but no longer settling in the seperator?

the seperator works by the swirling motion of the air inside the top, causing the heavier particles (the saw dust) to gravitate to the outside edge, like a centrifuge. the change in how much dust seperates out indicates that the air flow inside the seperator is probably not swirling as much as before. so the key is to figure out what changed that behavior.

as richard pointed out, either better suction or loss of air flow on the other side (or both) would explain it.


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## Bob Willing (Jul 4, 2008)

First if you have as good a vacuum as you point out why the bungee cords on the lid?

If you are sucking in the garbage can than you have an obstruction in your line. Remove the lid on the separator and check to see if you have some sort of large object on the internal 90 degree suction side.

One more thing why all the tape and the added joints on the DC side? I would move the DC over to the right and just put a coupling on the hose.

What type of debris were you vacuuming. If you have any screws holding joints together and they protrude into the line debris will get caught and plug the line.


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