# Air Mover as Air Cleaner



## woodsaver (Feb 13, 2018)

I read about people making air cleaners out of box fans, furnace blower motors, etc. I have an air mover that I don't use. Does anyone have insight as to why I would NOT be able to use the air mover instead? Thanks for your thoughts!

Update: I have a Shop Vac AM1800a I am looking to use.


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## Brian T. (Dec 19, 2012)

I have no dust control system besides a ShopVac. I needed to rip a lot of dry birch with my cheap TS.
I taped a furnace filter to a 21" window fan which caught far more sawdust than I expected.
Not really very effective for the really fine dust but it had to do for such a rare occassion.

What I did see was that there was dust coming out of every nook and cranny of the saw.
Without a HUGE CFM system, maybe some bath towel cloth skirting, etc., to keep the crap going in one direction
would be better next time.


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## Catpower (Jan 11, 2016)

It should work just make sure the filters are air tight before the air goes through the blower, forward curves blower wheels will load up pretty fast if the air isn't clean


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## Jim Frye (Aug 24, 2016)

I have one built from a cast off air handler that is installed in the corner of the shop. I have a 4" thick pleated filter in front of the squirrel cage. I built an output plenum on the back that has two vents, one on the floor and one up at the ceiling. The floor outlet blows around the shop and the ceiling one blows diagonally across the shop. It blows 700/1,000 cfm and does a good job keeping things out of the air. I haven't gotten it completely operational in the new shop yet as I need to get a piece of 3" pipe to connect the upper outlet. The metal cabinet measures 19'x19"x19". I added the plywood plenum and the wooden base with casters. It is a two speed unit and runs on 220 volt service.


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## woodsaver (Feb 13, 2018)

This is a picture of the type I am hoping to use!


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## kklowell (Apr 4, 2016)

I'm sure there are better ideas, but if I had that and wanted to make an air cleaner with it, I think I'd build a plywood box with filters on the input side when the air mover was in the box and a slot for the output end to fit into. I'd put it in there and put a lid on so the only air it could draw would be through the filters.


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## Catpower (Jan 11, 2016)

Jim Frye said:


> I have one built from a cast off air handler that is installed in the corner of the shop. I have a 4" thick pleated filter in front of the squirrel cage. I built an output plenum on the back that has two vents, one on the floor and one up at the ceiling. The floor outlet blows around the shop and the ceiling one blows diagonally across the shop. It blows 700/1,000 cfm and does a good job keeping things out of the air. I haven't gotten it completely operational in the new shop yet as I need to get a piece of 3" pipe to connect the upper outlet. The metal cabinet measures 19'x19"x19". I added the plywood plenum and the wooden base with casters. It is a two speed unit and runs on 220 volt service.



Jim, you would get much better air flow if you went with an 8 or 10 inch upper pipe, with a 3 inch the most you are going to get out of it is about 50-60 CFM, a forward curve blower maxes out at about 1" WC, air movement is one of the most important things

I have a 5 ton split system in my shop so I just use the furnace fan to power my air cleaner, I really watch the filters during the summer, but got a little lax on it this winter, today i was in there and it was pretty slow warming up, I looked at the filter, damn there had to have been a pound of sanding/.saw dust in it, blew it out and back to normal


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## Jim Frye (Aug 24, 2016)

Catpower said:


> Jim, you would get much better air flow if you went with an 8 or 10 inch upper pipe, with a 3 inch the most you are going to get out of it is about 50-60 CFM, a forward curve blower maxes out at about 1" WC, air movement is one of the most important things


Probably correct, but when I built the plenum, I made the combined areas of both outlets 50% larger than the output opening in the back of the steel cabinet, so I thought I was good. Actually, the floor opening is just a bit larger than the original opening in the cabinet. No issues with cleansing the air in the old shop. I got the CFM ratings off of the label on the fan body. The unit was originally used to vent a dedicated smoking room where I used to work. It was mounted in the ceiling and vented to the outside. When the city banned all indoor smoking, the company took the unit out and returned the room to storage. I have no idea, why they took the unit out, it would have been cheaper to just leave in place and disconnect the power, but my gain anyway.


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