Rob Keeble
Member
- Messages
- 12,633
- Location
- GTA Ontario Canada
So my saga with my shop continues. I need to retain a little of my sanity so I thought a bit of discussion here would help. Not looking for sympathy just want my sanity back so your opinion or experiences count. This is one crazy world when you try to do the right thing and come unstuck.
Background.
I have a dust collector 3HP which i bought and have not as yet hooked up. Luckily or i might not be a hobby woodworker it seems.
It appears the local code is structured such that should you have a dust collector in excess of 1000cfm then it falls foul of all sorts of additional code requirements if it is stored indoors and not in a separate building to the working environment. Regardless of whether it was designed for this purpose. Putting it outside falls foul of the ministry of environment and so we aint going there.
So here are my questions/thoughts/understandings after all that i have read before buying this unit. I don't want to get into which unit it is cause that just brings the whole debate about which one is better etc.
I am more interested in discussing here the understandings you have, yeah i know Bill Pentz site and have read that and others but there are times when info overload takes place and my pea brain is getting somewhat shriveled lately besides i value the opinions of the down to earth common sense practical and honest people here.
Ok so my primary outlook for buying a dust collector was not to avoid picking up chips or sweeping the shop but to operate in as clean air as possible an environment.
My understanding was that after hook up to several machines etc one would have a increased static pressure caused by pipe bends and reduction etc and therefore the effective volume of air being moved measures in cubic feet per minute or CFM would be substantially reduced. Thus if one starts with a unit that has a CFM of say 1700 at 2 inches of static pressure you might end up
no more than 400 cfm if one inserts piping and bends to the point where you have 12 inches of static pressure. 400cfm being the minimum required for effective dust collection from our worst case hobby machine.
Furthermore i came to understand that if we were not able to move sufficient volume of air there was the chance of dust being left in the ducts thereby clogging the ducts and causing possible hazard.
The above would surely drive you to buy the largest you were prepared to buy based on your machines and need. Hey i also hoped or dreamed that maybe just maybe one day in the distant future one of my sons would venture to dabble in the shop with their old man. Unlikely but dreamed and if so wanted the dust collection unit not to struggle when two blast gates were open simultaneously.
In addition with the emphasis being on safety and air quality we have all become acutely aware that the filter is critical if the system is not vented outside. We also know that filter area needs to be matched to the volume of air being moved or we will merely move the blocking from the ducts to the filter and find ourselves cleaning out the filter more frequently and in effect it would be ineffective or inefficient. Added to that we understand that the tighter the filter is in terms of filtering particles the more surface area there is going to be to allow the same air volume movement
We also have within our code the ruling that dust collector systems shall be design to have a minimum velocity of 3503 feet per second in the ducts.
So if one examines the small units under 1000 cfm which can be placed in doors then you are not meeting the minimum velocity in the duct. This seems set up to prevent a guy like me from having a dust collector period.
Now if i dispose of my unit and have no dust collector and kill myself through excess dust exposure i am still foul of the law for having dust in the air which could potentially cause a dust explosion. Again working to do away with me having a shop.
So i would like to ask
Whats your take and understanding of the points i have raised.
Am i out to lunch/incorrect with any thing i have stated and if so please set me straight.
Do you have a dust collector? If so what HP just want to get a feel for who has and what size you guys have even if you built it yourself.
Have you had it inspected by your local fire marshal/ discuss it with him or read your local code? What was your experience getting this approved. You can pm me if you dont want to be public.
Whats your take on the understanding of what we need to have a healthy environment and explosion free as far as dust collection is concerned.
Hey i have an air scrubber as well.
Anyone by chance installed explosion preventing vent to the outside and care to share with me what they did to achieve this?
Thanks in advance for any replies my main aim is to hear your view and approach to this topic.
Background.
I have a dust collector 3HP which i bought and have not as yet hooked up. Luckily or i might not be a hobby woodworker it seems.
It appears the local code is structured such that should you have a dust collector in excess of 1000cfm then it falls foul of all sorts of additional code requirements if it is stored indoors and not in a separate building to the working environment. Regardless of whether it was designed for this purpose. Putting it outside falls foul of the ministry of environment and so we aint going there.
So here are my questions/thoughts/understandings after all that i have read before buying this unit. I don't want to get into which unit it is cause that just brings the whole debate about which one is better etc.
I am more interested in discussing here the understandings you have, yeah i know Bill Pentz site and have read that and others but there are times when info overload takes place and my pea brain is getting somewhat shriveled lately besides i value the opinions of the down to earth common sense practical and honest people here.
Ok so my primary outlook for buying a dust collector was not to avoid picking up chips or sweeping the shop but to operate in as clean air as possible an environment.
My understanding was that after hook up to several machines etc one would have a increased static pressure caused by pipe bends and reduction etc and therefore the effective volume of air being moved measures in cubic feet per minute or CFM would be substantially reduced. Thus if one starts with a unit that has a CFM of say 1700 at 2 inches of static pressure you might end up
no more than 400 cfm if one inserts piping and bends to the point where you have 12 inches of static pressure. 400cfm being the minimum required for effective dust collection from our worst case hobby machine.
Furthermore i came to understand that if we were not able to move sufficient volume of air there was the chance of dust being left in the ducts thereby clogging the ducts and causing possible hazard.
The above would surely drive you to buy the largest you were prepared to buy based on your machines and need. Hey i also hoped or dreamed that maybe just maybe one day in the distant future one of my sons would venture to dabble in the shop with their old man. Unlikely but dreamed and if so wanted the dust collection unit not to struggle when two blast gates were open simultaneously.
In addition with the emphasis being on safety and air quality we have all become acutely aware that the filter is critical if the system is not vented outside. We also know that filter area needs to be matched to the volume of air being moved or we will merely move the blocking from the ducts to the filter and find ourselves cleaning out the filter more frequently and in effect it would be ineffective or inefficient. Added to that we understand that the tighter the filter is in terms of filtering particles the more surface area there is going to be to allow the same air volume movement
We also have within our code the ruling that dust collector systems shall be design to have a minimum velocity of 3503 feet per second in the ducts.
So if one examines the small units under 1000 cfm which can be placed in doors then you are not meeting the minimum velocity in the duct. This seems set up to prevent a guy like me from having a dust collector period.
Now if i dispose of my unit and have no dust collector and kill myself through excess dust exposure i am still foul of the law for having dust in the air which could potentially cause a dust explosion. Again working to do away with me having a shop.
So i would like to ask
Whats your take and understanding of the points i have raised.
Am i out to lunch/incorrect with any thing i have stated and if so please set me straight.
Do you have a dust collector? If so what HP just want to get a feel for who has and what size you guys have even if you built it yourself.
Have you had it inspected by your local fire marshal/ discuss it with him or read your local code? What was your experience getting this approved. You can pm me if you dont want to be public.
Whats your take on the understanding of what we need to have a healthy environment and explosion free as far as dust collection is concerned.
Hey i have an air scrubber as well.
Anyone by chance installed explosion preventing vent to the outside and care to share with me what they did to achieve this?
Thanks in advance for any replies my main aim is to hear your view and approach to this topic.
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