Found a new way to test DC system

Mark E Smith

Member
Messages
190
Location
Arkansas
If you ever want to check out your dust collector for leaks, I got the answer. Yesterday I emptied out my fire stove in the shop getting an early start on cold weather. Filled up half a small trash can with ash, so I said to myself why go all the way out to the dumpter to get rid of this stuff, bandsaw dust hose was right there, got the long ranger remote blastgates, so what the hell lets suck it up....OMG...that stuff was going everywhere, my shop turned into a dust cloud in just a few seconds. After it all cleared up some, looked at my HF DC and there was dust streams on the unit at every single bolt location, several places around the dust bag, seems my bag had quite a few pin holes in it around the band. leaks were around both ends of the hose from motor to bag aera, leaks at every joint of the dust line run, even the motor itself had leaks where it was put together...lol...very educational, spent the rest of day with silicone sealant getting everything air tight again, put on a new bag, this time with duct tape around the top so the band won't cut into it...jeez even the little clips for bag where they riveted on I had to seal up. So if any one is interested in finding leaks in your DC, sucking up some fireplace ash will do a great job of pointing them out to you, just put on a dust mask first...trust me, you'll need it...lol
 
Sounds like.... fun. At least you got the leaks :D

It might also be noted that all it takes is a very small spark in a vacuum cleaner (or presumably a DC) to make a while lot of fire in a short period of time. It's pushing 30 years now, but some memories kind of stick with you.
 
It takes a real man to share a story like that, Mark! Glad you're OK!!! :thumb:

Not to sure about that...after I shut everything down I ran out of the shop screaming like a little girl...of course I was screaming obscenities, but screaming never the less .. lol... didn't go back in for 20 or 30 minutes until all the dust cleared.
 
Here is the update on this...I siliconed every joint on my DC line run, siliconed from the inside, every bolt and even the rivets from the bag clips, basically anything that protruded into the the dust collector, siliconed around the hose on the DC to the bag area and around the motor area and the two halfs of the DC housing. I trashed the duct tape idea of the bag and instead got some rubber door trim (the kind with self stick tape one inch) and put around the DC so when the bags band clamp is put on it seals real well. Then I sucked up the rest of the ash from the can, worked much better, no leaks and no dust clouds. I highly recommend any one that has a DC system too suck up some ash... really it is super fine and WILL test your system
 
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