Air Filter Advice

Kevin Sadaj

Member
Messages
144
Location
Michigan
Dear Woodworkng friends, I'd like some advice on air filters.

I have a 260 sf basement shop. No outside windows. I'm looking at Grizzly air filters. One model has a max of 1044 cfm and another model has a max of 409 cfm.

Do you have experience with Grizzly products? If so, are they reliable? Also, I'm trying to figure out adequate cfm for my square footage. Thank you for your consideration.
 
Hi Kevin.
I have one of the Grizzly air scrubbers. Works well makes a noise though.
Here is the unit i have
http://www.grizzly.com/products/Hanging-Air-Filter-3-Speed/G0738

What i did was to make a plastic tray from a furnace replaceable filter tray. Took a bit of cutting and gluing. Then i coule buy the sheets of filter material sold by home depot and just open plastic tray and replace filter material.
Overall the unit was quite effective at cleaning the air.
I did find there were times the lights would activate the remote starter. Otherwise no issue.
At the end of the day its just a box with fan and filter one end.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk
 
Good for you in looking at creating a healthier work environment. So you've got somewhere between 1800 and 1600 cubic feet of volume to process. I like my air turned at least 6 times an hour for no reason I can recall (may have read something, somewhere, sometime). Anyway, if you subscribe to that math you want 300 - 450 CFM or thereabouts. That seems very doable BUT, let's talk about ambient cleaners in practice. They run longer than any other tool in your shop except maybe the radio ;-) So, noise levels during operation can be important, especially in a small contained underground space.

Just because someone doesn't publish their noise levels doesn't mean they're poor but, if they were good I guarantee they would brag about it. This is the new version of the JDS 750 that used to win all the bake-offs. I haven't seen a recent test but, I haven't been watching. I have a shop made unit that works great but, is noisy. The reason I bring this up is that the noise of operation tends to make one not run a machine as often as one might if it were quiet. This is my experience talking and may not apply to others. My point is that if it were an extra $100 for a quiet unit I can make that seem real practical and wish I would have. If you run the unit 3 hours a week for a year it is less than a dollar a day for that year to pay the difference.

I'm just sayin' . . . . :)
 
Last edited:
Grizzly use to have a calculator there on there web site so you can just enter your size of shop an it will tell you what size you are going to need, I think the 409 will be more than enough for your shop
 
That will save me $100 so I don't have to buy the bigger one.

That you all for the excellent, and very informative, replies. I aspire to be so giving of my time like you all do,so,often.
 
Square foot, is LxW, add the Height for cubic foot *then you have other factors for heating/a/c purposes, windows, loss, etc*. That said, does it hurt to look at larger, if you thinking of uping/building a new shop, in the near future? If that isn't an idea, then forget I said that, just covering another base.
 
I will add to Glenn's comments. The noise factor IS A REALLY BIG FACTOR. I run mine a lot less than I should because of the noise. I do have a much better than average dust collection system which I do use all of the time. If I pollute the air and I don't want to wear a dust mask I turn on the air filter and go in the house and jabber on Family Woodworking, eat lunch a little early, or just have a snack and read for an hour or, preferably, longer.

My main concern is, Will it pull enough air through 1 micron filters? The filters used in most of the air filters only filter down to 5 micron or 3 micron, letting all of the stuff that plugs up your lungs pass right on through and continue to pollute your shop air. If the manufacturer put 1 micron filters in their unit their statistics would suddenly look poor. That would make me lean towards a larger unit. Can you get the filters you want for the unit you want?

Summary: Quiet with adequate air exchange using 1 micron filters.

Because of a good dust collecting system, a breeze going through the shop most of the time, wearing a dust mask most of the time, I have not placed 1 micron filters in my air filters (Yes I feel guilty. I just give myself a "time out" and go in the house when I am not otherwise, adequately protected.)

Enjoy,
JimB

ps I do have some Grizly equipment. I have not had any problems.
 
Last edited:
I echo Glenns point about noise. There is room i. My view in the market for a effective air scrubber that is as quiet as some of the top rated bathroom type extraxtor fans so when its running you hardly know it. The noise of my Grizzly unit on high is not bearable for long. And i am not convinced that the filter type matches the airflow sufficient to do as desired.
The problem here in my view is the general attitude to buying dust collection equipment. It should be our most important high priority tool (yeah i say tool) in our shops. But we collectively try spend the least on it. Consider some spend more on a single handtool than on an airscrubber we can replace the handtool if it dont work, we cannot buy new lungs.

Yesterday i was out with a client looking at new premises. One place we visited i could not believe the air quality. It was a granite couter shop. I would not go through the factory. There was a single guy working in the place and you could barely make him out when at tge door. No dustmask of any kind in use. Business looked real slow as far as jigs versus work in progress. Trying to save on heat so no extraction. How long he plans on living i have no idea but i cannot see him lasting long. Just utterly amazed me.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk
 
One place we visited i could not believe the air quality. It was a granite counter shop. I would not go through the factory. There was a single guy working in the place and you could barely make him out when at the door. No dust mask of any kind in use.

<deep inhale> . . . <long exhale with sigh> Ahhh, granite dust. My favorite . . . Seriously, that guy is killing himself :eek:. To add to Rob's comments, I am looking for a replacement air scrubber for my shop made one. The shop made one moves the air and really catches the grime but, I can't take the noise.
 
As i compare the more expensive air filters to the Grizzly model G0738 that i am considering buying, i don't see much difference in terms of cfm, microns (the Grizzly filters down to 1 as do the other more expensive Jet does). In my research, it seems that Grizzly has improved its quality over the last many years and they have excellent customer service. I am lucky as my shop is so small and no real plans to expand. I actually really like my small shop.

Yes, our lungs are the most imporant tool. I would spend more money on a Jet if i thought the results would be better. i guess i could by a filter that goes down to .3 microns, but i think that would be overkill.
 
Some thoughts here. Moving air makes noise sans the generation of the movement. Stand in the wind outside and you will know what I mean. Wind through constrictions makes more noise. Stand in the wind in a treed area and you will know what I mean. Then stand in an open field with the same wind and you will know what I mean.

That said, it would seem to suggest two things. One, move large volumes of air through large spaces. Two, move it at lower velocities with the fan and motor remotely located.

Not likely an environment we can easily or economically duplicate in our shops.

This past week I was working on my house plans and got into air movement as I plan to build a passive energy house. Due to the footprint restrictions of the house on the lot, the basement will serve me as the shop but will be built as living space for resale value. Air exchange in a passive house is something on the order of 4-6 exchanges an hour. Of course that does not include filtering particulates out of the air. They exhaust along with the 'old' air.

So far the only solution I see is to wear personal protection devises. Not the most comfortable or convenient solution, but perhaps the most economical and effective.

I too have a ceiling air scrubber. I started with a homemade one and now have a JDS. The homemade one worked very well with a four speed furnace fan. I sold it when I moved ten years ago. Then a JDS fell into my lap an I can't say that it works any better or more quietly. It only has 2 speeds. I think I liked the 4 speed better because I could leave it at the lowest speed all the time without it being a nuisance. I turned it up when sanding or routing.

Just more fodder to consider.
 
Top