I'm wondering what indicator you guys use to know how often to clean this canister filter. I just cleaned mine this weekend (with compressed air outside) and it made a world of difference in the suction on my 4" hose. Dust collector is the HF 2 hp with Thien baffle and pre-separator, and obviously a Wynn 35A canister on top.
I obviously waited too long to clean mine this last time; when face jointing 8" poplar this past weekend, the dust collector kept clogging at the baffle/pre-separator and backing up until I figured out that it was likely the canister so clogged that air flow was that restricted. Never had any issues with jointer chip collection before this. The canister appeared visually to be clogged to "critical mass" upon removal.
Am I correct in assuming that a certain amount of "loading" of the fine dust inside the filter is helpful for optimal micron filtration or is that not a concern with this particular filter? Maybe just a concern with the higher micron bags that leak more?
If it is a concern, at what point do you know that you've got too much fine dust built up inside the canister and are loosing air suction/volume more than you are filtering out the tiny particles?
Hope I'm making sense.