Cyclone Filter Location

[Michael N Taylor]

Is there a maximum distance the filter can be located from the cyclone? I was thinking of moving mine about 20', I have a 1.5 hp unit with 14.5" impeller.

[Alan Schaffter]

Something is not right. I have never seen a 1.5 hp DC with anything larger than a 12" impeller, many are 11" or even smaller. You typically need a 3 hp motor to effectively turn a 14" impeller! What kind of amps is that motor pulling? Is it a "Frankenblower"?

We need to know how much and what size duct you have on the inlet side and what kind of cyclone you have- an efficient one or a trashcan lid. Without a cyclone, most 1.5 hp single stage DC blowers barely pull enough to meet machine CFM minimums with almost no duct or flex on the inlet. So without even knowing your ducting, I would say adding an additional 20' on the outlet would add too much static pressure resistance. The end result is you will not be pulling minimum recommended CFM from your machines.

[Dan Hintz]

Please don't double post... it divides the answers into multiple threads.

[Michael N Taylor]

My mistake it is a 2 hp 220 v 14 amp motor and the impeller is 14.5 inches. it pulls 1383 cfm at 2.6 sp with the filter installed, I ran 6 " to each metal pipe to eachmachine and stepped down to 4" at any machine that needed the 4".. I isolated any branch runs by using 6" blast gates at any wye. It is a shop fox 1808 unit and it really does a great job with every machine even my 16-32 jet sander.

[Alan Schaffter]

I'll bet that motor is running at or near FLA and running hot as well!!! It takes a bit of oomph to spin a 14.5" impeller and move that amount of air. I think it is too big for a 2 hp motor. As a comparison, my 3 hp DC spins a 14" impeller and draws around 17 amps.

It is curious that they rate it at 1383 CFM at 2.6" with a 7" inlet and no ducting, then the manual gives you a max SP of 9" with 4" pipe- sounds like they are encouraging you to use 4" pipe- you can't move 1383 CFM through 4" pipe. The fan curve provided in the manual doesn't make sense either and doesn't match a reasonable fan curve- it leads you to believe that the CFM stabilzes as you increase SP- NOT possible! Fan curves start at one axis and end at the the other! (See Oneida's) At max SP, the CFM should be near zero. Do some research on Bill Pentz's website (read the duct section) and compute the SP resistance of your ductwork, then see what happens when you add 20 more feet. I can't find the impeller size but look at the similar Oneida 2 hp Dust Gorilla (http://store.oneida-air.com/2hpsuperdustgorilla-hepa.aspx) . By its specs, specifically lower amp rating, I bet it has a smaller impeller, maybe 12". But also look at the fan curve (http://www.oneida-air.com/gorilla_super_fan_curve.php). If you mentally modify it to fit your blower, see what happens when it is adjusted to to fit your 9" SP and max 2.6" at max CFM - your curve will be further down and to the left. I'll bet with any decent amount of ducting (the ducting in a typical shop has around 6" of SP) you'll be pulling less than 500 CFM. Now add to that 20' of additional ducting to your filter.

If you want to relocate the filter- use very large duct.

Why did you locate your gates by the wyes? (that is an error on Bill's site)

[David Wong]

There is a reference at Bill Pentz's cyclone site, under the noise control section, that talks about attaching to the outlet side a flexible insulated HVAC duct as an inexpensive muffler.