Dust Collector in side room with furnace?

[Dan Case LR]

I've been thinking...which is dangerous. :eek: The thread about putting a DC near a gas water heater made me think harder, but I decided to start a new thread for this question.

I've got a Penn State DC-2 that I'm remodeling (converting to a canister filter and adding a Thein baffle). I have a small side room in my attached garage shop with an HVAC air handler/gas furnace, Gas water heater, and a few shelves (mostly useless cr*p I need to throw away). I've had a wild-hair thought about putting the DC in there (with an eye to a small cyclone some day).

I know the upside. What would be the downside/potential danger (if any)?

Thanks!

D.

[Todd Burch]

Methinks I would partition the side room to keep the DC (dust collector - dust leaker - dust spreader - dust accumulator) totally separate from the gas appliances and air circulation equipment. But that's just me. I'm a bit anal about things like the air I breath and fires. ;)

[Lee Schierer]

Other than potential dust accumulation, you would need to insure that there was not an air imbalance created when the dust collector is running. You must insure that adequate air is returned to the room where you are picking up the dust. If you pressurize the small room with the DC you could create too much air flow out of your water heater or furnace which would mess up the combustion mixture. It is never a good idea to have combustibles in a room with ignition sources.

[Jim Becker]

I do not believe it would be a good idea to co-locate a dust collection system with a gas furnace and gas water heater, even if they were totally sealed combustion which would be unusual. It would be safer to have a separate space for the DC that is vented back to the shop directly and with no air interaction with the furnace space.

[Randy Dutkiewicz]

+1 with Jim. Gotta ask yourself the question "Does this sound hinky?" If so, then it probably is.:)