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View Full Version : How best to clean felt dust collector bags?


Larry Edgerton
05-17-2013, 4:33 PM
I just picked up a commercial cyclone/baghouse and the bags were allowed to get wet, and being stored in plastic bags there is some mildew. These are very heavy felt, 18" cylinders about 10' long. New bags are not in the budget, so I would like to hear how best to clean them without causing damage.

Thanks, Larry
Jeff Duncan
05-17-2013, 5:34 PM
Normally I'd say just beat out the heavy dust and install them....good to go! But the mildew is problematic! I'd maybe give American Filter Fabric (I think that's the right name?), a call and ask them how to clean "their" felt bags;)

good luck,
JeffD
Erik Loza
05-17-2013, 6:05 PM
Could they be collapsed down and soaked in ammonia or a mild bleach solution? Not sure if they are rigid or not. Just a thought.

Erik Loza
Minimax USA
Perry Holbrook
05-17-2013, 6:06 PM
Normally I'd say just beat out the heavy dust and install them....good to go! But the mildew is problematic! I'd maybe give American Filter Fabric (I think that's the right name?), a call and ask them how to clean "their" felt bags;)

good luck,
JeffD

I think they told me one time to take them to a car wash. At least that is what I used on one of their bags a few years ago.

Perry
Larry Edgerton
05-17-2013, 6:43 PM
Good ideas. My wife suggested that I turn them inside out and use a carpet cleaner. I like the bleach idea to get rid of the mildew. The mildew would probably not be a problem, but I have to look at them every day, and yea, I'm like that.:)

Keep suggestions coming, and if there is any real reason not to do something, that too.

I wonder if I could sneak them into a laundromat and put them one at a time in those big washers. Which brings me to shrinkage? Wonder how much they shrink?

Thanks, Larry
Roy Harding
05-17-2013, 7:07 PM
... Which brings me to shrinkage? Wonder how much they shrink?

Thanks, Larry

I have a little one-lung dust collector left over from the old days before I had a purpose built shop - I still use it for a single machine. It has a felt bag (not as big as yours, of course) - which I occasionally throw into the washing machine (when my wife isn't looking). In over 15 years of doing this, I haven't noticed any shrinkage (I wash it in COLD water, mind you - and then I run the empty washer through another cycle to get rid of any tell-tale signs before my wife notices).

I'm not sayin' you'd get the same result - but such has been my experience.