Festool Dust Extractor Question

[Izzy Charo]

I have one of the older PC shop vacs... it has a "HEPA" filter, but that quickly clogs and I lose suction. So, I'm frequently cleaning the filter...which is tedious and messy. I'm wondering the Festool Dust Extractors do a much better job in this regard...I was thinking about the CT26. Or, do you really need to put a cyclone of some sort on top to keep the filter from clogging...
Thanks!
Izzy

[Peter Kuhlman]

With the Festool you use bags as well as the filter system. The filters can last an extremely long time depending upon usage. My old CT33 from about 14 years ago still has the original filters as the bags are great at pre-filtering. Never ever use it without the bags though or you will be purchasing some replacement pricey filters. The bags are not cheap. If you do work that would use up a lot of bags then the Oneida Dust Deputy works incredibly well as a pre-cyclone. I keep checking my bag using the cyclone and it still works fine a couple years later. Just have to knock the dust loose inside somewhat.

[Dick Mahany]

The Festool CT 26 is an excellent dust extractor. It uses fleece bags to collect the dust and very little makes it to the HEPA. The downside is that the bags are on the expensive side. It really shouldn't be used without a bag for dry use. Some folks who generate a lot of chips and fine dust use the Oneida Ultimate Dust Deputy in front of the vac inlet which was specially designed by Oneida out of static conductive plastic to maintain the anti static properties of the CT26 and avoid zapping the electronics in the controller.

I have successfully reused bags by connecting my Ridgid shop vac with a standard dust deputy to the inlet of my CT 36 and reverse emptying the bag. May sound a little crazy but I get at least 3 or 4 uses out a standard bag this way.

[Derek Cohen]

I have the Festool CT26E. This is used with a Dust Commander, which is built of anti-static material (the locally available Dust Deputy is not). I also chose to use a long-life bag, which can be emptied when full. This combination is extremely effective. The last time I emptied some shavings from the bag was about a year ago. Everything appears to collect in the paint bin.

https://i.postimg.cc/TP8mgZzX/M1.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Derek Arita]

I have a Festool vac and love it, however I don't like throwing out the bags, so I purchased a Dust Deputy. I am really impressed with how well it works and how clean it keeps the Festool filter. I've been using the DD for about 3 months and after checking, have yet to see any noticeable dust in the bag. I've emptied the DD been several times.

[Dave Sabo]

I have one of the older PC shop vacs... it has a "HEPA" filter, but that quickly clogs and I lose suction. So, I'm frequently cleaning the filter...which is tedious and messy. I'm wondering the Festool Dust Extractors do a much better job in this regard...I was thinking about the CT26. Or, do you really need to put a cyclone of some sort on top to keep the filter from clogging...
Thanks!
Izzy

Nope !

They will do the same with regard to filter clogging.

The bags are part of the filtration system. Don't use the bags and the filter is going to pull double duty - and clog. Fast.

With these expensive vacs, you just have to get used to spending the money on the bags. It makes for a better experience too. Even if you get a cyclone, separator, ect...... you are still going to need the bags. There really isn't any way around it if you don't want to keep buying filters. You can only clean those so many times and even then you don't clean them well enough to not diminish performance.

Also, the economic of these separators is a pretty high hurdle to justify. Their cost, will buy a lot of vac bags before a return is seen. And even then most of those require some sort of collection bag that you'll end up buying.

[Dan Friedrichs]

Also, the economic of these separators is a pretty high hurdle to justify. Their cost, will buy a lot of vac bags before a return is seen. And even then most of those require some sort of collection bag that you'll end up buying.

Exactly. The off-brand bags for the CT26 (which appear indistinguishable from the Festool brand ones) are $3.60/ea on Amazon. Add in the convenience of the sliding closure that allows you to neatly toss the whole thing with zero mess, and considering what a kludge the cyclone-on-a-vac looks like, I can't see why anyone would bother, unless you were doing drywall dust or something all day long...

[johnny means]

Cyclones become a bargain real quick when you start using your vac for all the rest your toys. A power plane will fill a bag in minutes.

[Derek Arita]

Now that I have the DD, no bag. Just dump the pale out. I use it with my blast cabinet as well and it works like a charm, keeping the bag clean. Thought it might be a drag having to deal with the added cyclone and pale, but really, no problem at all.

[Gilbert Vega]

The off-brand bags for the CT26 (which appear indistinguishable from the Festool brand ones) are $3.60/ea on Amazon.

Do you have a link on bags?

[Mark Gibney]

$3.60 per bag is cheap compared with the Festool original.
One weekend my Festool vac was full. I was due at a client's place. There was nowhere to buy new bags. The only solution was to empty the bag thru the "intake port". Poked at the dust with a stick for five minutes over a dumpster. At least I could get to work that day, once I'd cleaned myself down.

[Mark Carlson]

I have an older CT22 festool vac. I do pre-separate with a cv06 but I ran it with bags for years. The bags are great and lasted a really long time before filling in my hobby shop. The filters stayed clean. Now I have a bag installed that never fills because almost nothing gets passed the cv06.

420867

[Randy Heinemann]

For me, the Festool efficiency of dust collection has always been worth the cost of the bags. You can use the long-life bag, but it is expensive. The main problem I have with the long-life bag is that it seems to defeat the efficient dust collection Festool vacs are great at by putting dust back into the air while your emptying the bag. Unless you're using the vac for collection of chips from a jointer, planer, tablesaw or band saw, the bags don't fill up that quick (but then I don't use the vac everyday on my job). I tried a Dust Deputy for awhile but it just got in the way. It seems to me that, unless the Dust Deputy (or whatever add-on cyclone you use) is connected to a very large container (like the size of a regular dust collector) emptying that container will be a frequent effort.

I would like to look at the third party bags and see what kind of feedback overall they have. The Festool bags are extremely high quality and work well. I saw no after market bags for the CT48 on Amazon.

[Dan Friedrichs]

These are the ones I've been using:
https://www.amazon.com/POWERTEC-75037-Self-Cleaning-Filter-Festool/dp/B01MZBWDEA/

As far as I can tell, they work as well as the Festools.

[Randy Heinemann]

They don't seem to be listed for the CT48 so I'm guessing they only make them for the more commonly purchased CT's and there isn't as much volume being sold for that CT. I'll keep looking, though, because that would be a good price.

[Dan Friedrichs]

Randy, would they fit but just not fill the entire space?

[Jon Grider]

They don't seem to be listed for the CT48 so I'm guessing they only make them for the more commonly purchased CT's and there isn't as much volume being sold for that CT. I'll keep looking, though, because that would be a good price.
I see a box down the page to click for the CT48 on Dan's link. More expensive naturally, $49.99

[Ross Manning]

$3.60 per bag is cheap compared with the Festool original.
One weekend my Festool vac was full. I was due at a client's place. There was nowhere to buy new bags. The only solution was to empty the bag thru the "intake port". Poked at the dust with a stick for five minutes over a dumpster...
In fact there is another - and easier - solution.
You can open the rear of the bag along the glued seam. Easy to empty and easy to re-seal. I get at least three uses out of a bag, and no perceptible drop in performance.

[Matt Day]

Anybody have experience with the Flex HEPA vacs? They are on sale for the holidays and are much cheaper than FT.

[Dave Sabo]

Anybody have experience with the Flex HEPA vacs? They are on sale for the holidays and are much cheaper than FT.

Not directly but, it's a nilfisk made tool so it'll be just fine. The guys I know that picked them up for $180 are absolutely chuffed with them on first examination. For that price, how can you go wrong ?

Even for half the price of a Festool CT , they are still a good value.

[Bob Grier]

Can't you buy bags for the PC Vac? I think I had a PC Vac in the past and used bags. The filter stays in place and bag spreads out around the filter. I think I even bought some HEPA bags for it. In the old old days I just used the filter and that was a hassle to clean. Eventually I discovered I could use bags. What a difference.

[John Lanciani]

Can't you buy bags for the PC Vac? I think I had a PC Vac in the past and used bags. The filter stays in place and bag spreads out around the filter. I think I even bought some HEPA bags for it. In the old old days I just used the filter and that was a hassle to clean. Eventually I discovered I could use bags. What a difference.


Yes you can;

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004Y76O/ref=psdc_8106805011_t2_B01N4EL0UM for model 7812


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000224OQ/ref=psdc_8106805011_t3_B00004Y76O for model 7810

[Izzy Charo]

So, it's embarrassing to admit, but I've been using the PC shopvac for years without bags because I actually didn't know they were available, and put up with periodically cleaning out the filter..but having read the earlier posts about the Festool bags I wondered if there were some for the PC, and have ordered them...I'll see how the PC performs with the bags in place...I suspect its still far fewer CFMs than the Festool, but may be adequate. Thanks for all the comments!!
Izzy

[Allan Speers]

In fact there is another - and easier - solution.
You can open the rear of the bag along the glued seam. Easy to empty and easy to re-seal. I get at least three uses out of a bag, and no perceptible drop in performance.


I've done that several times. - After vacuming up something I needed by mistake. (Admit it, you've done it too!)

But man, is that messy. Normally I'd rather just change the bag.
I'm SO glad I saw this thread. I just ordered a bunch of those Powertec bags off Ebay. What a great price.

[John Lanciani]

So, it's embarrassing to admit, but I've been using the PC shopvac for years without bags because I actually didn't know they were available, and put up with periodically cleaning out the filter..but having read the earlier posts about the Festool bags I wondered if there were some for the PC, and have ordered them...I'll see how the PC performs with the bags in place...I suspect its still far fewer CFMs than the Festool, but may be adequate. Thanks for all the comments!!
Izzy

If you’ve been using it without bags, do yourself a favor and replace filter as well so you’re starting fresh. I have both a 20+ year old PC 7810 and a 5 yr old Fein turbo 2 and they are roughly equivalent in suction when they both have fresh bags and filters.