Venting DC outside and Walnut Dust

[Thomas Colson]

So I just straight-pipe my DC outside the shop. So far in 2020, I've planed so much lumber I've actually had to shovel a mountain of sawdust away from where it lands to make room for the second sawdust mountain (that now needs to be moved). Recently started milling some walnut up, can't tell if the sickly looking trees around the DC pipe are doing their normal fall thing, or the walnut dust is killing them. Is the walnut dust coming out of my DC going to kill the trees? Not piping out of shop is not an option. It's either pipe it out of the shop or no DC.

[Mark Bolton]

If its not an option who cares about the trees? It is what it is.. right?

[Mel Fulks]

Anything thing dense ,like saw dust or dirt that covers the flare at tree bottom will kill trees. If it's not covering the flare
it would probably be food for the trees.

[Mark Bolton]

Anything thing dense ,like saw dust or dirt that covers the flare at tree bottom will kill trees. If it's not covering the flare
it would probably be food for the trees.

If there is a "sawdust mountain" nothing will grow anywhere there for years whether its pine or .....

[Patrick Kane]

Dusty conditions can be a thriving condition for pests. Some small leaf-sucking aphid-like insects are more common on trees lining dirt roads etc.

I know some folks just discussed the hazards of walnut shavings in a recent sawdust thread, but the chemical in walnut that acts as a herbicide is not present in real quantities in dry hardwood.

[Andrew Hughes]

When my sawdust pile gets kinda big I start worrying about spontaneous combustion. The fire department warned me about my pile once. They caught me after a lot of facing and planing hickory. They were looking for a gas leak on my street.

[Jim Becker]

Walnut trees do chemically work to control competing vegetation, but whether or not copious amounts of dust and shavings will do the same may be a different story. But fresh sawdust/chops of any kind will affect nitrogen levels in the soil and that can affect plantings. If you vent outside into some form of bin or trailer, it would be easier to deal with and less impactful to surrounding vegetation. And yes, you do need to be careful about combustion from composting. I dump my cyclone's bin in an area of our property well away from our structures, both for looks and because of the natural composting process.

[Jim Dwight]

I discharge outside but it goes through a cyclone first. What comes out is not noticable. But I have to empty the 70 gallon box under the cyclone occasionally.

[Thomas Colson]

Good to know! I'm in a pretty humid/rainy area: the mountain I moved a few months ago, about 10 40 gallon trash cans worth, is already pretty much decomposed. I throw a few handfuls of fertilizer on the current mountain every few inches as to not rob the trees of nitro. I'm not worried about creating a barren landscape, I've always heard about walnut killing competing trees and curious if the dust will do that too.

[Bill Dufour]

climate? Eucalyptus will kill anything growing below it except for poison oak which thrives under the trees. Goats will eat posion oak as their favorite food. The baby goats love the taste in mom's milk. People not so much.
Bil lD

[Alan Lightstone]

climate? Eucalyptus will kill anything growing below it except for poison oak which thrives under the trees. Goats will eat posion oak as their favorite food. The baby goats love the taste in mom's milk. People not so much.
Bil lD

So, assuming your skull is a closed space, now that I've learned that fact about Eucalyptus and goats, some other fact just got pushed out. Like where my car keys are. :confused:

Ah trivia. Killer that it is.

[Bob Riefer]

And yes, you do need to be careful about combustion from composting. I dump my cyclone's bin in an area of our property well away from our structures, both for looks and because of the natural composting process.

Hmmmmmm.... I hadn't considered this (although, wood dust/shavings are not much different from mulch which you can visibly see heat rise from). Good call out. I've been wanting to switch to bagging/discarding (vs. dumping behind our fence) and this pushes me over the edge

[Matt Day]

So I just straight-pipe my DC outside the shop. So far in 2020, I've planed so much lumber I've actually had to shovel a mountain of sawdust away from where it lands to make room for the second sawdust mountain (that now needs to be moved). Recently started milling some walnut up, can't tell if the sickly looking trees around the DC pipe are doing their normal fall thing, or the walnut dust is killing them. Is the walnut dust coming out of my DC going to kill the trees? Not piping out of shop is not an option. It's either pipe it out of the shop or no DC.

Why can’t you at least exhaust the shavings into some kind of bin outside? Something you could drag and dump.