Open Country Dust Collector

[Rob Will]

If I live in open country and I want to blow sawdust outside into a covered gravity wagon........If I only occaisionally work in the shop.......
Can I get by with simply mounting the fan (8" inlet, 7.5 hp radial blade) outside with a pipe running into the wagon?
Will I be unhappy with this pulling heat out of the building?
(Moderate climate in KY)

Thanks for your ideas,
Rob

[Tom Pritchard]

Rob, I think you will notice the amount of heat that you will be pulling out of your shop. That sounds like a pretty serious fan motor that will really move some air. Usually the dust collector doesn't run for long periods of time, but there are times (like when you're planing a board or sanding) that it will run long enough to make a noticeable difference. By the way, where did you ever find a motor/blower combo like that? Just curious! Good luck Rob!

[Steve Stube]

Rob, if you run a big enough cyclone (like the extra 5' dia. one I have), you can position it over your trailer outside and recycle and filter the warm air back to your shop. Dump it from the bottom when the level reaches the top of the plexiglas inspection door on the side - or depending on how big your trailer is.

[Mac McAtee]

Just assume that the thing is pulling 600 cubic feet a minute. Calculate how many cubic feet the heated area of your workshop is. Divide that by 600 and you will have how many minutes it will take to change all of the air in your shop, that is how long it will take to blow all your heat into that wagon.

[tod evans]

rob, i`ve done that! my pump would unheat a 4k ft building in short order....02 tod

[Jim Hager]

If I live in open country and I want to blow sawdust outside into a covered gravity wagon........If I only occaisionally work in the shop.......
Can I get by with simply mounting the fan (8" inlet, 7.5 hp radial blade) outside with a pipe running into the wagon?
Will I be unhappy with this pulling heat out of the building?
(Moderate climate in KY)

Thanks for your ideas,
Rob

Rob, I do just about the same thing you ask about except I don't use a trailer to dump dust into. Mine goes on the ground and I pick it up and distribute it around the place here and there to help promote soil improvement. Bermuda grass just loves sawdust:D

I use a grizzly 3hp dust collector less the bags and have the unit up on a stand outside the shop in the weather. Been that way for quite some time now and I haven't had any problem with the unit. Of course my dc ducts are routed in the trusses and through the wall to the unit outside. I turn my dc on with a long ranger remote, the noise is not even noticeable with the blower outside and I don't notice any marked reduction of heat in the shop using plaque heaters on natural gas.

I did use a trailer in another shop setup I had one time. It was kept underneath a shed and was in the dry. I piped the dc pipe into the plywood box on the trailer and mounted the dc bags to the top of the trailer to keep the dust from escaping and to allow the dc to breath. It worked really well. I don't think you will like the gravity fed wagon if water is allowed to get into the dust. It will be difficult to get the wagon to flow right when you are unloading.

I'm in NE Arkansas in a similar climate to yours.

[Rob Will]

Rob, I think you will notice the amount of heat that you will be pulling out of your shop. That sounds like a pretty serious fan motor that will really move some air. Usually the dust collector doesn't run for long periods of time, but there are times (like when you're planing a board or sanding) that it will run long enough to make a noticeable difference. By the way, where did you ever find a motor/blower combo like that? Just curious! Good luck Rob!

The planer that I bought had a biiger than expected DC port - 8".
The 8" fan came from Grainger. I'm going to temporarily mount it to a bracket on top of the planer so we can try it out. New building is under construction.

Rob

[Steve Clardy]

Mines been outside since I set it up. 1995.
Never noticed a heat loss in my 40x64 main building.
Course I heat with wood, and have a huge wood stove.
I never relished the thought of having to dump bags or barrels every day.
I used to blow it into a pickup bed trailer.
But since upgrading to a 3500 cfm 4hp blower unit, I removed the trailer and let it blow on the ground.
With the new unit, the wood chips would bounce out of the trailer.

[Rob Will]

rob, i`ve done that! my pump would unheat a 4k ft building in short order....02 tod

Tod,
Since the planer turned out to be such an air hog (8") how about using the big outdoor fan for the planer only (for now). A little portable bag system could handle the smaller tools?
I was not bargaining for an 8" DC. Seems like overkill when running something like a bandsaw or a mitre saw.
At such time that I want to go to a common 8" main system I suppose I could reconfigure?
I wonder if a 6" duct can clear chips from a 24" planer(?)
Rob

[Bob Noles]

Rob,

Great thread and I will watch it closely as I would love to get the DC out of my shop for a number of reasons.

[tod evans]

Tod,
Since the planer turned out to be such an air hog (8") how about using the big outdoor fan for the planer only (for now). A little portable bag system could handle the smaller tools?
I was not bargaining for an 8" DC. Seems like overkill when running something like a bandsaw or a mitre saw.
At such time that I want to go to a common 8" main system I suppose I could reconfigure?
I wonder if a 6" duct can clear chips from a 24" planer(?)
Rob

rob, it`s a matter of both time and money...have you got the shop layed out in your head? if so is a central d/c system in the layout? if so your pump will most likely carry all your machines. so the question is do you want/need a seperate system? you have access to loaders so design a return air system that sits on top of a storage bin that can be emptied by a loader.no need to tie up a trailer when a simple plywood structure will suffice. mount a cyclone on top, it doesn`t have to seal all that well to return most of your conditioned air in the winter and in the summer let it blow outside to avoid wear on the filters....02 tod

[Guy Boulianne]

Just assume that the thing is pulling 600 cubic feet a minute. Calculate how many cubic feet the heated area of your workshop is. Divide that by 600 and you will have how many minutes it will take to change all of the air in your shop, that is how long it will take to blow all your heat into that wagon.

When comparing two cyclones, I realized that the Clear Vue pulling 1800 CFM (estimated with a static calculator and a fan curve, with my ducting design in hand) "could" move ALL of the air in my shop EVERY minute !!!! My shop is 11' x 19 " with a sloped ceiling going from 7' to 10'. Would have it be windy in there ??? I never considered to pull the air outside tough.....

I finally bougth the 2 H.P. Gorilla, it is still in the boxes but is the next shop project, in the next few days.

[Rob Will]

[quote=Jim Hager] I don't think you will like the gravity fed wagon if water is allowed to get into the dust. It will be difficult to get the wagon to flow right when you are unloading./quote]

Point well taken, scrap the gravity wagon idea. One of my redneck "specialties" is making trailers out of old pickup beds. We even go so far as to remove the brakes and the ring gear to reduce weight and drag. That will work much better for sawdust.

Rob

[Rob Will]

Sounds good, I'll probably use a trailer at first then add a bin w/ return air later. The duct layout would not have to change. Sounds like the DC is headed outside either way.

Thanks,
Rob

[Jim DeMarco]

Rob, I am making an assumtion you are in farm country. If so to combat maoisture making the gravity wagon a solid wet lump of 'dust'. Why not put the DC unit on top of a small gravity grain bin? The dust will be protected from the elements, and then simply slide the gravity wagon under an auger mounted at the bottom? Just a thought

[Rob Will]

Rob, I am making an assumtion you are in farm country. If so to combat maoisture making the gravity wagon a solid wet lump of 'dust'. Why not put the DC unit on top of a small gravity grain bin? The dust will be protected from the elements, and then simply slide the gravity wagon under an auger mounted at the bottom? Just a thought

Jim, You're right. I have some old feed tanks with a 60 degree bottom .....but I question whether or not sawdust will bridge over. (?) I suppose that a wagon would be parked under a small shed to remain dry.
Rob