Air Filtration Placement

[Darren Vass]

I am trying to install a JET AFS 1000B to the ceiling of my basement shop. Has anyone tried doing this alone? I got it close to the ceiling on a couple of tables and tride using pulleys, but could not do it. It is too big and heavy. I ordered a manual hoist/winch to help me.

How well does your air filter unit work? Is placement critical? My dust collection book recommends 1/3 distance against longest wall with airflow from the 1/3 gap. I would really appreciate any advice on more optimum placement before I hang up this heavy thing. My ceiling height is typical 8' basement height. The room is 25 by 14. DC and HVAC units are opposite each other on on short end of the room. There is cold air intake at the base of the HVAC facing opposite long wall near the floor and a hot air vent on HVAC blowing across length of room against long wall.

Thanks much.

[Chris Barton]

Hi Darren,

I have the very same air filter unit and I mounted on my ceiling by my self but, not without great difficulty. Mine is suspended about 1' from the ceiling using 1" steel chain and large steel screew hooks. If you have a neighbor that could help it would save you the cost of the hoist...

PS: mine works well but, it is best in conjunction with good DC system

[Bob Rufener]

Darren,

I think if you follow the manufacturer's recommendation about placement that should work out well. What you do need that is critical is to get some help hanging the unit. Attempting something like this alone is an open invitation for an accident. A friend, neighbor, or relative would probably be more than happy to give you a hand.

[Darren Vass]

Chris,

How about placement in the room? In the middle, or.......

[Jim Becker]

Hanging one of these things by yourself isn't a good idea. Placement is a matter of air flow...put it were it will cycle the air most efficiently and also not get in the way of your hear. Mine is along a wall, but because of the way/reason I use it, the inlet is interestingly enough pointed in the opposite direction from my power tools...I use mine primarily to clear the air when spraying water borne finishes. There is quite a bit of "dry" suspended overspray generated even with HVLP. I don't run it otherwise...collection at the source is more efficient.

[Mark Patoka]

Darren,
I just picked up that same unit on Sunday and was having the same questions. I have a 20'x20' two-car garage with 10' ceilings. My son and I were able to muscle it up as I mounted it up to the ceiling just using S-hooks and eye-bolts. Definitely not a one person job but we succeeded without dropping it and the eye-bolts all lined up the first time :) .

I mounted mine between the garage doors not quite in the center of the garage and it blows towards the side wall. On high speed you can really feel the air circulation. I'll probably lower the unit by a foot or so as I think 10' is too high to be most effective.

[Chris Barton]

Chris,

How about placement in the room? In the middle, or.......

Mine is centered in the room with the exhaust (filtered air discharge) facing the entry way of my shop in a lame effort to establish some "negative pressure" and hopefully haveing the filtering elements always taking in the dirtiest air.

[Matt Meiser]

In my old shop with a slightly less than 8' ceiling I hung it myself. I balanced it on top of my drill press then hooked up the chains. There was no way I was going to try that in my current shop with 12' ceilings and I had 2 helpers.

[Maurice Ungaro]

I am trying to install a JET AFS 1000B to the ceiling of my basement shop. Has anyone tried doing this alone?

:) HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
In a word, YES. Would I do it again? NO.

[Howard Acheson]

The two most important criteria for an air cleaner are the CFM and the filters. You want a CFM factor that will clean the size of your shop and a filter that removes the particle size that you are concerned about.

To determine the size or required air flow, use this formula: Volume of your shop (Length x width x Height) times Number of air changes per hour (typically 6 - 8) divided by 60. This will give you an answer in Cubic Feet per Minute which is how air cleaners are measured. MOST AIR CLEANER MANUFACTURERS RATE THE CFM OF THE FAN ONLY, but there are losses due to the filters. If you are building your own or if the air cleaner you are purchasing rates only the fan, figure you will lose about 25 - 40% for filtering losses.

As important as the air cleaner size is how and where you mount it. Try to mount at about 8-10 feet above the floor (no lower than 6'or 2/3 of the floor to ceiling distance if less than 8' ceiling). Mount along the longest wall so the intake is approximately 1/3 the distance from the shorter wall. Mount no further than 4-6 inches from the wall.

The exhaust is the largest determiner of the circulation pattern. You are trying to encourage circulation parallel to the floor/ceiling so ceiling mounting is not recommended. Use a smoke stick (or a cigar) to observe and maximize circulation. Use a secondary fan to direct air to the intake if necessary. Also, consider that a standard 24" floor fan moves a lot of air and, in some shops, just positioning it in a doorway with a window or other door open can accomplish as much or more than an air cleaner. It's all in the circulation patterns.

The exhaust is the clean air so that is where you want to position yourself. Do not place the air cleaner over the a dust producer. That will guarantee that the operator will be in direct line between the dust producer and the air cleaner. The operator wants to be in the clean air stream. If the dust has to pass your nose to get to the air cleaner, you get no benefits. If you have an odd shaped shop, two smaller units may be better than one large one.

DO NOT RELY ON A AIR CLEANER TO ACT AS A DUST COLLECTOR. The purpose of and air cleaner is to keep airborne dust in suspension and reduce airborne dust as quickly as possible AFTER THE DUST PRODUCER HAS BEEN TURNED OFF.

Finally, if you are looking for health benefits, you will not find any air cleaner manufacturer that makes health claims because there are few health benefits. CATCHING DUST AT IT'S SOURCE IS THE BEST LONG TERM GOAL.

[Wes Bischel]

Darren,
Safety first, get a strong back (weak mind?:D ) to help. Plus use a "deadman"
to carry the weight during the hook-up. ("deadman" = 2x4's screwed together to make a "T" - typically just a bit shorter than the installed height used to balance the weight of the item on it) I have installed a lot of items with this method. I guess as I get older I get smarter. (or lazy:rolleyes: )

Oh, on placement, I was told to put it where it would pull the air (dust) away from you, not past, or into you. Easier to do in a small workshop where there are only one or two workstations.

Wes

[Byron Trantham]

Darren,
I used hook screws and chain. I screwed the hooks into the joists over my TS. I bought four lengths of chain that would reach the filter (sitting on the TS). Then I went from corner to corner and "walked" the unit up the chain to the height I wanted. Then I sawed off the excess cain. Fairly safe:rolleyes:

[Chip Charnley]

I hung a Delta of similar size by myself with relative safety along with the ability to get it down as well. Here is how I did it.

I had the ability to get it up on a supported structure within 4' of the ceiling relatively easity. I put in heavy duty eyebolts in the ceiling along with heavy duty S hooks. I attached the chain from all S hooks to the air cleaner. I then lifted the air cleaner a couple chain links at a time at each S hook moving around it until I had it at the height I wanted. The excess chain is hanging from aux S hooks at the ceiling for use if I ever have to lower the thing for repair or replacement. Even with a second person I don't know how we would have gotten it up to the top of a 9' ceiling any other way.

[Tyler Howell]

Super Thong Strikes again.
I put up the bigger Jet unit 1200 by myself....... Not again:eek: .
Used a boom vang (4/1 pulley system) from my sail boat.
Used industrial bungies (to eliminate transfer of vibration to the house) with aviation safety cable. It is a very quiet unit as is.

[Michael Gabbay]

I mounted my 10000B by myself. I placed the eye hooks in the ceiling an then ran 4 ratchet straps to the unit and worked it up to about 10" from the hooks. Then I used 12" lengths of chain and replaced the straps with the chain and worked it up to the eye hooks by lifting a corner and moving the S hook to a higher link. It took about 20 minutes.

Mike

[Maurice Ungaro]

Super Thong Strikes again.
I put up the bigger Jet unit 1200 by myself....... Not again:eek: .
Used a boom vang (4/1 pulley system) from my sail boat.
Used industrial bungies (to eliminate transfer of vibration to the house) with aviation safety cable. It is a very quiet unit as is.


Pretty clever Tyler, but have you found a shop use for that whisker pole yet?

[Tyler Howell]

Pretty clever Tyler, but have you found a shop use for that whisker pole yet?
Maurice,
That's what I use to hold cables out of the way and dry my vast assortment of brightly colored thongs on.:rolleyes:

[Barry O'Mahony]

To determine the size or required air flow, use this formula: Volume of your shop (Length x width x Height) times Number of air changes per hour (typically 6 - 8) divided by 60. This will give you an answer in Cubic Feet per Minute which is how air cleaners are measured.One critical thing to remember is that this is a simplistic, first-order approximation. In other words, just because the cleaner gives 6 air changes per hour as a result of this calculation, that does not mean that it will clean the air in ten minutes.

The reason is that the output of the cleaner is continously blending with the air in the shop, so the air feeding into the cleaner does not consist only of not-yet-filtered air, but includes some air that's already been filtered. Once the dust gets into the air, it's there for a long time. The cleaner will asymtotically reduce the concentration as it continues to run, but it takes much longer than the stated air-changes-per-hour value to get it down to a neglible level. How long it takes would need a little bit a calculus, I guess, that I'm too lazy to do right now. ;)

SO, yes I heartily agree that the best strategy to try to catch it at the source before it gets into the air in the first place.

[Bruce Page]

I had my wife help with the installation - I wouldn’t want to do it alone. As far as placement, I was limited to where I could install it because of existing lighting, etc. I ended up installing it above the two center garage door runners and it works just fine there. I have the JDS 2000

[Jerry Olexa]

I have same unit. I needed a helper to hang. Too cumbersome and heavy for one man..You'll like it. Did u get a remote with it?

[Darren Vass]

This is a great place! I feel like I'm in church. Everyone is so connected in their love of woodwork!

I'm not smart enough to have thought of the chain thing, but what a great idea! Mucho gracias!

Come to think of it, chains, thongs, deadmen, boom vangs, and whisker poles???? I still feel like I'm in church, but maybe, my pastor might raise an eyebrow!

[Jay Knepper]

Howard and Barry's comments have brought out the geek in me. Assume that the air/particulates mixture in the shop is well mixed. With 100% collection efficiency and air changes every 10 minutes, 63% of the particulates are removed in 10 minutes and 95% will be gone in 30 minutes. But only the largest particles will be removed at 100% efficiency. Large particles that are not caught quickly will settle out in the shop.

For the smaller particles, a few microns, the filter efficiency will be lower. If efficiency is 50% it will take 20 minutes to remove 63% and an hour to remove 95% of the dust particles.