Yet another Cyclone DC question

[Mark Ebert]

As if we haven't had enough discussions about cyclones and dust collection, I have one to add.

I took delivery of an Oneida 3HP Dust Gorilla yesterday (insert small gloat here;) ), and I'm having a difficult time in deciding where to place the system. I have a free corner in the shop where I was originally going to put it, but its about 20-25 feet from the major dust generating tools and at the opposite end of the shop from a 220V power source. The good thing (maybe) is that its in the shop so any dust escaping will just remain in the shop.

However, in the room adjacent to my shop is the storage and furnace room, which is approximately 12' x 16'. I had this brilliant idea that I could mount the collector in this room, next to the shop wall (where the main tools are only 10-15 feet away), and run all the ducting through the wall into the shop. I would also add a return opening between the rooms to keep the pressure equal. The advantages to this as I see it is less noise and more expansion room in the shop, and I have easy access to the 220V source there.

Now for the 1 Million dollar question... would it be unwise to place the system in the same room as the furnace and water heater because of dust possibly getting pulled into the furnace (and then into the rest of the house)? The furnace and water heater are about 10-12' away from where I would locate the dust collector, so I'm not too worried about a flame source being too close to the collector. Since I haven't yet used this system, I have no experience how much dust will be extracted into this room from the filter element. Does anyone have any practical experience with this? Another possibility is to exhaust the filtered return into the shop through more ducting, but I'm thinking it would also negate the noise benefit of having the collector in a separate room and possibly cause more flow restrictions. I'm open to all comments on this...

-Mark

[Jim Becker]

If you are ducting your return back to the shop, it's less likely that you will have an issue, especially given the 12' separation. Sounds like a good solution to me. And you could always put up some simple walls around the cyclone to further isolate it if you would feel more comfortable.

[Cary Swoveland]

I don't think it should be a safety issue. I have my 2hp Oneida in a separate room and it leaks very little dust. No matter where you put it, there is also the possiblility of fire in the drum, if you somehow pick up an ignition source. You might want to consider using a steel, rather than fibre, drum.

Regarding the air return issue, depending on the weather, you could crack a window in both rooms and shut off the return to the shop, as long as the neighbors don't mind the noise.

Cary

[Paul Johnstone]

I think as long as the return air is filtered, it will be fine, not a safety issue at all.

[Dave Lewis]

Mark:

We moved in our hour Jan '05. I have a Penn State 2HP cyclone w/ ductwork to stationary machines, so very little dust. The cyclone is in the shop room (16 x 39). Our high efficiency (maybe too HE?) Buderus boiler (in a separate utility room - but not air tight) seemed to suck the dust in and that created problems - i.e. boiler shutting down.

After several calls, we had our fuel supplier provide ext. air suppy & install dedicated ductwork to the Buderus, we've had no problems.

In summary, I'd say it would be unwise.

[Jim O'Dell]

I'm with Jim B., you are going to have to have air to replenish what you are taking out of the shop, so just duct the filtered air back to the shop, and build a closet around the cyclone in the furnace/storage room and you will be fine. Best solution would be to pipe the exhaust back into the shop, then filter it. If you did that, you shouldn't even need to do the closet. Make sure your doors have the best seals you can use, just like you would do an exterior door with your shop being the exterior. Some dust is going to make it back in there no matter what you do. Just do you best to minimize it. Jim.

[Jim Bell]

I mounted my Clearvue Cyclone outside the shop and ducted the air back to the inside. I have no issues with dust as long as it gets into the cyclone in the first place. My shop is air conditioned so clean cool air is a must. I used 6'' ducting on the intake and 8'' on the return to shop and 1/2 micron final filters inside the shop. I also made a muffler so noise is not a problem.
Jim

[J.R. Rutter]

As metioned, you will be returing the filtered air to the shop, so that shouldn't be an issue for the furnace. The main source of dust in the utility room would be from emptying the barrel and filter.

Maybe you will be better than I was, but when I had a barrel-under-cyclone in my shop, I managed to back up the chips and dust into the cyclone and filter every other month. Granted, I was doing it for a living, but it does make a MESS when you have to clean it up.

A partition wall to enclose one or the other in the utility room would be a good idea. Just leave room to manuever...

[Eddie Darby]

Build a wall in the furnace room to separate the cyclone from the furnace, and then sleep well.