Air Cleaner choices.........vote!

[Brad Hammond]

hey all.
i'm searching and searching the threads about air cleaners and i'm leaning toward the jds. the main reason being the ease of cleaning of the filters.
i wanted to get a little more "voting" info.......... kind of a "if you had to buy it again" kinda thing.
thanx for the advice!
brad

[Tyler Howell]

It's all I know! works great

[JayStPeter]

I have the Jet 1000, but they're such simple devices I can't imagine there's a very big difference in capability between any of them. They're just a box with a fan and a filter.
Things I like:
- Variable time delay, so I can leave the shop and determine how long to leave it running based on how much dust is in the air. I also leave it running a long time when I have finish drying.
- The filter system. The pre-filter is cleanable. Although not designed to be cleaned, I also clean the main pocket filter.
Can't really come up with much I don't like. It would be nice if it was a little smaller I guess.
I feel the same way about these that I do about jointers. They're all pretty much the same, just get the one you get the best deal on.

Jay

[Bruce Page]

Brad, I bought the JDS a few years ago and have had no regrets….well one regret, the newer ones come with a remote. :(

[George Summers]

My vote has to be one that is not on the list. A home brew with a scrounged air handler blower. Less than 1/10 the price and has a 12 hour timer and works as well or better than the commercial jobbies.

George

[Martin Shupe]

I have a Jet, but it was a toss up. The Jet went on sale, so I bought it. I like the timer feature and remote control.

[John Haylow]

Hi Brad.

I have the JDS 750, and it works well. Its the older model without the remote. But I understand you can get the retrofit switch with the remote from JDS for around $60 US.

Regards,

John

[John Miliunas]

If I "had to buy it again", I'd do like George. Went to a surplus joint and for $12.00 bought a used HVAC squirrel cage/motor combo and built a box around it, complete with easy to change 3-stage filter system. I use cheap throw-aways for the primary (course) and grade up the next two, (fine and finer) which are both user-cleanable. Works great and I think I have all of $50.00 into it, including the washable fine filters. :cool:

[Stan Smith]

I have the Jet. Really like the timer and remote. MY shop is 480 sq. ft. and it works really great. One thing I do once in awhile is use the the air and blow everything off, then turn on the cleaner and set for 4 hours.

Stan

[Brad Hammond]

GOOD POINT STAN!!
i like that idea alot!!

[Tony Falotico]

My vote has to be one that is not on the list. A home brew with a scrounged air handler blower. Less than 1/10 the price and has a 12 hour timer and works as well or better than the commercial jobbies.

George

I'm with George, One homemade to mount in the ceiling, and one on wheels to place wherever I need it. Most AC guys have lots of 'em (air handler blowers) hanging around, I got one for free and paid $15 for the other. Plans are in Woodsmith, If interested I'll look up the volume number for ya.

[Scott Coffelt]

I have the Jet and it is very quiet. Jack Diemer has the Delta and it is much, much louder. No experience with the JDS unit.

[Dan Smith]

I have the JDS and it does everything I want it to. Pretty quite on low and medium speeds. Can't comment on the others.

good luck,


dan

[Byron Trantham]

Brad, I bought the JDS a few years ago and have had no regrets….well one regret, the newer ones come with a remote. :(
Bruce, I went to HD and bought a $20 remote to operate mine. I glued an earth magnet on the back and it hangs on my saw.

[Dennis Peacock]

Brad..!!!!!

Build one buddy..!!!!! You local HVAC place will normally have an old squirrel cage fan and motor for about $20, build a box around it, install air filters and turn that baby on..!!! I have about $35 in mine and works GREAT!!!!

[Bart Leetch]

Non of the above for $50 or less make you own thats what I did. :D

[Jack Wood]

Recently had to replace my home ac and kept the blower unit from the old one. I built a box around it using leftover wood and put a 25x25 filtrete on the top with 3 cheap filters on top of that for prefilters. It is a 220v setup, so as I know enough about that to "call the man" it cost me 60 bucks to have him check out my setup and wire it to a 12/3 extention cord. So with filters it came to about $80. Also put it on wheels so I can move it around the place. I also have a baby one of these located high up in the opposite corner using a gable fan and a 20x16 filtrete and cheap prefilter and it works like a charm, you can pick up a fan for little or nothing at the home center. It was fun to build these and they work great!

[Todd Burch]

I have a JDS 750. When it was new, and I used it in my 2 car shop, it worked great. On high, it's a little louder than I would care for. Don't get the electrostatic filters - they're useless. Use good pleated filters.

My JDS is probably 5 or 6 years old, and it's time to replace the cloth bag filter, as it just doesn't perform like it used to. I've vacuumed it out and reverse blown it out several times, but I think it is just all clogged up.

I also have 2 squirrel cages in boxes hanging in the shop. For the big one, I mounted a lazy-susan ring on the top so as it hangs from the ceiling, I can swing it around the shop to direct the air. Neither of these cages have filter setups on them, as I use them more for cooling than filtering, but adding filters would not take too long.

When I really want to de-dust the shop, I turn on the 30" pedastal fan, both squirrel cages, the JDS, the dust collector w/ floor sweep, open all the doors and windows, get the leaf blower in one hand and the compressed air hose with blower in the other hand, don a mask and have at it. Takes about 5 minutes. Don't be downwind!!

[John Miliunas]

A 220VAC furnace blower?! :eek: Sheeeesh, Jack, what size mansion do you live in? :D From what I've seen, that's kind of unusual. Is your replacement furnace equiped with 220VAC, as well? Anyhow, you've got the idea! I run a homemade unit, as well as a full cyclone DC system in my shop, but I changed out the filters on the air cleaner this weekend. Man, it's amazing how much crap gets pulled out of the air just from incidental sawdust getting kicked up! :cool:

[R. Hock]

Tony,

I think that a specific reference to the Woodsmith plan would be of interest to me.

Randy

[Dave Anderson NH]

I have the Jet in my machine room and it seems to work fairly well. Having said that, folks shoud note that there is a difference in how the various companies rate the CFM and number of air changes per hour on their machines. Just as in dust collectors, there is a good bit of "specsmanship" and waffling in how things are done. Jet, Delta, and most of the other manufacturers test their units by measuring motor speed and airflow without the filters in place so there is no load on the units and the cfm number is not real world. To the best of my knowledge, only JDS tests with the filterrs in place so their number for cfm is a real one. What I would recommend is that if you buy any unit other than a JDS, you oversize the unit to compensate for the phony numbers. I'm not saying the other units are bad or don't work, my Jet does a good job, just take things into account.

[Howard Acheson]

When Wood Magazine test air cleaners last year, the only two that passed were the JDS and the Delta. The others had a serious issue with air bypassing the filter seals.

Might want to try your library to see if you can get the issue.

[nic obie]

I also vote: Build your own.

I got a furnace blower that came from a single wide mobile home for free from a Friend, built a simple plywood box to serve as a plenum and vented the exhaust to two 8" ducts in my shop roof. A inexpensive timer allows me to keep the blower on after I shutdown for the night. This works especially well when I've been doing finishing work.

BTW I live in CA so am not concerned with heat loss. I keep my DC outside too.

[Chris Padilla]

Hey, Nic, there are parts of California that get cold/chilly.....brrrrr.....:p

[nic obie]

Hey, Nic, there are parts of California that get cold/chilly.....brrrrr.....:p

I live by Santa Barbara ("Home of the newly wed or the nearly dead " ;) ) and it doesn't get too bad here.

Heck...I don't even have a heater in my shop. :) :) :)

[Jack Diemer]

I have the Delta with one of those electrostatic filters. As Scott Coffelt said, his Jet is much quieter than mine, but after doing research, and having some personal experience, I have decided that I don't want an Air Filter in my shop any more, and I would advise against others. Oneida has an article posted on there site explaining the dangers, but in a nut shell. The Air Cleaners do a great job of circulating air and getting 99.9% of particles LARGER than 5 microns. The problem is that the smallest and most dangerous particles blow through over and over again. Instead of catching the particles, the air cleaner keeps them airborne. The Delta Air Filter is very powerful, and kept about a 20 mph wind going in my shop while I had it on. Anyway, I finally decided that a 20 mph wind in the shop was not a good thing, so I took it down.

http://www.oneida-air.com/airfilterspop.htm

I vote NONE OF THE ABOVE.

[Chris Padilla]

Along the lines of what Jack posted, you'll find Bill Pentz (http://cnets.net/~eclectic/woodworking/cyclone/index.cfm) also espouses the same thing. Now I'm not sure if Jack convinced Bill or vice versa! :)

Get a quality DC system going and quality filter cartridges and you'll be much better off overall. It isn't easy, it isn't cheap, it isn't fun but for your lungs...well...you only get a pair to last your lifetime.

[Steven Wilson]

The "air cleaners" won't help you keep the air clean while you're working ! They are usefull when you run it overnight prior to finishing, they'll remove a fair bit of dust circulating in the air but they won't help your lungs. For that you need to collect the dust at source using a decent dust collector and wear a respirator.

[Jack Diemer]

Chris, Here is the skinny my opinion about this whole thing.

1. Bill site was the reason I bought the Air Cleaner in the 1st place (several years ago). I wanted to be as protected as possible.
2. I read about the Oneida's article on one of the forums and it got me questioning the Air Cleaner.
3. Personal experience got me thinking even harder. You know, that whole 20 mile an hour wind going on on in the shop thing.
4. I did send an email to Bill about the issue a while back, and he strongly agreed with the Oneida article, and that was all I needed to hear.

Now the only 20 mile an hour wind in my shop is from the suction of my cyclone through any open blast gate. :D :D :D

[Jim Becker]

I'm in complete agreement that the air cleaners serve little benefit with regard to health...if the fines are in the air, you're already breathing them before the air cleaner gets near them. Proper collection at the source (when possible) and wearing personal protection when appropriate is the only way to mitigate health risks from wood dust. That said, when I remember to turn mine on, it does help keep the shop cleaner and even picks a lot of the overspray out the air when I'm finishing. (I only spray water bourne products and don't have a dedicated "booth") It also helps push the cooler air from the side of the shop where the A/C is so I sweat a little less when playing at the lathe...:D

[Jack Wood]

I fully agree that air filters alone are not sufficient while working in your shop. I have a Harbor Freight 2 hp dust collecter with upgraded shaker felt bags and I always wear a DustFoe Mask. in addition if the tool I'm using has a smaller dust collecter port on it I also attach my shop vac to it with a hepa filter and the accesory bags for sheet rock work. As to the 220v fan from my old AC system I just thought they all were like that. I grew up breathing saw dust in my Grandfathers shop, never gave it a second thought until I got into WWing recently and started to find out what it can do to you. Maybe that's why when I visited Grandad I always wound up with a sinus headache!:rolleyes: I know that this is a hot topic and there are many different opinions and mines just one more, but the more filtering and DC you've got the better in my book:)

[Tom LaRussa]

hey all.
i'm searching and searching the threads about air cleaners and i'm leaning toward the jds. the main reason being the ease of cleaning of the filters.
i wanted to get a little more "voting" info.......... kind of a "if you had to buy it again" kinda thing.
thanx for the advice!
brad
This guy shows how to build one from scratch that will blow away anything you can buy pre-built. http://cnets.net/~eclectic/woodworking/cyclone/index.cfm

He also explains in detail why dust collection is SOOO much more than simply picking up the visible saw dust. :eek:

p.s. Home built will also be much more cheaper...

[Jerry Olexa]

Excellent site! Thanks for the tip! Maybe there's more there than I can handle.
Great Source Jerry
Great Source.

[Bob Hovde]

Another site to look at is: http://www.zianet.com/calexander/index.html
It's somewhat more commercial, but has some good information about dust and how to capture it.

Bob

[Boyd Gathwright]

Hi Brad,

I favor the JDS 750. Haven’t had any trouble with my units since they were installed. Below is a reference to the thread about the time of installation and comments.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=52085#post52085 (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=52085#post52085)
<O:p</O:p

Hope this helps.

Boyd :)






hey all.
i'm searching and searching the threads about air cleaners and i'm leaning toward the jds. the main reason being the ease of cleaning of the filters.
i wanted to get a little more "voting" info.......... kind of a "if you had to buy it again" kinda thing.
thanx for the advice!
brad