Whole-shop Air Filtration Units Bad?

[Frederick Skelly]

Twelve. Year. Old. Thread.

Yup. I think this is the oldest necro-thread that I've seen.

[Rick Alexander]

Twelve. Year. Old. Thread.

Still relevant however. Just bought a Powermatic ambient air filter. I got fed up with seeing old sawdust collect on top of my dust collection pipes so I got a wild hair one day and took a bucket and soap to wash it off. Boy was I surprised to see that mold had formed on the sawdust over time. After cleaning the pipes I could actually tell a difference in my sinus irritation from working in the shop for longer periods of time. That settled it for me finally - after 12 years believing those overhead filters were useless I'm convinced preventing that buildup around my shop has benefits and if that filter system helps with that then it's worth it. I've got a cyclone, use about as good a setup to catch dust at the source, and collect all my sanding dust with a Festool setup but I still get dust in the shop. Maybe it's not perfect but I have no doubt it will help.

[Steve Speiser]

70.Year.Old.Reader. Great Thread!

[Roger Marty]

A Dylos Air Quality meter indicated to me that even my cheap $120 Wen air filter helps

[Jerry Olexa]

My Jet air cleaner is effective for the ambient air that remains "floating" around as you are closing down shop for the day..I turn the timer on for 2-4 hours..When I come back the next morning, the air/dust is noticeably improved..Just my opinion

[Patrick McCarthy]

Yes, an old thread BUT look at all the names of posters no longer here. Jim B and Lee S are moderators, but most of the others I hardly recall . . . and pretty sure in 12 years you won't remember me . . . maybe sooner.

[Mike Heidrick]

Most of the proponents for no flters in the thread have left us in the last 12 years.

Pretty cool idea though, blast gate off a second set of ductwok and put filter boxes at some y or tees. Wonder how fast I could filter my shed?

[Timothy Shouldice]

A Dylos Air Quality meter indicated to me that even my cheap $120 Wen air filter helps

Exactly the same with me - even having a Wen air filter. The Dylos takes the FUD out of the equation. Turning on the air filter lowers the ambient small and large particle counts. Simple.

[Randy Heinemann]

Exactly the same with me - even having a Wen air filter. The Dylos takes the FUD out of the equation. Turning on the air filter lowers the ambient small and large particle counts. Simple.

Very often I leave my cyclone dust collector on for awhile (sometimes 15 minutes or so) to ensure I have cleared all the dust out of the air. Since the dust collector itself moves close to a 1000 com and is equipped with a HEPA filter, there really isn't any dust to speak of left in the air at that point. I do also have a ceiling mounted air filter which I turn on when I start working in the shop and leave it running via a timer after I'm done for at least another half hour.

[Scott Buehler]

Yes, old thread but interesting points on both sides, I'm planning on hanging an air filter along with my regular dust collection. Are the filters used in today's units, better that the units12 years ago?

[Timothy Shouldice]

Very often I leave my cyclone dust collector on for awhile (sometimes 15 minutes or so) to ensure I have cleared all the dust out of the air. Since the dust collector itself moves close to a 1000 com and is equipped with a HEPA filter, there really isn't any dust to speak of left in the air at that point. I do also have a ceiling mounted air filter which I turn on when I start working in the shop and leave it running via a timer after I'm done for at least another half hour.

Very much what I do as well, if the Dylos is showing some operation put a lot of dust in the air, I'll run my main DC with an open gate. It really clears up the air. Basically I measure the dust levels and adjust as necessary - use a respirator, run the DC with an open gate, run the overhead air filter. Of course it all starts with a good DC system preventing as much airborne dust as possible. The rest is just measuring and managing the dust that still gets away.

[Ted Reischl]

Ever occur to anyone that Robert Witter's job is to SELL dust collectors? Of course he is going to write an article about how shop air filters do not work. He doesn't sell them. He wants to sell more and bigger dust collection systems.

Got news for Mr. Witter, shop air filters do remove dust, simple as that. But Ol' Bobby is what we used to call a "spinmeister".

[Randy Heinemann]

Yes, old thread but interesting points on both sides, I'm planning on hanging an air filter along with my regular dust collection. Are the filters used in today's units, better that the units12 years ago?

With those types of air filters, I think the answer is no. The filters are, I think, identical to those sold even 15 years ago. I own a JDS and they have been selling air filter units for at least that long (longer I think). Their standard filters are exactly the same as they were back then. They do sell a HEPA filter. However, they sell it as a one-time, non-reusable filter and it is around $200 (maybe more by now) for the one use till it fills up. I believe their filters meet exactly the same specs as all the other air filtration units on the market. That was true about a year ago when I last checked.