Suggestions for Central Vac for Shop

[William Hodge]

I have run central vac plastic pipe though the shop. The system collects dust from portable sanders, spray off the top of the blade at the rip saw, miter saw dust, and general shop vacuuming dust. The pipes lead to a 55 gallon drum cyclone, then a shop vac. I have tried shop vacs in series and tandem to increase static pressure, but I would like to do away with the filters.

I am looking for a better vacuum. No filter would be best, because the air goes into a sawdust trailer, out doors. Right now, I need to clean 1/2 cup of very fine dust out of the vac filter every day. So, a hepa filtered vac would just clean the air before it goes into a sawdust trailer. No filter means no filter to clean outdoors in the snow.

It seems like a vac has higher static pressure than a blower. I have other dust collectors on the same machines for the big stuff. The two inch line collecting at the source seems to work best.

I would appreciate any suggestions for a high static pressure vac with no filter.

Thank you
William Hodge

[Lisa Starr]

I can't suggest a particular vacuum, but I have worked with a business called Central Vacuum Stores in Florida twice now and they've been super helpful. It is a family owned business and carry several brands of vacuums.

[james manutes]

What is your budget for this ? A few details on the " drum cyclone " also .

[William Hodge]

The air stream is directed around inside the barrel, then out a tube in the center. The budget for a better vacuum is pretty open. I'm willing to pay for clean air.

IMG_3709.jpg

[Bruce Wrenn]

Mount a "Dust Deputy" on top of drum to extract most of the dust. My favorite shop vac is a Red and Black 16 gallon Sears from mid eighties. If there was a way to empty canister, it could unload a trailer load of small gravel in just a few minutes. But it is LOUD!

[William Hodge]

Mount a "Dust Deputy" on top of drum to extract most of the dust. My favorite shop vac is a Red and Black 16 gallon Sears from mid eighties. If there was a way to empty canister, it could unload a trailer load of small gravel in just a few minutes. But it is LOUD!

Thank you for the reply.

The barrel cyclone works very well to remove most of the dust. I clean out 1/2 a cup of very fine dust from the vac with an air hose. It's appropriate to notice which way the wind is blowing before doing this.

If I could find a high static pressure vacuum with no filter, I would not have to clean the 1/2 cup of fine dust out of the filter with an air hose.

[Jim Becker]

I really don't know much about "central vacs" like you are asking about, but I will suggest to you that one of your criteria is a unit that's amenable to "more dirty" environments. Do keep in mind that these systems are only suitable for "small port" tools, but I suspect that's your only intent here. Dust collection from larger tools requires air flow rather than high static pressure so that's a whole different setup and ballgame.

[David L Morse]

If I could find a high static pressure vacuum with no filter, I would not have to clean the 1/2 cup of fine dust out of the filter with an air hose.

Did you look at the shop Lisa recommended? They have a good selection of what I think you want.

[Charles Lent]

I repurposed a central vacuum for use in my small shop. It gets used to collect saw dust from all of the smaller dust producers in my shop, and sometimes to vacuum the floor, and even the cars and trucks (outside inlet port). It has a Dust Deputy on top of a 20 gallon metal repurposed grease barrel. The exhaust from the vacuum is to the outdoors. I installed my central vacuum about 5 years ago, and couldn't be happier with my setup. After about 6 months of use I can look in the debris container on the central vac and there is only a very thin layer of super fine saw dust sticking to the metal sides of the container and nothing at all in the container otherwise.
I have inlets in several places in my shop, one through the outside wall next to the passage door, and one in the shop attic. I've added hooks to the shop ceiling where needed, to allow me to route the 20' vac hose to my commonly used locations to keep it off the floor, and this has worked well for me. All of the piping has been installed in my shop walls and my central vac and 20 gallon barrel are located in the shop attic. I don't have the room for a big shop vacuum system with 6" pipe running around the shop, so this central vac system at least collects the dangerous fine dust. The table saw, planer, and jointer make bigger chips and sawdust, so it's collected either in the tool cabinet or in a small waste can. I always use my DeWalt 735 planer outside with the DeWalt dust collection option attached to a 55 gallon plastic barrel. It works great, as long as the draw string keeps the fabric cover attached to the barrel. If not, I get to clean chips out of my neighbor's pool.

Charley

[William Hodge]

Did you look at the shop Lisa recommended? They have a good selection of what I think you want.

The central vacs listed are great, but I am looking for one with no filter or cyclone. The 55 gallon drum cyclone fills up in a few weeks. I have a central vac like the ones listed in my house. I installed it, and it has two ports. The hose reaches the whole house. It's great. Given the satic pressure capabilities, a central vac might be the best choice. I am hoping for something I don't need to clean out.

In response to Jim Becker, you're right, this is just for spray off saw blades on the rip saw, miter saw, radial arm saw, and tenoner cut off saw; and sanders, routers, and shop clean up. I have two blowers, an 11 inch and a six inch, for the high volume air moving dust collection.

Charles Lent, it sounds like you have a pretty good set up for the fine dust. You might try a little dust collector in a shed, and run the hose inside. Probably if you have neighbors, little sheds might not be so popular. They butcher pigs in the yard here, so a sawdust trailer isn't that bad.

[roger wiegand]

With most vacuums (either of the shop vac or whole house variety) removing the filter is very easy, just a matter of removing one nut and sliding it off.

[Charles Lent]

So little dust, and no solids, make it past the Dust Deputy, so I removed the fabric filter from my central vac unit, and gained a bit of an increase in efficiency as a result. The exhaust from my central vac unit to the outdoors is pointed roughly North, and about 17' above the ground. I live on the edge of a 250 acre lake, so the exhaust from the vac is aimed at the lake and not my neighbors. I have asked the neighbors on both sides of me if the noise from it was objectionable, and both said "what noise?", so only the Canadian Geese on the lake might find it objectionable, and I don't care if it bothers them.

I also have a shop vac with a second Dust Deputy attached, that I use when collecting larger chips, etc. It's rarely used, except occasionally when cleaning shavings off my shop floor. It too does a great job with almost nothing getting past the Dust Deputy. I see no reason to put either in an outside shed, since the collection containers of both are still light enough to move and empty easily. I dump the 20 gallon barrel on the central vac about every 6 months and it has never been more than 1/2 full, even when I've been working out there almost every day.

My central vac unit came from my neighbor's house when they extensively remodeled it. When I saw the neighbor carrying it toward the dumpster, I yelled "hey, can I have that?" and he brought it over to my shop. Over the next several days all of the pipe and inlet ports, as well as the 20' hose and accessory tools all arrived for it too. He said "it doesn't work", and I responded "I'll fix it". It needed a new control circuit transformer and was an easy fix.

Charley

[Tom Bender]

If you want to build from scratch you can select an industrial fan and go from there. My first selection would be Chicago Blower Design 53 pressure blower with a 3500 rpm x 2hp motor with a vfd. This might not be the perfect selection and it might be pricey but it's another way to get the suction you need.

[Frank Pratt]

so only the Canadian Geese on the lake might find it objectionable, and I don't care if it bothers them.

Those Canada geese are not actually Canadian, as they have no citizenship

[William Hodge]

Thanks, Tom.
Chicago Blower has low cfm blowers with static pressure up to 498". I have three phase power, so it's not hard to add one in. The smaller blowers have SP of 100". My rigid shop vac might have 40" on a good day, when new, according to my archive search here. A used Chicago Blower Design blower is about $3 k, which isn't bad at all for getting rid of Sapele dust.

While poking around, I found this one used for $29k, in case I want to send the dust shooting after Musk's Celestial Tesla.
16,600 CFM @ 60" SP Twin City Industrial Fan RBA-SW Size 937 Blower [Unused!]

• Item: 16258 Model : RBA-SW
• MFG: Twin City Fan
• CFM: 16600
• Static Pressure: 60

Fan constructed for elevated temperature (designed for 350°F temperature)
Unused Twin City Industrial Fan RBA-SW Size 937 Blower
Size: 937
Model No: RBA-SW
Serial No: 13-489433-7-2
Arrangement: 8
Class: 45
Tag No: 441-K-029
Inlet Size: 36"
Outlet Size: 35" x 16"
Wheel Ø: 64"
Wheel Width: 6" (25% width wheel)
250 HP Baldor Motor: 460 Volt, 3 Phase, 1785 RPM, Frame: 449T
Overall Dimenisons: 114" L x 110" W x 112" H
Weight = 7,550 lbs. 16258-01.jpg