Compressor (or?) recommendation to blow out a HEPA filter

[John Lanciani]

A leaf blower will not clean the filter nearly as well as compressed air will. It just can't get enough airflow between the pleats to clear out the dust. I've tried both. I do use the leaf blower to get the dust out of the OH door though.

Your leaf blower is too small then. A Stihl BR800 gets the job done 10x faster than a 10 cfm 60 gal. compressor.

[Ed Mitchell]

The process shouldn't take you more than 15-20 minutes, not including showering off in your driveway to avoid issues with dragging your dusty self inside.

The ideal compressor is a very large one, but "larger small one" or medium sized compressor will do. They will just run nearly constantly for this kind of task.

Thanks. I have a friend with a large compressor, he said I'm welcome to try it, so I may in the future.
I did the leaf blower thing this morning, and it did seem to work well. IDK if it did as good a job as a compressor would have done, but the CFM I measured it back to within ~4% of what it was when I measured it brand new.

[Jim Becker]

The leaf blower will get a lot of the loser material. The compressor with a blow-gun will dislodge a lot more stuff that's coating the inside of the pleats. It can be a surprising amount of stuff!!! I just did the canister that is part of the SDD system I have listed here in the Classifieds the other day and it was totally amazing about how much debris was caught in there even after only about 6 months of use with minimal projects. The filter did its job for sure...all that stuff never made it into the air.

[Justin Rapp]

Interesting thoughts on cleaning the filter. My Laguna cyclone has paddles that rotated (manual crank when machine is off) and the sawdust caked up falls to the bag at the bottom. Getting that filter off on is a royal pain but now I am thinking it's time to take it outside and blast it with the leaf blower.

[Jonathan Jung]

I clean my canister filters on a schedule, once a week pat them down, one a month with air, so it's not a 5 hour ordeal every time and to keep CFM up.

[Alan Lightstone]

The process shouldn't take you more than 15-20 minutes, not including showering off in your driveway to avoid issues with dragging your dusty self inside.

The ideal compressor is a very large one, but "larger small one" or medium sized compressor will do. They will just run nearly constantly for this kind of task.

I wore a Hazmat suit and respirator, and still felt like it wasn't enough. It's unbelievable how much wood dust is in those cartridge filters.

[Jim Becker]

Interesting thoughts on cleaning the filter. My Laguna cyclone has paddles that rotated (manual crank when machine is off) and the sawdust caked up falls to the bag at the bottom. Getting that filter off on is a royal pain but now I am thinking it's time to take it outside and blast it with the leaf blower.

The "flappers" really do help keep the filters "less caked", but there is still going to be material that gets stuck deep in the folds. The good news is that you certainly do not need to endure the "totally enjoyable" task of blowing out the filters as frequently as others because you have those flappers...

[Randy Heinemann]

No one should blow out the filter inside the shop or house for sure. A lot of dust comes out. However, I found that, if done regularly, a good leaf blower really does get almost all of the dust out if taken outside and blown from end to end. There is likely to always be a little residual but, using a compressor requires some care, to be sure the filter pleats aren't damaged by a stream of high pressure air. Lower pressure, for sure. That's what he lear blower works well.

[Bill Dufour]

I thought you could leave it all attached and blow it out in place. The dust will settle to the bottom to be removed? Is that how the self cleaning baghouse filters work. Not as good a clean as removing it and doing it from the inside but good enough for in between.
Bill D

[Mark Rainey]

I thought you could leave it all attached and blow it out in place. The dust will settle to the bottom to be removed? Is that how the self cleaning baghouse filters work. Not as good a clean as removing it and doing it from the inside but good enough for in between.
Bill D

Yes Bill, that is the case. I have had the Mini-Gorilla for several years. Frequently, after a emptying a filled bin a couple of times, I will clean it by donning a dusk mask and using my electric leaf blower directing air at it from the outside. The dust will settle to the bottom and the black plastic cap is removed and the dust will fall into my trash can. I will then spank the filter really good, repeat the leaf blower and get another dumping of dust. Twice a year I will remove the whole filter, mask up, take it outside and let it rip with the leaf blower and spanking. Dust flies everywhere for 10 minutes, and when things calm down I stop. When I talk to the Oneida people, they like the leaf blower technique.

[Randy Heinemann]

I thought you could leave it all attached and blow it out in place. The dust will settle to the bottom to be removed? Is that how the self cleaning baghouse filters work. Not as good a clean as removing it and doing it from the inside but good enough for in between.
Bill D

You can blow out from the outside with lower pressure compressed air or an electric blower. I also tend to bang lightly on the sides with my hands to shake the dust loose. However, I found that, at least every other time I empty the dust bin, it's best to take the filter off, take it outside, and blow it out more completely. (Winter might be the exception.) One added problem I had is that I didn't think installation through completely and it's a little hard for me to get at all sides of the hanging filter in place and in place cleaning is difficult so I tend to take it off more than I might otherwise.

[Jim Becker]

I agree with Randy...best outside. If the filter has a catch basin at the bottom, it certainly wouldn't hurt to whack it and blow on it from the outside to dislodge some material periodically between thorough cleaning, but "real" cleaning is still needed from time to time, IMHO.

[Mark Rainey]

Ed, how are you measuring CFM?

[Ed Mitchell]

Ed, how are you measuring CFM?

I have an cheap Chinese anemometer I got from Amazon. I can grab the brand for you if you like. I have no idea if it's accurate but as you know, consistency is all that's really necessary. I take off the hose and measure directly at the port, so I have a consistent place to measure, and to eliminate inconsistencies from the variables introduced by the hose.

I don't know if that's actually an advisable way to measure CFM, just the way I've been doing it.

[Pat Rice]

I have used Oneida cyclones for 20yrs now, I like to take my filter outside and using a nozzle on my garden hose and wash out the filter eliminating clouds of dust, you just have to really make sure it is totally dry before placing it back into use. Here in Florida that is not a problem, plus I have a extra filter so I can easily rotate one while the other is drying.