DC Air return contol

Hopefully, I'm about 2 months away from having my shop. Trying to get all the wiring for lights, DC runs, etc. planned before the drywall goes up. The room for the shop is adjacent to the garage, and I'm planning to put the cyclone in the garage, both for sound abatement, and to save space. I'm looking for a product/device/idea that will allow the air return to be closed unless the DC is running. My idea is ta have a remote controlled damper that I can open (or will open automatically) when the DC is running and shut otherwise. I'd prefer not to heat and cool my garage:D Is there a commercially available product, or a way to put something like this together. Thanks.

Mark

Mark, I have one of my dust collector located in my garage with a 4" duct running through a wall into my shop. I haven't noticed any loss of heat or cool. when its not running. It will pump out air while running but it hasn't been a problem. What about using a blast gate?

Mark, my first thought was using some form of commercially available automatic blast gate arrangement...if you can find one large enough. You want your air return to be larger than your intake to avoid any kind of back pressure. My return is between double and triple the area of the 7" intake of my cyclone.

Robert,
What kind of DC are you running? I'm concerned a 4" pipe wouldn't be enough. I want to have this high on the wall, ie 12' from the floor, so I really need something remote controlled

Jim,
I was kind of hoping someone could point me to some kind of HVAC supplier that would have something. I'll be talking to the HVAC contractor tomorrow, but had hoped to have something to suggest to him. The construction foreman is a WW so knows exactly what I need but couldn't come up with anything he could suggest.

Mark, The DC is a Jet 1100 that I have outside the shop with the pipes (2) running through the wall at about 9' high . I have a Grizzly G0548Z 2 HP in the shop I use for large chip collecting. I split my dust collection in two areas, one for machines that only produce dust (lathe, Bandsaw etc) and one for chips. Since the DC is not running that long it doesn't effect the heat or ac and what air that does escape cool or heats the garage part where I also have a few small sanding machines.

Robert,
Is the connection open all of the time, or only when the DC is running? If the latter, how do you close it off when not in use?

Mark

Mark, Blast gates are closed on each machine and only opened when needed. I have a RF remote that works through the wall. I'm not that familiar with a cyclone but it shouldn't be all that different from a DC. Since I have installed my second DC my shop has been a lot cleaner and I save a lot of steps!

Hey Mark, I really dont think that you have anything to worry about. I have both the intake and exhaust running through the wall that separates my shop and the garage. I really dont think that there is enough heat loss to really make an issue of it. There should not be any airflow going through there unless the DC was running. Or maybe I am confused about the way that you are setting it up..

Robert,
The intake side is the same...blast gates etc. It's the return air I'm working on.

Chuck,
If you're in WI and don't have any problems, then it shouldn't be an issue here:D. Wouldn't be the first time I over analyzed something!:D

Instead of a device to control air flow, have you considered building a closet enclosure for the dust collector in the garage? That way you would limit the additional space you're heating/cooling to, say, a 3x4 room rather than the entire garage.

Just as importantly, the enclosure would help with noise control. Even simple stud frame and drywall construction would make a difference, and if you build it properly using noise suppressing materials the difference could be huge. I'm designing an outside enclosure for my garage shop, so can pass on some ideas on noise control (and there's lots of prior discussion on the forums). I also think the garage would look nicer without the dust collector on display - and you wouldn't have to worry about any residual dust settling on your car.

Call Dantherm/Norfab or Oneida. They will help you.

"Just as importantly, the enclosure would help with noise control. Even simple stud frame and drywall construction would make a difference, and if you build it properly using noise suppressing materials the difference could be huge. I'm designing an outside enclosure for my garage shop, so can pass on some ideas on noise control (and there's lots of prior discussion on the forums). I also think the garage would look nicer without the dust collector on display - and you wouldn't have to worry about any residual dust settling on your car."

I am doing this right now. I went to HD this morning to buy 2" foam for sound suppression, but they actually have "sound board", so I bought that. Much cheaper, and hopefully more effective. The big problem with it is that it is awfully messy to cut. Do this outside if possible.

As far as return air from the closet, I just bought a cheap interior door and made a cut out in the bottom for a 14"x14" louvered panel.

Ray,

To keep the sound waves from traveling through the return (thus bypassing your soundboard walls), you might consider building a "Z" baffle like Jim Becker's. A sketch-up drawing of it is on the site somewhere.

Essentially, you would build a box with two partial horizontal dividers inside that direct the air in a Z pattern (really an "S" with squared corners). You're taking advantage of the fact that sound waves do not handle 180 degree turns very well, whereas air will still move through the space. If you make your baffle 14"x14"x14", you could attach the whole thing to your door.

Thank you Charles. I will look into this.