Need opinions on air filtration units (Steel City, JDS, Jet) and "cleanable bags"

[John Sheets]

Hi, Folks
Sort of a multi-part question here. First, I see that Woodcraft has the Steel City air filtration unit on sale for $229. Anyone had experience with this and could comment on its performance?
Is the Jet AFS1000B pretty comparable to the JDS 750ER? I know that the JDS has been highly rated in tests.
One of the major issues on these units that I see is the inner bag cost. All three manufacturers state different scenarios for their inner bags:
Steel City- ""can't be cleaned"
JDS- "vac or shake it out"
Jet- "can be washed"
I see no point in saving $100-120 by going with the Steel City if it's necessary to buy a couple of $60 bags over the course of a few years. Or do these bags on the average last for years if the pre-filter is kept clean?
Is the bag on the Jet truly washable for several cycles?

A couple of qualifiers: I don't want to make my own system, and two, I would be reluctant to go with a cheaper aftermarket bag from PSI, Grainger, etc.
Thanks in advance for your knowledgeable replies,
John

[Michael McCoy]

I can't help you much with one over the other but I have the Jet. I have been using the same inner filter for about a year and a half and it still is in good shape (at least it was when I checked a couple of weeks ago. I have my dust control pretty much under control though so there doesn't appear to be much airborne. I also have a good filter attached to the outside of the unit with L brackets so I get pretty good pre-filtration.

[Nathan Wittman]

Hi, Folks
Sort of a multi-part question here. First, I see that Woodcraft has the Steel City air filtration unit on sale for $229. Anyone had experience with this and could comment on its performance?
Is the Jet AFS1000B pretty comparable to the JDS 750ER? I know that the JDS has been highly rated in tests.
One of the major issues on these units that I see is the inner bag cost. All three manufacturers state different scenarios for their inner bags:
Steel City- ""can't be cleaned"
JDS- "vac or shake it out"
Jet- "can be washed"
I see no point in saving $100-120 by going with the Steel City if it's necessary to buy a couple of $60 bags over the course of a few years. Or do these bags on the average last for years if the pre-filter is kept clean?
Is the bag on the Jet truly washable for several cycles?

A couple of qualifiers: I don't want to make my own system, and two, I would be reluctant to go with a cheaper aftermarket bag from PSI, Grainger, etc.
Thanks in advance for your knowledgeable replies,
John

How long filters will last, begs the question; how much dirt are you going to put in them?

If you are running constantly 8 hours a day, those inner pocket filters have only last a few months, if you are just hobby wood working and using it a couple nights a week, then you will see a much longer service life.

[John Sheets]

Nathan, I understand that the amount of dirt collected depends on the amount of usage, and that's why I stated "on the average", but to be more specific....
In my particular situation, I do lathe turning almost exclusively, and when I sand, I have a good dust collector with canister running, with a collecting termination very close to the piece being sanded. Obviously I won't be creating a cloud of dust such as a table saw might give off.

[Nathan Wittman]

I looked at the inner (2nd stage) filter on all three of those units listed. They are all Synthetic (polypropylene) pocket filters, very similar in construction and configuration. The the JET filter is a little different and that one looks like it would be most likely to survive being blown out and cleaned. Typically cleaning any of those filters can not be done because the dirt inbeds on the fibers and by cleaning them some of the fibers would fracture and efficiency would be compromised.

In the situation you described, I would think you would see a long service life on those filters, not something you would have to change in a few months.