I was in Seattle yesterday on business and found myself with some time to kill before my flight, so I rang up the folks at Clearvue and asked if I could stop by. Of course they said yes, just come on by. Thankfully I had a GPS system as their office/factory is a bit hard to find. Once I found it and one of the brothers came back from running an errand to let me in I spent time with them. I belive it was Mike that was there. There are 3 brothers that run the company. He was very helpful and took me around the shop and answered all my questions. He clarified in my mind exactly what I need to do. Here are some of the key areas I talked to him about:
1. Concern about Clearvue being a kit - he showed me exactly what you get when they ship it to you and went through the assembly process. Very straight forward. The only part that I will probably not do is the electrical wiring. Not that I can't but paying a licensed electrician to do the final wiring is worth the piece of mind.
2. Venting outside vs. filters - he showed my filters and a dust collection box from a cyclone that he had used at a tradeshow sanding 2x4's non stop 8 hours a day for 3 days. There was very little fine dust in the filter or the clean out box. He said that venting outside is not an issue and very little dust will be put in the air, as he said you won't even notice it.
3. Ducting - I was going to use metal duct work. They have all PVC duct work that is held together with short sheet metal screws. He recommended doing the same thing, and using 6" ductwork throughout. He also said to not use PVC cement to join the pipes together, just use screws so that you can modify your ductwork.
4. Noise - they have a Max system in a closet with standard 2x4 construction with regular insulation. The noise level was not bad a all. Not much louder than any normal machine in the shop.
5. Remote switch - he didn't have a good answer for this, primarily because they have not been able to find a good supplier for a remote switch. He suggested that you just turn on the cyclone and leave it on while you work. Given the low level of noise that it produces I think that is a reasonable approach.
Bottom line is that Clearvue appears to be in very good hands with owners that are passionate about their product and focused on customer support. They are also a great resource in the overall installation process and are very open to answering any and all questions.
So based on this visit, and reading all of the various postings on this subject I will be placing an order for a Clearvue 1800 and using PVC duct work throughout.
Great way to spend time between business meetings.
Hope this information is useful.
David