Review of shop air cleaners

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Thanks Ed!

[Art Mann]

I was under the impression that filters needed servicing fairly often. I have a home made filter that uses a squirrel cage fan and high efficiency furnace filters and I have to clean or replace them regularly. Maybe my shop is just dustier than most. I was looking for a unit that required servicing less often and the large surface area of a cartridge filter seemed to fit the bill.

[Ed Weiser]

Art, is this an ambient air filter or a machine dust collector or a sanding table filter? If ambient air filtration produces that much dust what else are you doing for dust control? I'm a little confused by your comment.

[Dok Yager]

I too use the Jet in my shop. I found a washable filter for the front or first filter and I pull it out and clean it about once every 3 months. Works great and keeps my shop pretty clean. My Dust collector that has a Wynn filter on it as well as a cyclone barrel and I use plastic bags on the bottom of the collector.

[Bernie May]

Get a Dylos DC1100 dust monitor so you know how well your dust collection is working. Without one you are operating blind.

[Brian Tymchak]

Thanks Ed!

+1. Thanks Ed! I want to make that upgrade on my JET air cleaner as well.

[Michael W. Clark]

I was under the impression that filters needed servicing fairly often. I have a home made filter that uses a squirrel cage fan and high efficiency furnace filters and I have to clean or replace them regularly. Maybe my shop is just dustier than most. I was looking for a unit that required servicing less often and the large surface area of a cartridge filter seemed to fit the bill.

Art,
You are correct on the above. More filter area is more better. The unit needs to promote swirling in the shop to act as a whole shop filter. Maybe the outlet can be ducted a short distance to help promote the air currents? I am assuming you would draw through the filter so the dust is on the outside, easier to clean and you can see when it needs cleaning. If you set it in a corner, you loose a lot of surface area, most of the air will come through the side of the filter toward the room.

The Jet units have a prefilter that is "cheap" to knock out most of the loading before the dust reaches the more expensive envelope filters inside the unit. Maybe you can incorporate a similar concept on your home-made unit? You could put a prefilter before the fan and a high efficiency filter after the fan? I did this on a box fan setup and it was a noticable improvement over nothing. The Jet moves more air and more filter area, so I think it is a step up from the box fan arrangement. I think the cartridge arrangement would be great installed over a work area where you are using sanders and hand power tools which often have less than adequate DC.

[Michael N Taylor]

I have 2 jet air filters and they work great, but I do use different filters. The jet filters are expensive so I did a Google search for 2" filters, I have bought from several different suppliers an I use a higher merv rated filter than the Jet. The cost of the filters are so reasonable I just change them and do no bother to try to clean a dirty filter.

[Ed Weiser]

I have 2 jet air filters and they work great, but I do use different filters. The jet filters are expensive so I did a Google search for 2" filters, I have bought from several different suppliers an I use a higher merv rated filter than the Jet. The cost of the filters are so reasonable I just change them and do no bother to try to clean a dirty filter.

Michael, what's the source of your filters? There seems to be enough users of the Jet-type cleaners to do some comparison shopping to get the best deal going forward.

[Brian Cole]

Here is an other source of MERV-rated replacement bag filters:

http://www.filters-now.com/products/...HSM16_IR5_HEAD

The 12 x 24 x 12 should fit the jet - only $18 for MERV 14.

I am considering making an air cleaner if I can find a good deal on a fan/blower. In that case you could build a box to accommodate one of the larger bag filters for more surface area and only a slightly higher cost. I haven't used these and can't vouch for their performance - am just responding to posts requesting alternative sources.