Exhausting Dust Outside from Cyclone

[Jeremy Williams]

Now that I've built a dedicated wood shop in a detached building I'm thinking about eliminating the canister filter from my Shop Fox W1809 3HP cyclone and exhausting the fine dust out of the shop. I'd be curious to learn from those on the forum as I have some questions/thoughts ...

1. Is it as simple as just putting a hole in the all and dropping an open pipe from the dust collector thru the hole?
2. Is a filter or any type of cover needed outside?
3. Any concerns with the air seeping out of the shop with this open hole?
4. Will it suck all of the conditioned air out of my shop? Keep in mind I don't run the dust collector all day, I'm just a hobbyist and run it as I need it on machines.


OOPS - WRONG FORUM - Moderators, please move!

[Josh Bowman]

Jeremy,
I've done this now for years. I think it was Keith Outten that got me stated with it. Anyway, mine is not a cyclone but I still dump outside. Here are the positives: 100% filtration, since what's sucked up is dumped out and my shop IS less dusty. Secondly, the noise went way down. Third in my case, no more emptying dust bags, I just hook up my lawn mower to my garden wagon and haul the shavings off to the woods. The down side is there is a little air that comes in around my door seals, but I am yet to see a difference in shop temperature. We live in Spring City TN and the temps here range from the 90's to the 20's, but mainly stay 40 to 80's. Hope this helps.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Will it suck all of the conditioned air out of my shop?

Yes it will - at a stated max of 1654 CFM.

Sucking up all that nice cool air, in an attempt to lower the avg temp of Tampa Bay by a few degrees.

[Keith Outten]

I have been exhausting my DC to an exterior chip box for many years. My dust collector has no cyclone, no bags and no filters. The exit pipe runs from the collector through the wall and into a large tank outside.

Unless the outside temperature is extreme hot or cold you won't see any difference in your shop temperatures. I run my DC sometimes for hours at a time particularly when I am using my Laser Engraver or my CNC Router. For what its worth I use a mini-split heat pump in my shop.
.

[Jeremy Williams]

The biggest challenge in my shop (in south Florida) is keeping it cool. I'm running a ductless mini-split and it does the job, usually keeping the shop around 76. However, I don't want to loose all that air, which is why the question was stated.

The way my setup would be with the cyclone, the "big chips" would stay in the shop (dropping into a 55 gal bin) with only the fine dust going outside.

By chance, does anyone have any pictures of their setup both inside and out? I'd a visual learner

[Jerome Stanek]

At work we exhaust into a room that has extra filters to keep the fines out of the workspace air

[Josh Bowman]

In a post that Keith made in the past. Rig the cyclone up temporarily and try it. I ran mine like that for several months and made it permanent.

[Peter Aeschliman]

The key is to make sure you are providing enough make-up air, from a source far away from your exhaust.

If you don't, your cyclone's suction will be reduced.

From what I've read, the hole you make for the make-up air should be much larger than the size of your exhaust pipe. I'm by no means an expert, so you'll need to do your research on that aspect.

[Alan Lightstone]

Sucking up all that nice cool air, in an attempt to lower the avg temp of Tampa Bay by a few degrees.

I'm really OK with him lowering the average temp of Tampa Bay by a few degrees.

[marty shultz]

You asked for some pics. This link has a video that eventually shows the dust collector. This clearview is installed outside and vents outside. It is very loud since it doesn't have any filter or muffler. I don't notice any fine dust blowing from the exhaust.