Air filtration

[Gerry S. Wojtowicz]

Hi all,

My shop takes up half my cellar. Unfortunately it is on the side that the boiler is on. I know I need something to prevent the fine wood dust from getting into the boiler and (a) gumming up the works or (b) which would be even worse, starting a fire. I have a dust collection system, but it does not take all the fine particulates out of the air.

My plumber says I should build a room around my boiler, with a filter and a means of venting it to the outside.

I'm hoping that would be overkill and that there is an easier solution.

Which brings me to this forum.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

[Mike Chalmers]

Get a better filter.

[Edward Oleen]

Easier solutions.... 'fraid NOT.
The simple blower-with-two-bags system, a la Harbor Freight, Jet, etc. etc. etc. is not that good. The filter bag lets the smallest stuff through, and then clogs with the slightly bigger stuff, thus ending your collection due to loss of air flow.

You need a more advanced system: go with either a Thien "top hat" feeding a trash can, or with a cyclone - Dust Deputy or similar. Cyclones can also be shop built, of course.

In any case, you need to do something about the output of the blower - "sucker" in this usage, since you using the suction side, not the blower side of the unit. I simply feed the output outside... End of problem. The line - 4" schedule 40 PVC with some 4" flex at each end to make the connections easier - feeds into a burlap bag hidden in some bushes.

However, the following may give you some guidance:

Stumpy Nubs - on YouTube. He has addressed the problem several times, with various solutions. One involves a rather large filter for the output of your system.

Mathias Wandel, at Woodgears.ca, and on YouTube, has also addressed the problem, and in a rather straight forward engineering fashion, complete with some good instrumentation when he tests his results.

This is not a simple problem. One thing I would investigate with your furnace man is where the input air comes from: if it is drawn from the air in the basement/shop - that is a problem. If it comes from outside then you should have much lower risk. It should be possible to modify your furnace to draw outside air without too much trouble.

[Michael W. Clark]

Not sure about the boiler, but I essentially did what your plumber is suggesting with my HVAC and water heater. Both appliances pull combustion air outside, but I still "carved them out" of the shop. They are part of a storage area separate from the shop and finished basement. The shop door access to this area is sealed, but the other doors are regular interior passage doors. No additional ventilation is added except for what leaks in around the standard passage doors. It made a good place for the air compressor too.