Dust Collector being used as air filtration

[Jason Victory]

Hey guys, quick question. I am finally deciding that my health is important and thinking about purchasing a Oneida v-3000, and my question is can I run an open duct with a hood on the end to simply suck in shop air to push through the filter in order to "replace" the need for an air filtration unit? The only downside I could think of is running a loud dust collector to filter your shop air vs. a much more quiet air filtration unit.

I can't seem to find anything regarding this online. What do you guys think? Would this work?

[John Lanciani]

It will work but I can say as the owner of a V3000 there is no way in heck I would want to listen to it the whole time I’m in my shop. The other thing to consider is energy usage. A decent air cleaner uses a 1/3 or so hp motor to move just as much air as the 3 hp V3000. So it’s an almost 10x premium in kWH to do the same job.

[Matt Day]

Agreed. And also, if you can afford a pricey Oneida cyclone unit you can probably afford an air cleaner which does a much better job, more energy efficient at that.

[Larry Edgerton]

All of the ambient air cleaners I have looked at are a joke. Not enough filter area to be of any use and are moving the air across the filter way too fast. Build your own.

The first one I built I built to paint my delivery van in the shop. It used 8 25x20 filters. It was hung over the top of the van, and when the van was done there was zero dust on the floor, and all the filters were the color of the van.

[jack duren]

Just to move air and filter it an attic fan and filters...

[Jim Becker]

That's really not a use that the cyclone is best suited for. It "might" work, to a certain extent, but it will not be as efficient as a dedicated air cleaner to constantly remove fines from the shop air. The air cleaner will likely have a lower cost of operation, electricity wise, than the big cyclone for more constant use. Oh...and the noise factor plays a role here, too.

[Wade Lippman]

I asked the same question 10 years ago. Aside from noise and electricity, why put hours on a $2,000 machine when a $200 will do as well?

[glenn bradley]

I asked the same question 10 years ago. Aside from noise and electricity, why put hours on a $2,000 machine when a $200 will do as well?

Yep, what Wade said.

[Josh Kocher]

I wouldn't take away from your source collection budget or make any compromise there to add the ambient filter though...

... and I wouldn't buy most if any of the ambient filter models on the market. Better off to make your own with a good filter - not a furnace filter.

[Ole Anderson]

Josh, What do you see as the shortfalls with the typical ambient air filter with two stage filtration, auto shutoff, multispeed control...??? Sure you can build one with a furnace fan (never use a box fan) but why? Unless you have the fan and controls laying around.

Oh, and I agree that using your 3 hp dust collector as ambient air cleaner is a terrible idea.

[Alan Lightstone]

You'd be surprised how well an ambient air filter cleans the air. I'm always stunned at how fast my Jet unit returns the particle counts in the air down to less than ambient, as measured by my Dylos particle counter.

Just get an ambient air cleaner, and put good filters on it. You'll be happy you did.

[Jim Becker]

I agree with you Alan...it's pretty neat how well the air cleaners do their job of pulling "escaped" fines out of the air. I should really use mine more often...which reminds me, I need to clean the filters. LOL

[Thomas Crawford]

Jason I'm in the same situation. Building a shop and looking at v3000 or gorilla pro + ambient air cleaner. I think these ambient machines move more air than people realize. If its sized to the room it should filter the entire room many times per hour. Exhaust fan is not an option for me because I'll have the A/C going most of the year.

It seems everyone opts for a Jet, Grizzly, etc. but after reading this article there are a lot of brands to consider:
https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-air-purifier/

Most of those are too small for a shop but they make other units that work on larger spaces.

Edit for additional link:
https://www.highlandwoodworking.com/...tew/dtew1.html

Note rabbit air did not get good marks from the wirecutter

[Lane Hardy]

You'd be surprised how well an ambient air filter cleans the air. I'm always stunned at how fast my Jet unit returns the particle counts in the air down to less than ambient, as measured by my Dylos particle counter.

Just get an ambient air cleaner, and put good filters on it. You'll be happy you did.

Alan,

when you mention "put good filters on it" what do you recommend?
i have an old furnace fan that is three speeds and I would like to build shop air filter using it.
do you have any suggestions?


Thank you,

Lane

[Josh Kocher]

Josh, What do you see as the shortfalls with the typical ambient air filter with two stage filtration, auto shutoff, multispeed control...???

Last time I looked, most of them had vague specifications on performance ie.inadequate filters.

That shiny new one that claims to filter 85% at 2 microns sure looks nice, but I wouldn't want it.

If it specified an effective MERV rating or HEPA, I would reconsider. Are any of the major woodworking manufacturers offering something like that?

Build you own with a good filter at least you know what you got...

I'll restate my belief aswell: that given a finite budget, most will get more bang for their buck spending on collection at source. ie. a 3HP Cyclone > 1.5HP Cylone and Air filter