JeremyP Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 I have a 35 x 50 shop that I want to build a filter system for. I was able to get a large industrial 240volt squirrel cage fan and motor that will hopefully replace the shop air fairly quickly. I havent heard it run though and I imagine it will be quite loud, so Im hoping to mount it outside of the shop and have it suck air out but I also want it to return the air back into the shop especially during the winter to preserve my heat. Has anyone built anything like this? what do you think of just using the normal house furnace filters, perhaps stacked 2 or 3 deep? Mostly need it to take away dust when i'm belt sanding and grinding but also welding smoke when I'm stick welding lots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSW Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 I've seen HEPA type house filters used for something similar to this. They clog pretty quick and aren't inexpensive. Usually I've seen them used for paint booths and so on. A better idea might be to take a page from woodworkers or welders. They often have pick up systems that are set up to pull dust/smoke from small areas vs the whole building. A hood or pick up behind the grinder or sander doesn't need to move as much air, so you can afford to vent to the outside. You can pick up one of those power strips that many wood workers use that will turn on a vac or light plugged into an aux outlet that is turned on as soon as the main tool is powered up. Some where I have one I've used in the past to power my shop vac for sanding with my orbital sander for refinishing floors in the house. I also had one that I used to turn on both the shop vac and light for my old sand blast cabinet when I fired up the compressor. I also wouldn't mount your idea outside. If you do, you'll have to insulate the ducting and you'll want to exhaust the air as far from your fan intake as possible, meaning a long run to loose heat to the cold outside air. Better would be to simply duct it all inside. If you run normal duct, you can do multiple intakes if needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 Look into a Vertical Bag Dust Collector, or Vortex Cone Dust Collector for inside or winter use. Put your large industrial 240 volt squirrel cage blower to turn over or exchange the entire air in the shop during the summer. Careful with having enough make up air or it will back draft the chimney. A simple 20 inch window fan with a furnace filter attached to the back will collect a surprising amount of dust and junk from the air. If you want to go bigger build a box to hold 4 filters, the 5th side being for the fan and the 6th side the floor. As DSW said, point of use collection and exhaust to the outside can work well. You still have outside air being drawn in as make up air. Woodworkers and others use this in a 4 inch plastic piping system. Be sure and get the static eliminators and use them. (grin) I have seen the point of use systems used in a woodworking shop that had as I recall 8 inch and 10 inch ducting system for the dust and chips. They moved the material the length of a building and then across the street into a holding room. From there they burned the dust and chips in their boiler to heat the building(s). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swedefiddle Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 Exhaust fan above the door in one end, make up air from a vent in a door in the other end of the shop. Cross Flow Ventilation. If you use infra-red heater, you don't have to worry about heat loss. Vent, Fan, Heat. Pick two. Can't pick three!! :) :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 You might want to look into one of the self contained welding filter setups. They are not cheap new, but I have seen them at welding/fab shop liquidation sales. They have a built in fan and filtering system, and exhaust the air right there. They are on wheels so you can position them right at the job. They have metal snorkel hoses that are positioned right near the weld area. There is no perfect solution to have climate control and getting rid of all airborne contaminants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L Smith Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 I agree with what Glen said . We are refinishing the wall and ceiling of our home. I taped a 20x20 filter to the back of a box fan works great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeremyP Posted February 6, 2015 Author Share Posted February 6, 2015 yea you raise some good points glenn and dsw. I was also thinking about the problem of having the return air being so close to the exit air. I wouldnt mind running the system in my shop if it wasn't too loud. I will try running the motor and see how loud it is. I've looked into getting those welding fume extractors as well, because I do a lot of welding in my shop, but they are loud and expensive. This fan however was free Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDB Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 I use a car fan with 12V power supply. Easy to control with potmeter (or pwm) and a lot of wind! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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