Air filter: good idea or waste of money?
railroadbridge
| Posted in General Discussion on
I wonder if anyone here has experience with air filter units, to help reduce dust, like the one from Jet or the new circular one from Powermatic?
Some people to swear by them and some people say they’re a waste of money.
All my tools are already connected to good dust collectors but they don’t seem to capture 100% of the very finest dust. And for some tools, like my chop saw or belt sander, the dust collectors only do so much. I don’t have the budget for a huge dust collection upgrade right now and I wonder if these air filters are worth it in the meantime?
If yes, any particular brands or models you recommend?
Thanks for your time everybody.
For reference, these are two models I’m looking at:
Replies
Air filters are a great investment, but in order to justify the investment, and the real estate it will take up in your shop, you'd have to have a fairly large shop. In addition, air filters are incredibly useful in spaces where there are several people working to make and stir up sawdust. If your thinking of buying this for your own home woodshop, I would strongly suggest buying a good respirator if you don't already have one. They're way cheaper and take up practically no space. And even in a shop where there is an air filter, it is still a good idea to wear a mask, they can't remove all the particulate from the air fast enough to skip out on the respirator.
I have a basement shop with dust collection to the tools. I'm amazed at how much dust my ceiling-mounted air filter picks up. Yes, it's worth it.
I have a ceiling mounted unit. It pulls a lot of dust out if the air that my dust collector misses. That's a good thing.
depends on how much you value your lungs and ability to breathe. I have copd and the last thing I need is the fine powder hardwoods leave when they're worked. So, at least it's important to me to keep that nasty sawdust to a minimum. It's my opinion you can save yourself some physical grief by using whatever's available to you and your budget.
I have the Jet unit hanging from the ceiling of my 13x24 shop. I tend to use it when I’ve been sanding or throwing up a lot of finer dust. I clean the filter fairly often and also have a respirator I wear especially when sanding or routing. I always try to collect dust when working but I don’t ALWAYS...
My take is whatever you can do to reduce dust is a good thing. Since my shop is part of an attached garage my wife appreciates me getting and keeping the dust down.
I found a picture of it (part of it) hanging from my ceiling but the file was too big to attach. The remote control is nice, and the timer is nice. Be sure you get one that can turn over the air in your shop several times an hour.
Hi, I have an excellent small ceiling mounted air cleaner that I added last year. I’m very pleased with the air quality difference when it is running.
The model I have is WEN 3410 3-Speed Remote-Controlled Air Filtration System (300/350/400 CFM) Purchased from amazon.
It’s a great price, there are 2 sizes so you can size it to your space. It has a remote and my favourite feature is that you can set it to stay on for 1 hour, 2 hours etc. So at the end of the day, I can leave it on for a bit and it will shut off on it’s own.
I still wear a high quality respirator when running power tools but at the great price of this unit I think it’s a great addition to my overall dust management and I can feel and see the difference.
This has been super helpful, everybody - thank you for your responses! Great to know about the Wen and Jet units.
I agree that there's no substitute for a good respirator! After reading these responses, I'll definitely be picking up one of the filter units, sized to filter the air in the room several times per hour. ChipSawdust said it really well, whatever we can do to reduce dust is a good thing! Thanks again everyone!
I have always thought an ounce of prevention was worth a pound of cure, but as I vent my dust collection air outside I have always thought that an air filtration device was overkill. Instead, I usually leave my dust collector on while I work with the blast gate open on whatever tool I used last, and I leave it running for a few hours after I leave the shop. Does this seem like a logical trade off to an air filtration device to others?
Even though some installs can be expensive, air filters are worth it in the long run. Dust collection systems are helpful if they are of good quality. If you are dealing with finer dust I would invest in either a HEPA or cartridge filter made specifically for fine wood dust.
True HEPA filters are 99.97% accurate in dealing with finer dust particles. Have you tried Wynn Environmental? They make pretty good filters and excel in customer service. Environmental Filter or Damn Filters are good choices too.
I have a shop made one from a gable fan and some scrap plywood. Like others, I am amazed at how much dust it picks up despite having a pretty decent dust collection system for source dust. I made it for about $100 including the remote switch.
Get a cheap box fan, some plywood and some filters. Works great and is a fun project. Best of all it is cheap.
A second for a cheap box fan with a cheap filter. You can get two and still be ahead. If you are a weekend wood worker it works fine. If you are a pro and in the shop all the time a more expensive solution is warranted.
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