Adapting DC to Vent outside

[poolhound]

Having already been through the pros/cons of locating my DC outside the shop I am at one with the whole "make up air" issue and don't think the heated or cooled air loss will be a big issue.

I mean to make some major headway this weekend on the attached structure that will house my DC (50-760). I am 95% sure at this time that I will remove the blower from its wheeled stand and custom fit it into the new external DC closet which will also accommodate the Super Dust deputy and chip collection bin.

With the space I have available I know that the dust filter bag may well be getting a little squished which may have the effect of reducing surface area and therefore maybe airflow a little. I guess I could switch to canister filter which would give me more surface area but as the DC is no longer in a human habitable space I dont really care about the fines any longer so why waste money on a canister?

So I am looking hard at how best to vent outside and I therefore have a few questions where I could use some collective input.

1. has anybody else done this and how did you adapt the DC, removing the bag and attaching something that can vent through a wall to the outside?
2. If there is no longer any bag constricting airflow how does the potential pipe size play into the equation? If the pipe to the outside is too small will it reduce CFM at the machine end? If I am using 4" pipe in the shop do I just need 4" or bigger in the vent?
3. As I am collecting the large majority of chips/dust in the SDD is there any reason I could not reduce the size of the chip collection bag or possible even do away with it completely?

Anything else I did not think of?

[cork58]

Last summer I moved my 50-760 outside the shop into its own room. I just cut a 4" hole through the outside wall and ran the hose straight through. I left my chip collector inside the shop area and just dump it when its about 3/4 full. I use the shop every day and use the dust collector allot every day. The chip barrel gets dumped about once once a month and equals about 20 gallons. The bag on the dust collector only has maybe 2 gallons of very fine dust so it will probably be a once a year dump. I do have to go outside and bang the top bag because it gets plugged with the fines but I had to do the same thing when it was inside the shop. I can't tell you how much I like that noisy, dirty, son of a gun is outside. Living in Alaska I was somewhat concerned about the heat loss but I don't see any change it natural gas usage. It has been a mild winter but even if it cost me a little I'd do it again only allot sooner. Guess I should add that my shop is 30'X40'.

Dan

[poolhound]

Thanks Dan, I can see you did this more to get the "noisy, dirty SOG" out of the shop than to save space. For me its both as I have approx a 5th of your shop size with my little 13x18 space so I am trying to make the most out of every sq ft.

Last summer I moved my 50-760 outside the shop into its own room. I just cut a 4" hole through the outside wall and ran the hose straight through. I left my chip collector inside the shop area and just dump it when its about 3/4 full. I use the shop every day and use the dust collector allot every day. The chip barrel gets dumped about once once a month and equals about 20 gallons. The bag on the dust collector only has maybe 2 gallons of very fine dust so it will probably be a once a year dump. I do have to go outside and bang the top bag because it gets plugged with the fines but I had to do the same thing when it was inside the shop. I can't tell you how much I like that noisy, dirty, son of a gun is outside. Living in Alaska I was somewhat concerned about the heat loss but I don't see any change it natural gas usage. It has been a mild winter but even if it cost me a little I'd do it again only allot sooner. Guess I should add that my shop is 30'X40'.

Dan

[capncarl]

If you are going to move it out side why bother with a bag or canister? You will have to monitor the amps on the motor because of lack of pack pressure but that could be handled with a slide gate. Performance will probably be increased with this change.
capncarl

[JimD]

I have a little Delta AP 400, a 1hp DC. I have a canister filter for it but it is dented because it fell off the trailer when I was moving it to the house. I think it would still work, however. I don't have insulation, walls, or cabinets (or a bench) in the shop so I have more pressing things than the DC. For now, I am using my shop vacuum which pulls through a dust deputy. So I haven't done this but I'm thinking about it. I really like the dust deputy. It gets almost 100% of the dust and chips. I vacuumed with it after doing the drywall in our new office and could still see the bottom of the shop vacuum while dumping almost 5 gallon of dust out of the cyclone bucket.

Snyway, I see two ways to do this and I'm not sure which I'll do. One way is to leave the DC in the shop and just exhaust it through the wall. That would be difficult with my little Delta and doesn't seem to be what you have in mind. But if I did this, I would put a screen or something over the exhaust.

The other way I would do it, and probably what I'll do (unless I just use the shop vacuum exclusively) is to move the DC outside in a little closet sized enclosure. My shop is also modest, 14x24, and it would be nice to have the noise and bulk out of the shop. In this case just the suction pipe needs to come back through the wall. I will leave the exhaust of the DC unfiltered. I know there will not be a lot of dust and I don't see why it can't just blow outside. Most of the dust will be captured by the cyclone and disposed of. I need all the suction I can get from my little DC and I don't think there is any risk of it over revving due to the lack of restriction. Bill Pentz's website seems to indicate that isn't an issue with commercially available DCs (only custom engineered systems designed to have filtration).

[capncarl]

As inviting as relocating the dust collector outside seems, the delta 70-360 will removed the 8400 cubic feet of air from my 24'x36' shop in 7 minutes. This air will be replaced with hot or cold high humidity outside air that will have to be replaced by being sucked around the personnel and garage door and attic stairway door. If enough air is not scavaged the efficiency of the dust collector drops. The air conditioner works too hard to heat and cool the shop just to blow it out of doors so I believe I'll leave mine indoors and maybe build a sound proof closet around the dust collector.
capncarl