Pressure Vacuum Cleaner for Whole House

Nehmo Sergheyev · 2006-04-07T20:18:49+00:00

Whole house vacuum clearer systems have access ports (inlets) where auser can plug-in a flexible pick-up tube. Behind the access ports aretubes that lead to a central vacuum clearer. The user aims the end ofthe flexible pick-up tube at the dirt, and the suction takes the dirtvia the tubes to a container in the central vacuum cleaner. Thisarticle describes one setup: vacuum cleaner itself is larger and perhaps has a quieter motorthan portable units, but it's conventional in design. A fan covered bya dust filter provides the suction.But what about positioning the motor and fan on the other side of thedirt? Make the house airtight, and when using the vacuum close theusual exhaust ports, like the ones for the kitchen and bathrooms. Makean opening from the outside of the house to the inside, and have a fanin it blowing through a filter (for pollen etc.) toward the inside. Inother words, have a fan that pressurizes the house. Behind each accessport, have a tube goes directly to a screened-in container outside. Theuser closes up the house, starts the pressurizing fan, and uses theflexible pick-up tubes as in the conventional arrangement. Dust andgases get removed from the house, and the larger pieces of trash getcaught in the screened-in containers.I see advantages to this kind of system:The tube system is simple and cheap.Short tubes going outside are unlikely to clog.Instead of capturing most of the dust as with a conventional unit, youexhaust the dust to the outside. This exhaust doesn't need much of afilter. A screen would prevent you from littering the neighborhood.Relatively clean incoming air goes to the fine filter. This would needinfrequent replacement.Pick-up tubes can be different sizes.There's a possibility of quiet operation.Would this be a practical system? Has anybody ever seen anything likeit?

Apr 07, 2006 24 Replies

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Nehmo Sergheyev 20 years ago

If you are sufficiently far away from the pressurizing fan, there won't be any perceptible wind at all. The fan will create pressure more than flow. A conventional cleaning vacuum works by a difference in pressure between the room and the catch chamber (the tank of a shop vac perhaps). In the arrangement I'm considering, there still is the difference in pressure, but this time it's between the room and the great outdoors.

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PipeDown 20 years ago

Possible: Maybe Practical: No way Effective: Barely

Implemented correctly you get: Boy in a bubble, Clean room, Positive pressure

Don't forget, if you run this in winter you will throw away at least two house fulls of heated air you paid for.

Cost effective: not a chance

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gfretwell 20 years ago

I don't have a dog in this fight but my shop vac pulls about 40" of water with a nrew bag. That is about 1/10 of an atmosphere or about

1.4 pounds. Not a lot of pressure but I bet it will blow the roof off.

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Nick 20 years ago

Only if your roof weighs less than 100 tonnes.

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nehmo54 20 years ago

gfretwell -

Nehmo - What size motor does your shop vac have?

gfretwell -

Nehmo - Considering the inevitable leaks, it would take an enormous compressing fan to blow the roof off. (Your shop vac turned around wouldn't make that pressure in a house.) I'm thinking of a fan something on the order of 500 watts to 1KW. I'm not sure what pressure differential that would create in a tight house, but I suspect it would be enough to do some cleaning.

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