basement shop question

[epistola]

Hi everyone, I have a simple question for those of you with basement shops. I am currently deciding whether or not to set mine up in a part of the basement which also houses the furnace and the hot water heater. Both are gas fired but the furnace is a closed system. My question is this: should I be concerned about some small amount of dust in the same room as the hot water heater or not? I plan to have a small dust collection system setup in the area as well. Any advise or help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Matt

[Leon]

Why do you have a "hot water" heater? :~)

If the water heater is electric, no problem. If it is gas, you want to insure that the dust does not infiltrate the intake and or exhaust vent and cause an inefficient burn, however probably not a real concern The dust mixed with the flame is most likely not ever going to be a problem so much as perhaps solvents, varnishes and stains vapors that may accumulate near the floor and cannot escape. I do not think that I would ever be comfortable with that situation unless there was or is a way to vent the room air from the floor to the outside.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Depends on your concern. Will you have an explosion? No. Will you have a PITA to clean? Yes, at times. Even with a DC, there will still be some dust around. I'd make some sort of physical barrier or partition, but I'd not worry about serious problems from dust. Yes, from solvents though.

In my old house, I used to spray lacquer with the gas furnace and the cold water heater, but with ventilation never blew up the house.

[Steve A]

New gas water heaters have a flammable vapors protection system to keep you from burning the house down if a lacquer or solvent spill happen. HOWEVER, This system usually has a ceramic air intake filter which could/would clog from fine dust causing an EXPENSIVE repair. Basement shops that have worked for years with old style water heaters may have to be modified when their existing water heater needs to be replaced.

[Leuf]

In our old house the shop shared space with the oil fired furnace. This was back before I was doing anything serious and still the injectors or whatever you call them got clogged up and the furnace stopped working. I don't know how different gas would be, but we ended up putting up a temporary wall to close off that part of the basement. In the new house the mechanicals are off in a more easily closed off area so we were able to put up some permanent walls.

-Leuf

[Nova]

I've had a basement shop shared with a gas hot water heater and an open gas furnace that drew it combustion air from the basement for over 30 years (recently changed to a closed furnace system). I do limit solvent use in the basement but I've never had any problems with dust or solvents.

[joeljcarver]

not to set mine up in a part of the basement which also houses the furnace ...

My greatest problem is shop dust getting into the air handler and depositing wood dust throughout the house. I've installed a strong dust collection system and a couple of large air cleaners, but some dust still ends up in the rest of the house.

[George Max]

I've been WW in the basement of my house for 20 years with no problems at all. I have a gas furnace and a gas water heater. I don't have dust collection. I do vac a lot. I use the vac as a dust collector on the planerm but that's about it. I haven't experienced any problems.

That said, a good reason to use an out building instead would be not having to lift heavy stuff in and out. Particularly big iron like the jointer or TS. Some projects can get pretty heavy too.

[Brent Beal]

[daryl1138]

Had mine in the garage for about 5 years and got tired of only being able to work when it wasn't blasting hot or too cold. Also couldn't keep a number of "freezable" stuff in there year round. In the basement now for also about 5 years. My room is seperated from the furnace and water heater (both gas) by a door that usually stays open. I have a simple dust collector and vac on occassion. No problems so far and I would recommend it.