Dust Collector in Basement With Furnace?

I don't foresee a problem. My DC is within 10' of my furnace in the basement. I do keep a cover over the filter slot just in case. Hope this helps. Joe

damian penney wrote:

Reply to
Joe_Stein
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The exhaust from the DC should be clean enough to not worry about an explosion hazard unless you shake a lot of dust into the air when you are emptying it.

Over the years folks here on rec.WW have done the arithmetic and shown that normal woodworking operations, dust collection and so on do not generate dust fast enough to create an explosive atmosphere under steady state conditions.

However if dust accumulates somewhere and then lets go all at once the assumption of steady state conditions is violated and the concentration fo air could momentarily reach the lower inflammible limit--the whumphf threshold.

Reply to
fredfighter

Or a flueless gas furnace.

Reply to
fredfighter

on 3/7/2005 9:40 AM damian penney said the following:

Whoa! Apples and oranges.

First, the air being heated, IF (and I stress this since the OP did not say he had forced air heat) it's a forced air system is essentially a closed system relative to the firebox. The air drawn in by the cold air return is reheated and recirculated in the plenum which is separate and apart from the the combusion ongoing with a gas or oil-fired furnace.

The air for combustion will be drawn in from either the immediate area of the furnace or, in the case of newer furnaces, from the outside. The exhaust will go outside. In the case of the latter, there's probably little chance of there being a problem with the DC other than - as someone else posted - some of the dust being sucked in to the cold air return (if there happens to be one in the area of the furnace and spread all over SWMBO's domain. Bad ju-ju for sure.

If it's hydronic heat there's no problem with the furnace circulating dust but the cautions about the dust being ignited by the combustion process still apply dependent upon the type of the system.

I'm guessing but unless there was a helluva lot of dust in the air I don't think it would be a fire safety problem. If he hasn't been "launched" yet, I doubt adding dust collector to the mix would increase his odds; likely they'd decrease since, after all, the dust is already present in all its various sizes. Add the DC and all you have left is the very smallest amounts.

Reply to
Unquestionably Confused

on 3/7/2005 1:19 PM Clint said the following:

I'm considering a DC for my shop but not that keen about a) putting the DC IN the shop and b) now that the shop is heated I really don't want to heat the great outdoors.

I'm thinking along the lines of either a "chase" built onto the back of the garage or a closet built into existing space inside the garage (shop is a separate insulated 13x24 room with 2½ car garage under the same roof) which would be insulated and have one or more vents leading right back into the shop thus venting the "clean" exhaust from the DC right back into the shop. Insulated door to the outside to allow for emptying the DC.

I'm thinking a couple of regular furnace filters snapped into frames that would sit between the stud wall which would be opened up and fire-stopped to allow for the flow of air.

Not 100% but better than anything else I can think of at the moment. Anyone else tried this or have a better suggestion? Like anyone else, I just don't want to tie up any floor space in the shop with a DC when it could better be used for bench or tool space.

Reply to
Unquestionably Confused

ayup. one way you could approach that limit with home shop dust collection equipment is to use your DC to suck up a big pile of sawdust. 'course, you still need a source of ignition- which could be a bit of metal in the pile hitting the impeller. the most likely result would be a smoldering fire in the bag, but that's enough to take out your house. so be careful....

Reply to
bridger

Please do not overlook the information about pressures pointed out by Butch. The DC creates a negative pressure to collect the dust from your saw or planer or whatever. If the DC is in the same area as the furnace or water heater, you need to restore the exit air from that DC back into the room to equalize the pressure. If you vent the exit air to the outside, you effectively keep a negative pressure in the shop anytime the DC runs. If the furnace is on at the same time, flue gases can be sucked back down the chimney rather than going their normal flow and therefore cause you extreme danger for CO poisoning. DCs can be vented outside in climates where no furnace is needed or where the furnace is in some other part of the house.

Rocky

Reply to
Rocky

Just a point of information. Hydronic systems have boilers (even though the water may not actually boil) and hot air heaters are referred to as furnaces.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

I don't think this is an issue, I may not be understanding it correctly though. The setup is an unheated garage/workshop where the door is always open when I'm working. The furnace is in an adjacent area that extends all the way under the house which is very well ventilated. So the shop would be at negative pressure because that's where the air is being sucked from but that is wide open, and the DC would be vented outside relieving the positive pressure the unit itself would generate. I am right here ?

Reply to
damian penney

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