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Dust collection w/o the bag for outdoor use

1K views 8 replies 9 participants last post by  bigblockyeti 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
The location my dust collection unit (HF 2hp) is a corner of the basement where my wife would like to put some shelves. I am thinking of putting the unit outside under my deck - luckily I have good spot to put the tubing through the wall. The deck which it will go under has about 3.5' of vertical clearance, not enough to fit the full unit upright. I am planning on just removing the cloth bag at top of the unit, and letting it vent out. The dust will just go somewhere into the yard so hoping no issue there. Thoughts? I am of course planning to put some tarp on the underside of the decking to minimize water dripping on it.
 
#2 ·
There will be more than dust going out "somewhere in the yard". That said, if you can weatherproof it and put up with the debris in the yard it won't be a problem. I can't tell where you're located so I'm guessing make up air (lost heat/cool) won't be an issue. You won't be sucking air into the house through a water heater flue or something like that?
 
#3 ·
I have a neighbor who has been venting his dust collectors (he has 3) outside for years. He directs the output toward a bucket or small barrel to catch the heavier stuff that doesn't blow away. It can be messy on the side of the building. He measured for heat loss and claims it is insignificant, that once you bring all the machines and fixtures up to room temp it will keep the room warm (he has a good sized building). Obviously it isn't going to be energy efficient (from a heating/cooling viewpoint) but I don't think he worries about that.
 
#9 ·
I've heard that nitrogen has to be added to aid in the break down of the sawdust into something that can benefit plants and grass, otherwise it will suck the nitrogen out of the soil to complete the task.
 
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