# DC in the basement - Get It Out?



## revwarguy (Mar 12, 2013)

I have my workshop in the basement, and I'm thinking of revamping my DC, which currently has a 5 micron pleated filter before returning air to the room - the kind with the paddle you periodically run around the pleats.

Rather than using that, I am thinking of just routing a 6 inch vent pipe up through the joists and outside. Anyone done that? Post pics? Know of a good way to make an outdoor flap, kind of like a clothes dryer vent that doesn't reduce airflow too much be keeps weather and critters out?

Anything wrong with this idea? Wouldn't this be better than even trying to return the air to the room?


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## DIYaholic (Jan 28, 2011)

The only real problems are:
1) neighbors…..
2) Sucking the conditioned air out (AC, Heat or dehumidifier) & replacing it with UNconditioned air.


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## revwarguy (Mar 12, 2013)

Hi Randy - recognize your avatar from cnczone - thanks for the reply.

I thought of those objections, but with a cyclone before the blower, its is going to put out *much* less obvious dust than my clothes dryer does, an nobody complains about that. The dryer also kicks out conditioned air as well. A DC blower would recycle much more air than that for sure, but I think I could handle it. I don't often run it continuously - I am not what you would call a production shop.


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## JL7 (Apr 13, 2010)

I would love to do the same thing, but our climate in Minnesota is all over the board….cold and hot…..I'm interested to see what you decide to do…....


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## Charlie5791 (Feb 21, 2012)

If you run your DC to the outside, keep in mind that if you have any gas equipment (furnace, hot water tank, etc) you will almost certainly cause a backdraft and suck the exhaust gases back into the house (carbon monoxide, etc). I have a high volume exhaust over my cooktop in the kitchen. 6 inch pipe to outside. If I ONLY run that, I can sometimes see me chimney exhaust stop and start if I go outside when it's cold. So I'm teetering on the brink of backdraft and sometimes DO cause a backdraft. So I have to open a window for make-up air when I use the exhaust hood on anything other than the lowest setting. If someone is in the bathroom running THAT exhaust fan (much lower volume but it adds up) then I definitely have to open a window when I run the kitchen exhaust.

So…. be sure you provide equivalent make-up air to offset all that air you're dumping outside as you can create a pretty dramatic negative pressure in your house.


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## DIYaholic (Jan 28, 2011)

Rev,
I need to get back over to cnczone….
as soon as I get a little further along on my shop setup, a CNCrouter build will be on deck!

Don't know your locale, but here in Vermont, heating in winter & humidity in summer could cause problems, were I to vent outside. If heat, AC & humidity isn't a major problem, go for it.

BTW: Welcome to LumberJocks…..
A great place to feed your wood working insanity!!!


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## DIYaholic (Jan 28, 2011)

Charlie,
Great pick up on the CO backdraft issue…..
I knew I was forgetting something!!!


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

Absolutely on the CO problem. I have a squirrel cage exhaust fan in my basement shop window and cannot run it if the furnace might turn on. It can fill the shop with fumes in no time.


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## revwarguy (Mar 12, 2013)

Good point, Charlie. I wonder what could mitigate that? I guess you would need another blower pointed inward with matching 6 inch pipe just to stay static.

Randy, I'm in St. Louis - bitter winters, burning dustbowl conditions in the summer (at least last summer - hey, but its a dry heat!) hurricaines up from the gulf in the fall, and we're just getting ready for the spring tornado festival.


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## shawnmasterson (Jan 24, 2013)

I wouldn't waste your time. If you have a dust problem after the pleated filter then you need to look at leaks, or an over head dust filter. If you were in an out building that had no climate control then sure, but indoors no way.


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## DIYaholic (Jan 28, 2011)

The 5 Micron bag is allowing the finest of fines (the health hazardous ones!) to recirculate. I suggest upgrading to a canister filter with better filtration. I use the Wynn Enviromental 35A274NANO, which filters down to 0.5 Microns. Shawn is correct about supplementing the DC with an ambient air cleaner. I have a shop built ambient air cleaner, utilizing a squirrel cage blower.


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## ssnvet (Jan 10, 2012)

What Charlie said….


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## revwarguy (Mar 12, 2013)

My mistake, Randy. I do have a canister type (what I meant by a pleated one with a paddle) and it is a 1 micron filter, not 5, which is here.

I also have a room filter, shown here (go down to the bottom of the page) sitting under my V drum sander. It was made from a attic gable fans and some good furnace filters. Also serves a a base for several tools.

Anyway, I am still thinking of upgrading my DC, which is now a bag/cannister affair with a Thein top hat front end with a cyclone and more powerful blower, hoping that will work better.


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## shawnmasterson (Jan 24, 2013)

the most important thing about the air filter is for them to work properly is they need to be mounted high and at a point where they circulate the air around the room un obstructed. if the filter has to draw it all to 1 point it will be very inefficient. when you turn on a properly mounted air filter it causes a draft around the room and once the air is moving it will stay in motion, kind of like a pool. if you walk around it one way the current will keep going if you stop. just an FYI


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## Dusty56 (Apr 20, 2008)

Talk about beating a dead horse , this subject has been covered *62 times* so far on this site alone ! WOW !
Enter "venting DC exhaust outside" in site search bar and settle back for some answers…pack a lunch first ! LOL : )


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## AlaskaGuy (Jan 29, 2012)

Talk about beating a dead horse , this subject has been covered 62 times so far on this site alone ! WOW !
Enter "venting DC exhaust outside" in site search bar and settle back for some answers…pack a lunch first ! LOL : )

-When did quiet and quite become the same word ? I'm guessing about the same time as your and you're did.

*Lucky you. You don't have to read anymore of this thread. *


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## revwarguy (Mar 12, 2013)

the most important thing about the air filter is for them to work properly is they need to be mounted high and at a point where they circulate the air around the room un obstructed.

I think I would take a bit of exception on this, and I know you are only stating conventional advice. I have experience with both fixed positioned air filters and movable air filters, in that if I leave my filter at the same place, the inevitable pockets and eddys of air turbulence will build up dust over time in certain places, just like the one that used to hang from my ceiling did - if I move mine around from time to time, this effect is much less visible. It may indeed be a bit more inefficient this way, depending on its position relative to other tools, but unless that is measured, how much are you talking about? Do I just have to run it a few minutes more? It is simply my experience that fixed positioned air filters don't do as good a job as ones that are moved around. I do observe that after running it for "a while" I can apply finish with ill effect. How long "a while" is depends much more on what the work was that caused the dust and where it was done than on its inherent efficiency.

Sorry if I didn't consult the 2 million posts here before posting, but if one tires of a topic, perhaps not reading the thread would produce a happier outcome. Just sayin.


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