# Dust Collection and a Open (Garage) Door Policy



## christherookie (Jan 22, 2010)

Here's what I do for dust collection and filtration and my future plans. Please let me know if this will work.

I tend to do one project a month. It might be a small picture frame or box or more rarely a large piece of furniture. I've probably been doing this for about a year. Before that, I was doing one project every six months. That being said, I've only been doing woodworking for about 2 years, maybe 3.

I have an attached garage with Heating/AC inside and unfortunately the air intake is within the garage (don't ask). The garage contains my wife's car and a bunch of standard stuff you'd find stored in a garage. My workshop, if I may call it that, is a workbench and then two carts which contain my portable table saw, router, orbital spindle sander, and a downdraft table. Whenever i want to work, I pull out the car and wheel my carts into the middle of the garage.

Currently, I use a dust mask (going to a respirator before my next project), a shop vac that is attached to whatever tool I use, and with the garage door open, I run a box fan with a furnace filter. Changes are coming!

I'm usually using poplar, pine, plywood (i know this stuff can be nasty), or red oak, occasionally something like maple or walnut.

My plan going forward is the following:
1. HEPA filter on my Shop Vac.
2. Add dust cyclone setup with the vac.
3. Upgrade to a half-mask respirator with proper filters
4. Here is where I'm unsure….since I open the garage and I have carts with wheels, should I just wheel everything out to my driveway while still using the shop vac setup? This way the ultra fine particles (that aren't sucked up and filtered) are sent flying out into the sky. Then, I'd use a larger fan to blow air out of the garage so nothing drifts back in. If this simplifies things, is effective, and keeps that fine dust outside, then I'm all for it.

Would this be considered safe and effective? I'm also looking at an apron or something else to minimize the stuff I bring in the house on my person.

P.S. In winter months, I don't do any woodworking.


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## clin (Sep 3, 2015)

Certainly working outside is the best way to not get dust inside. However, I would still wear a respirator because your face is usually close to where the saw dust is created.

I run a shop vac, with Dust Deputy cyclone, a bag in the vac, and a hepa filter. The Dust Deputy collects almost all of the material, the bag that much more, leaving the hepa to get the very fine stuff and never clogs.

I run a Jet room filter which is pretty much a furnace filter followed by a much finer filter stage.

I'm under no illusion that the shop vac is getting much of the fine dust as it is created. But it gets the bulk of the material. I have used an air particle counter, I I do see the count go up significantly when using my table saw. I wear my respirator while cutting, and if I've made more than a quick cut, I wear my respirator for about 15 minutes after using the saw. This gives time for the room filter to bring down the dust level and for dust to settle out of the air.

I often run the room filter even when not cutting. This is to help get the dust I kick up walking around the shop. Note: this is not visible dust. But it is easy to measure with the particular counter.

Bottom line working outside is best for not contaminating the inside. Next is using a dust collector, but venting it outside so filtering doesn't matter.

Same goes for ventilation. If you can draw fresh outside air in and blow dust out, that is best. Next is running a filter when recirculating the air.

You made a comment about air intake being in the garage. This concerns me enough to ask. If you are saying the air return for your house furnace/AC is in the garage, this is very bad. Lots of chemicals such as fuel vapors as well as some CO from the car, and now possibly fine dust from wood working. This is not safe, wouldn't meet building codes anywhere I know of, and would get flagged and have to be corrected before you could sell the home. I hope I misunderstood what you meant by that.


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## christherookie (Jan 22, 2010)

> You made a comment about air intake being in the garage. This concerns me enough to ask. If you are saying the air return for your house furnace/AC is in the garage, this is very bad. Lots of chemicals such as fuel vapors as well as some CO from the car, and now possibly fine dust from wood working. This is not safe, wouldn t meet building codes anywhere I know of, and would get flagged and have to be corrected before you could sell the home. I hope I misunderstood what you meant by that.
> 
> - clin


The high efficiency furnace intake is in the garage. The exhaust goes outside. Air returns are throughout the house.


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## clin (Sep 3, 2015)

> You made a comment about air intake being in the garage. This concerns me enough to ask. If you are saying the air return for your house furnace/AC is in the garage, this is very bad. Lots of chemicals such as fuel vapors as well as some CO from the car, and now possibly fine dust from wood working. This is not safe, wouldn t meet building codes anywhere I know of, and would get flagged and have to be corrected before you could sell the home. I hope I misunderstood what you meant by that.
> 
> - clin
> 
> ...


I get it. The combustion air is coming from the garage. That makes much more sense and of course is quite common.


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## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

Check out Gore Cleanstream shop vac filters. A little more expensive than the standard disposable filters but washable and will last for years so quickly save you money. I've had mine for over 4 years now and I never see any dust coming out of my shop vac. You used to be able to buy them directly on their website but they must have changed that recently.


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