Blowing dust outside

R

Reid Maclean

New member
I'm considering getting a clearvue system & venting the dust outside. My house is in the woods and there's no neighbors behind my shop. I do however have a back porch and work area and wouldn't want there to be a fine layer of dust everywhere. In addition I worry that the fine dust might blow back towards the house. Can anyone comment on how venting into the great outdoors works? I'd also need to have the ability to use filters in the winter as it's cold in upstate NY.
Thanks in advance.
Reid
 
Blowing Dust Outside

Blowing Dust Outside

Reid,
For a year or so I have blown the fine dust outside. I have a 4" duct attached to the clean-out at the bottom of the filter stack and I run that outside thru a 4" dryer vent. From the drop in air pressure thru the filters I estimate that about 750 CFM goes thru the filters and about 250 CFM out thru the external vent. No dust collects at the bottom of the filter stack. The vent feeds right onto my patio and I see no visible dust. About 10 feet away I have a clothes dryer vent and many times as much lint comes out of it. So it should not be a problem unless you overflow the collection bin or if you have a leak at the bottom of the cyclone. I do not generate huge amounts of dust; it would be interesting to hear from others who do.
bababrown
 
I exhaust outside exclusively. Took the factory turn down off and made a new straight port that converts to an 8-6-6 wye and from there 6" flex to two 6" louvered exhaust vents. These blow directly on a tree to the north side of the shop. I see no evidence on the tree or ground of dust. Prevailing winds here would carry any dust out across the creek into a small but dense wooded lot on the other side. I haven't made a lot of dust, but see no problems in doing so. Jim.
 
Exhausting outside

Exhausting outside

I am also thinking about purchasing a system and venting it outside without using filters. Are there disadvantages to this over using filters? I assume that not having filters will increase the airflow. My shop is in a barn surrounded by 70 acres, so the outside dust shouldn't be a problem. It is, however, cold here in winter, and I imagine that this solution might make it colder inside.

Any thoughts or recommendations?
 
You are right that in the winter, it would suck the warmth out if you exhaust outside. Maybe you could do both, and use the filters in the winter, and exhaust outside when the weather is nice. You would have to build a wye and install 2 blast gates to be able to choose which one you are using. Not a big deal except the exhaust is 8" pipe. I used a metal 8-6-6 wye on my exhaust, you would use an 8-8-8 for your purpose. Jim.
 
Venting outside is the way to go when you can, it keeps the filters cleaner. Having typical blast gates on the pressure side could cause some dust leakage back into the shop. I made a duct with a rotating plate to switch between the outside vent and filters which keeps all the dust confined to the duct system. You might want to consider some kind of quick disconnect using a flex hose to switch between the outside vent and filters.
 
Reid Maclean said:
I'm considering getting a clearvue system & venting the dust outside. My house is in the woods and there's no neighbors behind my shop. I do however have a back porch and work area and wouldn't want there to be a fine layer of dust everywhere. In addition I worry that the fine dust might blow back towards the house. Can anyone comment on how venting into the great outdoors works? I'd also need to have the ability to use filters in the winter as it's cold in upstate NY.
Thanks in advance.
Reid
Click to expand...


I have the same situation you have and the dust is not a problem at all. you can look at my pictures to get an idea how mine is set up.
 
Clearvue do a straight exhaust transition these days for those that want to exhaust straight to atmosphere.
 
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