I am looking into possibly purchasing an EF5. The unit will be mounted outdoors under a deck but I only have 90" of clearance. I might be able to get 10" extra by mounting the motor in between the joists of the deck above but of course that is still not enough. I would like to explore going down into the ground. One version I am contemplating is to permanently bury the dust collection barrel all the way which would then give me lots of clearance above. The question though is - how to empty the barrel. One option of course is to suck out the chips with a shop vac which seems like it will be a giant mess although do-able. I am curious if anyone has maybe used an auger system to pull the chips out of the barrel.
I am thinking of a 4" tube going into the side of the collection barrel at an angle to about the height of the barrel and buried beside the barrel. When the dust collector is in operation, a cap is covering the tube to make sure the collection barrel is air tight. When I want to empty the barrel I slide a 4" auger down the tube and the dust is transported up the tube and emptied into a collection barrel to be disposed of.
It is very likely that I am over thinking this but I wanted to throw it out there and see what people thought .....
I am thinking of a 4" tube going into the side of the collection barrel at an angle to about the height of the barrel and buried beside the barrel. When the dust collector is in operation, a cap is covering the tube to make sure the collection barrel is air tight. When I want to empty the barrel I slide a 4" auger down the tube and the dust is transported up the tube and emptied into a collection barrel to be disposed of.
It is very likely that I am over thinking this but I wanted to throw it out there and see what people thought .....