Dust Extractors

[morpheus83uk]

Hello,

I am looking for a dust extractor as the Wickes Wet and Dry vac does a goodish job however is starting to just have problems now where the suction is being lost and I cant seem to work out why. I have checked the filter, replaced the filter, emptied it and checked the hose and all is clean but still it is just unhappy. Its had a good run and at £40 I cant complain!

So I figured why not take the opportunity to get a proper dust extractor to try and stop the amount of dust in the garage as well as everywhere else and reduce the amount of time I have to tidy up.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I have read that some come with HEPA filters, some don't, some L class, some M class. I think I need M class as I will be using hard woods as well as softwoods and I believe M class deals with this from what I have read. Does it need to have a HEPA filter? What value does it give?

I am looking for something around the 30L mark as the Wickes one was only 20L which worked well but I kept having to empty it fairly often. Also what about filter bags? Are they worth the price? Do they reduce the amount you can collect? Recommendations around this as well would be appreciated.

Thanks

James

 

[Deleted member 174758]

I have read that some come with HEPA filters, some don't, some L class, some M class. I think I need M class as I will be using hard woods as well as softwoods and I believe M class deals with this from what I have read. Does it need to have a HEPA filter? What value does it give?

Some HEPA filters are M-class, some are not. You only really need HEPA if you have a dust allergy, and not even then. What is certain is that M-class is the legal standard for use with all timbers and timber-based products in workshops and on site - and that quite a few HEPA filters just can't meet the standard. The difference between L-class and M-class in terms of the smallest particles not just being passed straight through the vacuum is quite significant, but for a DIYer it might take decades of exposure for problems, if any, to surface

So, as a lot of the trade M-class vacuums are in the £400 to £600 (and upwards) range there is clearly a need for something a lot cheaper. Trend have a new product on the market, the T35A-M (27 litres, despite the monniker), at around £250 to £260 (street price), but even cheaper is the V-Tuf at about £120. Sadly for you both are fairly small. The difficulty is that if you go above about 25 litre capacity you are often into full trade vacuum territory with products such as the Metabo ASR35M, Festool CTL36M, etc and their prices will make your eyes water.

Another approach may be to take a cheaper extractor and fit a pre-filter cyclone and maybe a HEPA filter to it. The pre-filter cyclones look like this:

It is necessary to make your own drop box (basically a bucket with a sheet of ply on top where a hole has been jig-sawed out to take the bottom of the cyclone) and source some flexible hoses and Jubilee clips, but these pre-filter cyclones have the advantage of spinning 95% or more of the dust out before the air even gets to the vacuum extractor. That means the filters in the vacuum last a very long time and that a single dust bag in the vacuum may take months to fill up. Can be used with a very cheap vacuum to make a very effective dust extraction system if you don't mind doing a bit of DIY

Also what about filter bags? Are they worth the price? Do they reduce the amount you can collect?

They do reduce how much you can collect, but they are also part of the filtration system and having them means that your main filters last a lot longer (and when you have an M-class vacuum where a pair of main filters run you £100 like I do, using cheapish multi-use dust bags at £12 a pop when you get 8 to 10 uses as opposed to £6 a bag for the single use OEM bags makes a huge difference to what it costs you to run a vacuum), Of course, if you have a pre-filter cyclon between the tool and the vacuum, the bag will last much, much longer

 

[morpheus83uk]

Thank you so I don't need a HEPA filter then as I don't have a dust allergy.

I did find the trend ones but as you say they are a bit small. I did notice the price tag however if it will last a long time and not give me any health problems then it's probably a very good investment going forward. Plus if it also saves me time by not having to tidy up all the power tools and the garage with a mask on that's also a bonus it means I can work for longer periods of time to get things done opposed to having to stop like an hour before I have to just so I can get everything cleared up and put away where vacuuming is the longest process as dust is everywhere.

With regards to the bags obviously it's better to use them but how much capacity is lost roughly by using a bag? I can't imagine it being much but I could be wrong...

Thanks

James