I am trying to troubleshoot poor performance with my cyclone dust collector.
I picked it up a few years ago at action and have replaced the motor since. It is a 5HP 3PH.
I have never had good pickup at the machines so decided to rearrange the duct work to see if I could get and improvement.
Here is what I just changed:
- raised the unit so there was less of a raise for the ductwork to the ceiling
- reduced the number of main runs to 2. Put a blast gate close to the collector on each one so I could limit the collection to run main run.
- changed to direct vent to the outside and eliminated the filter bag.
If anything performance is worse than it was before.
I did check the motor direction and it seemed correct. However I did reverse it to make sure and performance was neither much worse or much better.
I checked the 'suction' both close to the collector off and off a run of about 20 ft and neither were good.
Any suggestions on next steps troubleshooting?
Thanks

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let me try the video again

Do you have the duct work connected incorrectly or just disconnected in the photo? What was the hp of the original motor and why did you replace it?

Check the rotation of the motor. It will suck going backwards just not well.

The original motor was also 5HP. It died and I replaced it with like motor.

Yes I just had the ductwork disconnected in the first video to test it close to the collector.

I reversed the motor and it didn't really change. That in itself is strange. I expected it to get worse or quite a bit better.

The impeller looks ok and the rest of the cyclone seem fine, just doesn't produce much CFM. I am dropping straight down to a 55 gallon drum. While that connection is kind of hobbled together it should be mostly air tight.

It has got to breathe in and out. Is there a filter somewhere? Is there enough filter? Does the filter need to be replaced?

Dust bags do not last forever, at a certain point they need to be replaced. I am putting my money on it can't breath out.

Is it possible the new motor is 1725 rpm instead of 3450?

Bill- I am direct venting outside without the filter bag. I have searched to see if no backpressure would cause issues but so far everything I see indicates it should help and not hurt.

Gary- I will double check the specs again. Pretty sure it is 3450. It would explain what I am seeing though.

I am running through an RPC, but I don't think that should matter.

Thanks.

That is odd. I do think you need some backpresdure. Running a collector without a filter can cause it to freewheel. You might just partially blocking the output to test it. With our central collector the we’re talking about putting a gate to close down the output until the filter got a dust cake on it.

Thanks for the suggestions. I checked the outflow and found that the hardware wire I had used to cover it to keep animals out was too fine. It had caught some wood shavings and essentially was acting like a clogged up filter. Removed it and it works great.
Thanks.