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Would you like to add information to this article? Interested in writing or submitting an article? Have a question about this article? Combining Dust Collectors Question
Forum Responses
From contributor T: I have about ten 2 hp collectors situated on a mezzanine. Each one of them drives just one machine. Most of them have custom felt air filtration bags from American Felt & Fabric. I have contemplated hooking them up to a common collection center, similar to a Dustek with air filtration on the top and plastic bags on the bottom. Right now the dedicated system works really well. We successfully evacuate a 20 inch jointer with about 45 feet of six inch pipe. Three quarters of that run is either straight up vertical or 45 degree incline. The overall hike vertically is about 12 feet. I prefer to run the smaller collectors because it doesn't make sense to me to turn on 20HP of collector to run a 2 hp saw. Under my proposed scenario, each collector would still be dedicated to one machine. My (uncorroborated) theory is that each machine would become more efficient because of enhanced (shared) air filtration. I discussed this once before on the DC forum and someone suggested that I might need to introduce some kind of one-way baffle to keep back pressure from pushing dust toward the machines that weren't under power. Do you think it would work?
From contributor O: To the original questioner: I've kinda been toying with a similar idea, only on a smaller scale. We are soon moving into a new building and we have a 2hp dc hooked up to most of our machines that exhaust into an outside dust wagon via a 6" outlet. We will be adding a couple more machines and I would like to purchase another 2 or 3 hp collector and hook part of the machines to one and the rest to the other and "Y" both 6" outlets into one, then out into the dust bin. Will this work or will I get blowback from one when the other is not on? If so, a baffle seems like a good idea. Any suggestions on fabricating one? From contributor S: Contributor T, think of it a s a plumbing problem. Subtract the fans for pumps and air for water. Without a one-way system after each pump, water would be forced into the pump from its pressure side (dust from saw 1 comes out at saw 2). Then also, what if two pumps were running at the same time? Would the pressure in the pipe be double or the same? And can the pumps work efficiently with existing pressure in the line? Pump 1 is running and therefore the pipe is pressurized. Pump 2 is not designed to work with the pressure that is already in the pipe, so it might cause pump 1 and 2 to work at the same output together as they would if operated on their own. Just some thoughts that jumped into my head while looking at your plan. I’m no expert, so I might be way off. From contributor T: Those are good points to think about. The back pressure can be fixed (I think) with the one-way baffle. I know enough about air flow to understand that it is complicated. (I see this in the diagrams where they postulate hypothetical air demand on shop layout.) This is why I started initially with one machine, one collector. I might experiment with this on a small case. Maybe just hook up three bags and two collectors. It would be really nifty if it worked. Lots of pull, low electrical consumption. From contributor D: The only way this would have any chance of working would be to run the collectors in series (one behind the other). The only problem you have is that the blower on the back side will be trying to draw too much vacuum and will burn out the motor. The only way to keep the back end blower motor from burning up would be to reduce the inlet size, which would reduce the cfm. Your best bet is to get a central system with one motor and one collection point. While you might save a few pennies on electricity, you will spend money on labor to keep emptying bags all the time. We have a large central system outside of our small shop and we spend 15 minutes once a month to clean it out. You can find inexpensive used systems on IRSauctions and Ebay. From the original questioner: You're absolutely right. I've seen huge collectors go from a few hundred to only a few thousand dollars. My problem is I don't have the 15-20k to spend on dust pipe at the moment. That'll end up costing way more than the system. The only reason I was considering this is because I have a few Bridgewood 5 HP collectors. They were only $949 ea, and I figured if I need 10HP, I'd combine them. I was looking at Dusteks, which are 3500 new, or maybe buying one of them at auction. From contributor W: We bought a used 10hp Dustek on www.IRSauction for $500. The trick is to use what you have and be willing to be patient and diligent. Keep looking until what you want comes up for the right price. Have you reviewed the related Knowledge Base areas below? 
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