Central Vacuum And Workshop Dust Extractors

[Prostheta]

So we're looking at what we're doing over the next two years. One of the things is building a house, perhaps something like this:

http://www.kontio.fi/fin/Kuvagalleria.631.html?kat=21

Essentially, I have the choice of my new workshop being either integrated into the building or as an outhouse. If it is integrated, would it be workable and practical to install a central vacuum style system ("integrated ducting" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_vacuum#Configurations) using a chip and dust extractor, say like this:

http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-plus-...ctor-prod780347

...and also using the extractor unit as the central vacuum source for the living part of the house?

It would be important to bear this possibility in mind since the ducting would ideally need to be routed in relatively sensible and hidden places. Just thinking....

[borge]

A few things to consider:

will running the extractor through a single household vacuum sized hose put too much strain on the motor?

will you use a diverter valve to select workshop or household? if not, some suction may be lost through leakage or noise may become an issue.

The central unit usually stays in stand-by, and is turned on by a switch on the handle of the hose, or the unit powers up when the hose is plugged into the wall inlet when the metal hose connector makes contact with two prongs in the wall inlet and the current is transmitted through low voltage wires to the main unit.

How do you plan on getting around this^ you could switch on the unit manually but I'd guess you would need to switch it off whenever you unplug the hose as I assume the extractor wont like running with no inlet port open...

You could make a low voltage relay setup to switch the unit on and off with a switch at each outlet. or if you get hold of the outlets with prongs that'd be easier. either way, the relay setup would be quite cheap, I'd suggest 2 relays: all outlet switches/prongs in parallel feeding one low voltage relay which switches mains voltage to a high current relay(contactor, the extractor you linked is 16A) which switches voltage to the load. A 3way switch to select off/on/relay will also be needed.

That house looks great.

Edited August 14, 2010 by borge

[Woodenspoke]

The answer is no. Get a central Vac for your house and buy a real dust collector for your shop. I suggest you look at a larger unit capable of dust collection at several machines such as a cyclone style with hepa filter. Create a shop tha is fully piped in. Never pipe in a dust collector in the wall, if it gets clogged you are screwed. I would go for a seperate shop outside of the house or attached in a seperate wing. It will keep your house much cleaner.

1. Most central vacs run off 1 1/2" - 2" PVC tubing. A dust collector for multiple machines needs 5" to 6" Pipe to move enough air to pick up chips.

2. When or if you need to move you can take it with you.

3. Central Vacs clog easily and are not made to handle large amounts of a fine dust.

4. Central vac has a very small canister so its capacity is limited.

[Prostheta]

Thanks guys. Pretty much the same things as I was considering really. I was more thinking of using a powerful workshop vacuum system to serve both functions of CV and machine extraction Spoke, but yeah - good points. My considerations for having a workshop as part of the same building was more down to the issues of climate....winters below -25°C aren't kind to guitars or luthiers :-\

It might also be advantageous to have a separate wood extraction facility, as the dust could probably be mulched and compacted into briquettes for fuelling the contraflow furnace. Hardwoods used in guitar building likely have a high stored energy value which should make them ideal supplementary fuel sources....hell, burning guitars causes enough smoke and sparks on this board ;-)

[Woodenspoke]

You always need cooling and heating and ideally humidity control. I have my shop piped for dust and have had two homes with central Vacs. I mean it could be possible to have one wood size collector do both but honestly it would be beyond my abilities to figure out the logistics of such a system. They both are noisy and need to be located outside of the living space at least for the Central vac, like a garage. Then if someone wants to Vacuum your dust collector will kick in, I would be annoyed with That arrangement.

Anyway good luck.

[Prostheta]

Nina and I are very good in the whole organising who-has-what-appliance ;-) I figured that an all in one refuse collection would be useful if I was to integrate a workshop into the same building as our home. I'm hoping to move into home design with one of the bigger companies here in Finland, so this is a lot of imagineering than practice at the moment but looking forward it would be a home with 20+ yrs of lifetime. We're aiming towards being old and need our porch time.

I screwed up the link earlier in the thread...it should have been this:

http://www.kontio.fi/fin/Kuvagalleria/hirs...5fc8dd77ab5.jpg ...essentially a home on top of an integrated basement! Much of this is forward planning for what we're wanting to do with the rest of our lives.

Doesn't matter too much (thanks for the vote of luck!) as it's only a vacuum at present! Well, apart from the contraflow furnace/rear-facing oven and sauna designs which are a *very important* priority.

Man needs beer, pizza and makkara.