I am building a new shop here is Massachusetts and am considering mounting my 2hp Grizzly Cyclone outside. Has anyone else done this? How long can I expect it to last outside? I can put a little roof over it probably pretty inexpensively.
My first inclination is to blow all the noise and air outside and only pipe the air back in if it really cools or warms up the building too quickly.
Chris
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I installed my dust collector in a small shed about 4 feet behind my shop just to get the noise and mess outside. My DC pipes run underground so the floor of the shed is about 3' below my shops floor so the pipes can enter the DC impellor at a level run. I had planned on adding a return duct for make up air but after 6 years I have not missed the air. In the cold of the winter I usually crack a shop door to provide makeup air if I am running my DC for a long time My shop has infloor heat so there is plenty of thermal heat sink to cover for a bit of cold air intake. I love not having sawdust all over when emptying the DC bags. I can use the leaf blower to clean the DC shed when needed. If I had to do it again I'd make the shed a few feet taller so I could add barrels below my lower bags. The shed has a large grill to let air dump outside otherwise it would probably burst from the air pressure.  The shed also has a pair of side hatches on the other side to aid in emptying the bags.
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Now that is a nice set up right there. Very well done.
Cant say about having one outside, but have seen people just vent the air outside and dispense with the filters. In my last shop I build a small room in the shop for the cyclone, phase converter, and compressor. Of course I had a lot of room then, which I dont have now.
It was a grizzly cyclone and it was very loud. Even louder than the woodsucker I had before that.
Right now I am considering the Oneida V series which are composite cyclones and supposedly a touch less loud. Anyone have one of those?
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Well, it's steel, so as long as you keep rust at bay, it should last almost forever. The motor may not be as well built as a typical NEMA TEFC motor, which can be left in the weather, so I'd just put a little roof over it. And make sure the junction box is sealed or shielded. Mine vents out the window (basement shop) and I like that any fine dust that may get by the cyclone goes outside. I don't use filters, and don't feel I need to, as I don't see signs of dust in the snow in the window well. If I could put it outdoors, I would. 
Tom
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TDKPE said:
Well, it's steel, so as long as you keep rust at bay, it should last almost forever. The motor may not be as well built as a typical NEMA TEFC motor, which can be left in the weather, so I'd just put a little roof over it. And make sure the junction box is sealed or shielded.
Mine vents out the window (basement shop) and I like that any fine dust that may get by the cyclone goes outside. I don't use filters, and don't feel I need to, as I don't see signs of dust in the snow in the window well.
If I could put it outdoors, I would.
Tom, how loud is the noise outside your house where the vent comes through the wall. I have a Clearvue that I would like to vent outside but have wondered how much extra noise I would be subjecting my long suffering neighbors to. Ken
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I can hardly hear it run when standing outside the window. Seriously. But I do have a long 8" dia. insulated soft flex, so a lot of the noise energy is lost before it gets that far, much of it inside since the walls don't prevent much from getting through.
Tom
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I worked in a shop that had the cyclone mounted outside the shop. The duct work to and from the cyclone was in the sun. The return air went to a bag house in the shop.
In the winter, the cyclone would cool off the air, and the shop would get dusty cold air from the bag house. The dust was the finest dust, the worst for one's lungs.
In the summer, the cyclone would heat up the air, and the shop would get dusty hot air from the bag house. The dust was the finest, the worst for one's lungs.
For 20 years I have used a trailer as a cyclone with no return vent. I use two blowers, one with an 11" inlet for heavy output machines, and one with a 6" for smaller output machines. I use a shop vac with a barrel cyclone for the spray off the top of the rip saw blade, and for sanding.
For a one person shop in Massachusetts, the heating and cooling works. I heat and air condition, and maintain humidity around 50%. Running the big blower for hours on end will be cold in the winter.
Cleaning air to breathable standards with woodworking equipment is not possible. Think about having a business filling SCUBA tanks with the output from your dust collector. Your non-customers would laugh at you.
Finally, putting the collection point of your dust collector out of your shop space allows all the spillage from storing and moving dust to be, well, out of your shop space. Mine ends up on the ground, in a small clearing in the woods. After it gets wet with rain, I shovel it up into a trailer, and it goes to augment soil at a farm.
So it seems that the cyclone will work fine without the filter on the output? It doesn't require the backpressure of the filter to operate properly? The cyclone body itself isn't huge, maybe I should install the cyclone inside but remove the filter and pump the output straight outside?
That could be a good compromise.
I do like the idea of having the barrel outside. I have also thought about upgrading to a 55 gallon barrel as well.
Chris
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The filter is not needed. I took mine out a while back.
As an added bonus the cyclone is much more quiet without the sound of all that air passing through the filter.
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Ken Vick said:
Tom, how loud is the noise outside your house where the vent comes through the wall. I have a Clearvue that I would like to vent outside but have wondered how much extra noise I would be subjecting my long suffering neighbors to. Ken
Ken That ClearVue is the way to go. My friend bought one late last year and that thing can suck a mole off of a witches face. I am saving to get one for me and the vets I work with.
As of this time I am not teaching vets to turn. Also please do not send any items to me without prior notification. Thank You Everyone.
It is always the right time, to do the right thing.
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