Air Cleaner Recommendations wanted

[Hoosier25]

I'm considering buying a air cleaner for my two car garage.

If you own one, what is your opinion of the one you own?

Recommendation of size and brand.( Less than $400)

Roger

[Alan S]

I have had a Jet AFS 1000B for 6 or 7 years. It works well, has remote, timer, and multiple speeds. The timer is very useful, as my shop is in the basement and my wife is quite allergy prone: I can leave the cleaner going for a couple of hours after I leave the shop, and she really doesn't get exposed to any wood dust. I suspect many similar models work as well. (We have hydronic heat rather than forced air, so dust is not spread around the house by that.)

It has two filters built in, one internal very fine filter, and one exposed prefilter that is the same thing as a (cheaper) 12" x 24" allergen filter. I attach a very cheap extra filter outside that, that gets changed frequently. It's held on with stretch wrap around the edge.

I got this thing in a hurry after a flood had caused mold that made me allergic to my shop -- my first allergy to anything I knew of. The air cleaner (and dehumidifier) completely fixed the problem, and has continued to work better than expected. It's fantastic for clearing the air after you work, but you need dust collection as well to capture dust while you work. I was surprised that it helps as much as it does to keep down dust during work though.

If I had not been in a hurry when I bought it, I might have made my own. Lots of people have.

[Robert Adams]

The best bang for the buck is the Wen or powertec on amazon. It's usually around $125 but as usual has its price spikes. Grizzly and jet also sell the exact same unit but for a higher price in different colors.

[dg152]

I have the Jet AFS 1000B which I bought of craigslist for about $200. It's worked well for me in my 24 x 24 shop. The only problem I've had with it is the circuit board went out on it and had to be replaced. Otherwise, it seems to be well made and do the job.

[fishhh4]

I have the Jet 1500 . Good unit ...They don't make it anymore . I also snagged that Grizzly last year for 99.00 . It looks just like that Wen , Powertec that was mentioned . I think the Small Rikon is similar . Probably all made in same plant . ( Geetech )   maybe
Or its TTI , or One world tech.
Lots of people have  made a  simple one with a box fan , and a 20 * 20 furnace filter  . Thats what I use when I spray drop dry finishes .

[MikeBob]

In my 15x15ft shop I had 2, 20" box fans with 2" pleaded Merf 8 filters on them and after 6 months minimal dust on horizontal surfaces.
Quieter also.

[Steve N]

I bought 2 of these last year when they were 99 bux They only go to 5 micron. I have not hung them, but use them on table/bench tops when I am making some dust. I also use DC directly at the machines, and I wear a dust mask if I am doing anything that I can see dust as I do it, which is of course any sanding, sawing, and a lot of routing. What I have found is no one method is perfect, and even with hi end HEPA, and electrically charged filters that woodworking machines aren't really designed to bottle up all of the dust.

Back to my cheapy desktop units, they do their share of the work. If the air gets a lot of dust so that I can see it floating, they will clear the room pretty quickly. Interior of my barn is 32x48, but the work is in back so 24x32 x12' ceilings. I also have 2 ceiling fans that basically just move the air. When I have the entire dog and pony show going I find my mask filters have very little fine dust build up after an hour of getting busy. If I leave out any component, I can quickly see it on my mask filters.

If I had spent a lot more money would it be better? I'll never know, because with my mask I'm sure all my lungs/eyes will get exposed to is clean. I will however have to push that broom.

BTW my mask. I take my respiratory health seriously, now that I can see the ravages of my misspent yooot..........





Now that I can't just take off running around the bases, or up a flight a stairs is late to getting smart about protection. You only get the one pair of lungs, treat em nice.

[Dave Diaman]

I strung these all through my shop and wired them all to a switched outlet with variable speed switch.  I have a layer of filter cloth and a MERV 13 filter. My biggest complaint complaint about commercial air cleaners is most are loud. Mine you can barely hear even with all of them running. As long as you keep the pre filter the merv filter should last a long time. The other filters I vacuum off periodically. I keep them on low and crank them up if I am milling lumber or doing a lot of sawing. I keep meaning to put a timer on them too but just haven't got around to it yet. Based on what I read box fans pull about 2200 cfm. That will obviously be lower pulling through a set of filters but 4 of them move a whole lot of air. 

[RonB1957]

Well, nothing fancy on my end. Just a powermatic on one side of the room directly over my cabinet saw, and a Jet on the other side of the room directly over my belt sander and lathe. My shop is only 22' x 24' ( main part) My idea was to create a circular draw and keep the dust out of the 8 x 24" little room the metal lathe and small mill are in. Works to some extent as it clears out the room very quickly. My furnace, however, is now in the little room and tends to draw fine dust into that room. I often do not close the door between the two rooms. My bad.

[Steve N]

Ron we got a new furnace, and AC last Spring when our AC died, and our furnace never was an award winner so we upgraded. Just recently found out that the new furnace has safety features where it senses the quality of the incoming air for combustion, and if dirty it fouls a little sensor plug. Our intake had been from basement air, and they didn't change that, but we've found they were supposed to. Between 2 cat boxes LOML stirs into a clean frenzy twice a week, and me making some dust when it's cold out in the barn, I go down in the basement. We fouled the devil out of that sensor. No furnace at all when if first got cold for a few days in a row, and the safety feature shut it down to keep from a fire/explosion condition. We now have combustion air coming in from the outside, and we are back to stirring up dust in the basement.