It beats me why guys get so hung up on bags, filters, micron count etc. Vent it out side and forget about it. 
I use a HF with a 35 gal. Trash can and a cheap plastic cyclone lid as a seperator. Only miniscule amounts of dust accumulates outside. If that's a problem, it's easy enough to direct it into a suitable receptacle outside. 
It freed up beaucoup space, no bags to empty and, I think the air flow is better. But I'm not anal about that either. 

Rant over.

I agree, venting outside is the best setup you can have. But dealing with the loss of conditioned air is why I don't do it. Heating in the winter is expensive enough, I don't want to do anything to make it higher. That said, as I consider how I will set up DC in my current shop I am thinking of a "convertible" system. That is, being able to switch to the filter in the winter, and vent outside from maybe May to October-ish.

This Fred has to agree with the other Fred.  Summer A/C and Winter it's heating.  That being said, I only use the "big" system when using the planer or the table saw.  All the other times I let the A/C wall unit (on fan) do the job - have dual air filters in front of the intake.

Freds, no A/C in my shop. However, it's heated with a infrared, flameless propane heater. The heater is 12 yrs old. The DC has been vented outside for 7 yrs. Kept good record of the fuel consumption for the first 10 years. There was little < or> difference from year to year. Attributable mostly to the weather.

A/C could be a different animal, though.

The DC only runs when a machine runs. During the cold months, the heater runs 24/7 because our well water equipment is in the shop.

Edited October 18, 20169 yr by Gene Howe

Basement shop with conditioned air is my reason too.  I do vent it to the yard from the couple machines I have in the shop out back. 

For those of you venting outside be careful you are not back drafting your hot water tanks or furnaces.

I considered external venting and rejected it for Two  reasons: Winter & Summer.  The humidity around here can get so bad it's almost like being at the sea shore with the salt spray.  The winters can be cold and I would prefer to suck neither into my shop.

ERGO  a high  quality DC is the only way to go.

 

Some folks can't vent out side because it is illegal where they live.

Some can't because they have neighbors who'd be affected.

There's lots of reasons for a good DC

And I hadn't even considered sucking the CO2 out of my oil fired furnace.

 

 

Yeah, there's a lot of factors to consider. My shop is detatched with it's own heat and power. No neighbors and no overbearing governmental regulations. 

As to heat loss, I've felt the exhaust during the winter and it is a bit warmer than ambient but not a lot. I'm guessing that much of the heat dissipates from the hoses and separator before it exits. 

Well, this might take this thread a little sideways, but the air exiting my DC is actually warmer than the room air. In fact, in the summer I used a small window AC for cooling (8K BTU) and if I ran the DC for a long stretch it would overpower the AC. I've done absolutely no work on temp measurement or anything else; I 'm guessing the extreme turbulence and slight compression within the system is warming it up. But that is just a guess.

 

18 minutes ago, Fred W. Hargis, Jr said:

Well, this might take this thread a little sideways, but the air exiting my DC is actually warmer than the room air. In fact, in the summer I used a small window AC for cooling (8K BTU) and if I ran the DC for a long stretch it would overpower the AC. I've done absolutely no work on temp measurement or anything else; I 'm guessing the extreme turbulence and slight compression within the system is warming it up. But that is just a guess.

 

Fred, I noticed the same thing in the DC exhaust, I have mine in a separate room outside the shop,but it has a return air grill back to the shop. I often thought that if I lived where I could vent it directly outside,it would be a good idea. But I have neighbors too close to do that. As long as he doesn't vent his bathroom towards my house, I will not vent the DC towards his.

Herb

4 hours ago, Fred W. Hargis, Jr said:

Well, this might take this thread a little sideways, but the air exiting my DC is actually warmer than the room air. In fact, in the summer I used a small window AC for cooling (8K BTU) and if I ran the DC for a long stretch it would overpower the AC. I've done absolutely no work on temp measurement or anything else; I 'm guessing the extreme turbulence and slight compression within the system is warming it up. But that is just a guess.

 

Fred...sounds like the DC is trying to exhale more than it can inhale...

 

Maybe some suction break ahead of the DC might help to move more air without affecting the suction at the tool...?  This would allow the DC to move all the air it wants keeping turbulence and heat down...

Ventilation is a process of bringing outdoor air into a building, thus ventilation plays an important role. Many technician often forgets about the V in HVAC but an experienced technician will give much importance to both heating and cooling system as well as a ventilation system. I suggest you to consult an experienced and trained HVAC technician like this for doing proper ventilation of your basement.

Edited November 8, 20169 yr by patrichardson

Fred, there would be a very slight heat up of air due compression -- probably about 3 degrees F for a 10 inch of water pressure change. More likely the heat buildup during the operation of the dust collector would be due to the Dust Collector motor heat. If the overall mechanical efficiency of the motor is 70% (power in to mechanical power out), the rest of the energy would ending up in heat generation.

On 10/18/2016 at 9:43 AM, Gene Howe said:

It beats me why guys get so hung up on bags, filters, micron count etc. Vent it out side and forget about it. 
I use a HF with a 35 gal. Trash can and a cheap plastic cyclone lid as a seperator

Different strokes for different folks. Some think that everyone should own a industrial cabinet table saw, I don't. I'm not a big believer in the added expense of pleated cartridge filters, unless I would need to reduce the height of the filter because of a low ceiling issue. The bag filter that your using now is maybe better then the old 30 micron bags from the older days. If thats good enough for you thats all that matters. For just a little more money there are much better investments in a DC. The dust collector that I use came with a true one micron felt bag, and came setup to easily add a onboard 2 stage dust separator to it, plus I also use a air filtration unit. I do not vent outside because of the reasons that some have already explained.

Edited June 25, 20179 yr by CharlieL

1 hour ago, CharlieL said:

Different strokes for different folks. Some think that everyone should own a industrial cabinet table saw, I don't. I'm not a big believer in the added expense of pleated cartridge filters, unless I need to reduce the height of the filter because of a low ceiling issue. The bag filter that your using now is maybe better then the old 30 micron bags from the older days. If thats good enough for you thats all that matters. For just a little more money there are much better investments in a DC. The dust collector that I use came with a true one micron felt bag, and came setup to easily add a onboard 2 stage dust separator to it, plus I also use a air filtration unit. I do not vent outside because of the reasons that some have already explained.

Wonderful feedback on this subject Charlie! And then there's the folks who buy the big industrial cabinet saw, well, just because they can. I aint one of em! Like you said, different strokes, and that's so important to remember for us all. In woodworking and its related machinery and tools, there are a 1000 different ways to skin that cat. Poor cat.

20 hours ago, John Morris said:

Wonderful feedback on this subject Charlie! And then there's the folks who buy the big industrial cabinet saw, well, just because they can. I aint one of em! Like you said, different strokes, and that's so important to remember for us all. In woodworking and its related machinery and tools, there are a 1000 different ways to skin that cat. Poor cat.

 

...and I'm told there is a 1001 uses for dead ones!

4 hours ago, schnewj said:

 

...and I'm told there is a 1001 uses for dead ones!

 

but ya gotta know when they are no longer edible...