Dust collection question

My 80 gal 5 hp air compressor is in a shed addition to my shop and I have plans to eventually add a dust collector out there too, but for now I have a re-purposed whole house central vacuum unit and a Dust Deputy on a 25 gallon metal barrel mounted in my shop attic. Since both are outside the insulated walls and ceiling of my shop, there isn't much noise getting inside the shop from either of them. I had to put a colored light on the shop ceiling to remind me that the vacuum is running, because I left it on several times. The vacuum isn't large enough for my bigger dust producing tools, but it works quite well for my scroll saws, drill presses, sanders, etc.

My biggest reason for not installing a large dust collector is because my shop is only 14 X 26' and figuring out how to run the pipes is causing me great concern. I just don't have any room left for them. I break down sheet stock and do all of my planing outside, so the jointer and Unisaw are the dust producers that would gain the most benefit from the large dust collector. Presently, the jointer drops it's chips down a chute and into a waste bucket, and the Unisaw collects most of it's saw dust in the base cabinet and I shovel it out about every 6 months. My window style heat pump mounted high and through the North wall doubles as my shop air filter. I found that I could get a 14 X 26 pleated furnace filter behind the cover and I replace it frequently.

Charley

When I set up my shop in a 22X24 building I built a shelter at the back to house a 1 HP dust collector. I couldn't stand the noise and didn't want to be wearing ear protection all the time. I put a 40 gallon separator in the shop and ran a 4" pipe through the wall to the shelter.

Then I upgraded to a 2HP unit. Although the new larger unit would just fit in the shelter it was difficult to empty the filter bag. I live on 4 acres of mostly wooded property and I empty the dust and chips from the separator into the woods, back to where it came from in the first place. So now I bypass the filter and blow whatever doesn't get caught in the separator into the woods at the back of the shop. After more than a year doing this there is no sign of dust or wood chips around my shop. The leaves come down every year and cover it all up.

The only disadvantage of putting the dust collector outside is that all the air the the blower uses come from the shop so in the winter I have to crack a window open about an inch to allow for the make up air. I loose some heat this way but it's still worth it to me.