Continuous Use? (DC)

[greenMonster]

I know Festools are considered to be built like tanks...but

I left my CT mini running for 2 hrs on low as an impromptu air scrubber, is that excessive? Or can it take it?...or should I have felt confident to crank it up?

 

[harry_]

I would say that if it still runs, then it can take it

 

[semenza]

Not scientific but I have used mine  a number of times that I can't count for between 1 - 3 hours sanding at half speed. The way you used it it wouldn't have nearly the load on it as sanding so I don't think it should be a problem.

seth

 

[greenMonster]

yeah, I figured without a load it would be more than fine.
Thanks

 

[AlexThePalex]

The vacs are built to be used continuously for hours and hours. The thing you have to worry about is the motor heating up. That's why the motor is protected by a temperature sensor which shuts the vac off when it gets too hot. It shuts the vac off well before there is any damage done.

So you can run the vac as long as you like, and if any damage was about to happen, the vac will tell you all by itself by taking a break to cool down. 

 

[sancho57]

I know Festools are considered to be built like tanks...but

I left my CT mini running for 2 hrs on low as an impromptu air scrubber, is that excessive? Or can it take it?...or should I have felt confident to crank it up?

If it was in the warrenty period  wouldnt worry about it either way

 

[matt.mackinnon]

I know Festools are considered to be built like tanks...but

I left my CT mini running for 2 hrs on low as an impromptu air scrubber, is that excessive? Or can it take it?...or should I have felt confident to crank it up?

If it was in the warrenty period  wouldnt worry about it either way

Not the best of all advice to give.  I don't think this is the best of all tools for the job you are trying to do.  For the cost of the vacuum, I'd suggest getting an actual air filter, or build one from the squirrel cage from an old furnace.  Running it might not break it, but it will reduce the life expectancy of the motor.  I have a large DC and the motor comes with direct warring not to run it without the piping installed as you can damage the motor if you run without any resistance.  I would expect that the hose is giving that,. but you are putting load onto a motor and the end product is not very effective.

but that is just my opinion.

 

[Steve R]

I know Festools are considered to be built like tanks...but

I left my CT mini running for 2 hrs on low as an impromptu air scrubber, is that excessive? Or can it take it?...or should I have felt confident to crank it up?

If it was in the warrenty period  wouldnt worry about it either way

Not the best of all advice to give.  I don't think this is the best of all tools for the job you are trying to do.  For the cost of the vacuum, I'd suggest getting an actual air filter, or build one from the squirrel cage from an old furnace.  Running it might not break it, but it will reduce the life expectancy of the motor.   I have a large DC and the motor comes with direct warring not to run it without the piping installed as you can damage the motor if you run without any resistance.  I would expect that the hose is giving that,. but you are putting load onto a motor and the end product is not very effective.

but that is just my opinion.

I have been told by Steve Brace and my local Festool rep that can be used as air scrubbers with the advantage of HEPA filtration. They work great I have used them for hours running at full speed, when demoing walls and removing insulation.  I have 2 - CT22 and that means I can be cleaning 274 CFM so in a 750 sq. ft room ( 6000 CF) I get 2.74 complete air changes in an hour! Works great, keeps everyone and everything a bit less dusty when demoing.

Cheers,
Steve

 

[greenMonster]

I know Festools are considered to be built like tanks...but

I left my CT mini running for 2 hrs on low as an impromptu air scrubber, is that excessive? Or can it take it?...or should I have felt confident to crank it up?

If it was in the warrenty period  wouldnt worry about it either way

Not the best of all advice to give.  I don't think this is the best of all tools for the job you are trying to do.  For the cost of the vacuum, I'd suggest getting an actual air filter, or build one from the squirrel cage from an old furnace.  Running it might not break it, but it will reduce the life expectancy of the motor.  I have a large DC and the motor comes with direct warring not to run it without the piping installed as you can damage the motor if you run without any resistance.  I would expect that the hose is giving that,. but you are putting load onto a motor and the end product is not very effective.

but that is just my opinion.

That's interesting, didn't really occur to me. I removed my hose thinking the less resistance the better (less noise too!).

I've actually been doing alot of research on air scrubbers for remodeling and it's surprisingly hard to find much info on.
It seems like there are 3 camps:
1) Squirrel cage with furnace filters - dirt cheap
2) Prefab all in ones (essentially a pretty squirrel cage with an upgraded filter)
3) hardcore multi thousand dollar units

I can't find anything between 2 and 3 :/

 

[TomGadwa1]

I ordered one of the pretty squirrel cage units. The Powermatic PM1200. I am looking forward to using it. A nice feature that these dedicated air scrubbers employ is a timed shut off feature so that one can set a time in hourly increments for an automatic shut off. Thus the unit can finish cleaning up the air while other things can be tended to!

 

[fdengel]

I have been told by Steve Brace and my local Festool rep that can be used as air scrubbers with the advantage of HEPA filtration. They work great I have used them for hours running at full speed, when demoing walls and removing insulation.  I have 2 - CT22 and that means I can be cleaning 274 CFM so in a 750 sq. ft room ( 6000 CF) I get 2.74 complete air changes in an hour! Works great, keeps everyone and everything a bit less dusty when demoing.

What do you do, just run with the hose off?  About how effective do you judge that to be?

It would be interesting to get that straight from Festool... safe to do with which models without risking the motor?

 

[AlexThePalex]

It is safe to do with any of their models. Festool's vac motors are not like the DC motor Matt talks about. You can run them without hose as long as you like and if there's any chance of overheating, which can occur occasionally under any circumstance, the vac will turn itself off for a cooling period.

Whether it's effective in cleaning the air, that's another question. I don't think it will do much for you and you'll be much better off with a dedicated unit.

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

The CT's are not intended to be full room air filtration systems and I don't have any information about how effective they might be at such an application. However, there shouldn't be any harm beyond normal wear on the motor when running them for extended periods. They have electronics that will protect from overheating, shutting the unit down if the temperature gets outside of normal operating parameters.

Shane

 

[WarnerConstCo.]

I have put the hose in the blower/flapper thing and run it out a window when I have had to Bin prime inside someone's house before.

Thing ran for hours at a time.

These things are built to work and work hard.

 

[andvari]

I think that you would want to have a fairly robust clearing of the air on an indoor construction site, so a Festool DC which is designed for suction  through fine pore filters and hoses more than bulk flow at low pressure differences is probably not the efficient choice for the job.

Steve's example of 2.7 ACH is likely pretty minimal. I'm sure it's much better than nothing in a pinch but recommendations I've seen for a work environment, say like a commercial kitchen or laboratory are in the 10-20 ACH range.

 

[fdengel]

The ShopVac one (designed as an air cleaner) claims 235 CFM.

http://www.amazon.com/Shop-Vac-1030000-Cleaner-Filtration-System/dp/B00004T181

Sure, I realize the CT's aren't going to be as effective as the big "installed" ones that can reach over 1000 CFM... I'm wondering more how it would hold up to being used more like that ShopVac one, if placed close to the tool being used.

Given the design constraints, I'm sure not as well as the "real thing" would - but would it be effective at all, or is it just going to pull dust from the air immediately around the extractor and keep circulating "local" air?

 

[Steve R]

I think that you would want to have a fairly robust clearing of the air on an indoor construction site, so a Festool DC which is designed for suction  through fine pore filters and hoses more than bulk flow at low pressure differences is probably not the efficient choice for the job.

Steve's example of 2.7 ACH is likely pretty minimal. I'm sure it's much better than nothing in a pinch but recommendations I've seen for a work environment, say like a commercial kitchen or laboratory are in the 10-20 ACH range.

You really think 2.7 total air changes for 1 - bedroom, 1 - living room, 1 - dinning room, 1 - kitchen, 1 bath room, halls and walk in closets for a couple of Vacs minimal?

I didn't know we were talking about the day to day HVAC needs for a commercial kitchen, or professional lab.  I was just thinking that we were talking about using Festools on a job site and keeping the place clean while we work. Just clean, not NASA clean or Sticky fish smell gone clean... [jawdrop]

If we are talking about a dust free area for finishing... Heck no the CTs are not the answer.

Greenmonster started this with

"I left my CT mini running for 2 hrs on low as an impromptu air scrubber, is that excessive? Or can it take it?...or should I have felt confident to crank it up?"

That to me says... "impromptu = once in awhile not Cleanroom clean".

But that is just me.

Cheers,
Steve