CT compatible bags

[Tim Brennan]

I’m looking at some third-party bags for my CT 26. I found this one https://www.commercialcleaningmachi...LXxM0aEbugZ0i6gwNhTtxR1Czn1_ggf4nYrta1nXhI8Pd

Seems like a reputable company and the price is half that of an original festival pack of bags. Has anyone got any experience with Festool compatible bags? It would make a great youtube review to test non Festool bags with an air quality monitor.

 

[ear3]

I've been using the Powertec bags for a number of years now, first for the CT26, and continuing for my CT36. They do the job just fine. The cardboard tab that closes the bag after you're done breaks more easily than on the Festool OEM bags, but whatever, they're less than half the cost. No idea how they stack up air quality wise.

 

[Steve1]

Keep in mind also, that if you put a Dust Deputy or similar on your CT-26, the bags will last almost forever.

 

[ChuckS]

I use the dust deputy setup for my Kapex, and sanding/drill press station -- the two most dust-producing sources in my shop, after the table saw. I hardly need to clean the shop vac's drums.

For the CT15, I clean out and reuse the bag twice or thrice before replacing it with the quality-proven Festool bag, which means I use maybe two bags per year or per 18 months, depending on my shop activities. I usually do that when I have other dust collecting machines to take care of as well.

 

[mino]

Umm.

I can understand looking for a cheaper vac to use with the Festool SelfClean bags.

Looking for destroying the core of the value of the vac by using low quality filters ... ahem, not a sensible idea.

If you look to cut costs, as mentioned, get a cyclone. The CT-VA antistatic cyclone parts set itself is barely above $150. Or can go even cheaper for an Oneida setup. Low quality bags? Nope. Thank you.


ADD:
On top, an air particle meter is NOT sufficient to compare bags. Is like comparing a way to the nearest Grocery Shop with a way to the Moon.

To (roughly) compare bags, you would need equipment in the $1M range and give or take a month with it and be qualified specialist so you would know what to test in the first place.

 

[woodferret]

How often you have to replace the HEPA filter might be a decent proxy to the quality of bags. Then again, cheaping out on bags probably means one doesn't keep a spare HEPA to compare clean to clogged, so nevermind.

 

[mino]

How often you have to replace the HEPA filter might be a decent proxy to the quality of bags. Then again, cheaping out on bags probably means one doesn't keep a spare HEPA to compare clean to clogged, so nevermind.

Only partially.

In my experience with the CT 26/36/48 series, the Festool bags actually capture smaller particles than the main filter does. That is why the main filter stays mostly clean for years on. Its main job in a Festool vac used with bags is as an insurance policy - it ensure outflow particle levels are kept at a certain (safe) level, no matter what happened to the bag.

It seems weird, but that is the behaviour I see and is consistent with what folks report from the pro world over here.

 

[woodferret]

The cheap bag material are probably one or two micron (at least my educated guess based on DC bag pricing). So they'll see it in their HEPA filter... If they bother to look.

 

[ChuckS]

I recall seeing bags sold with zippers online (eBay?) for those who want to reuse their bags some more before replacing them. I'd rather reuse a Festool one than buying some aftermarket ones whose filtration quality is a question mark no matter how the vendor describe them.

 

[Coen]

I can understand looking for a cheaper vac to use with the Festool SelfClean bags.

Those never existed for the older vacs like the CTL 22. And the original fleece bags for that have been discontinued. Once my stock of them runs out... I too will start looking into 3rd party fleece bags for my CTL 22 since the original paper bags for the 22 give too much torn bags in my experience. Besides the pain to clean everything after a torn paper bag... the bag is lost too, so the cost savings of the paper bags vs the more expensive fleece bags... gone.