Long life dust bags

[Pjrcarpentry]

Hi everyone,just bought the new 36ltr mini extractor,just wondering are the long life bags worth the money,been looking at a lot of reviews and people are saying the bag doesn't fit the new type that well and also the reseal on bag doesn't work great,thanks for advice in advance

 

[Frank-Jan]

Hi, welcome to the forum. Which vac do you have exactly? The mini or a 36 l version (which is fairly big).

I have 26 l vacs, and I just use disposable bags, because I mostly use them on site, and the kind of dust I encounter isn'ts suitable for the long life bags (lots of sawing of mdf, and and other board material)
Also I find the extractors large enough as they are, so I don't wan't to deal with a pre-seperator, but there are a lot of users here that work in a shopspace and prefer using such a device (the festool version or a self-assembled cyclone construction)

 

[Coen]

Emptying the long life bag... yuk yuk yuk. Plus for the prince of the longlife bag you can use quite a few normal bags...

I never bought one.

 

[AlexThePalex]

I've had a long-life bag, never again. So dirty when you have to empty it.

The only scenario where I think it might be usefull is if you only make large chips like with a router or  a planer. But whenever you fill it with real dust, which is much finer, it becomes dirty very quickly. And eventually you'll clog up the holes of the bag so you hardly have any suction left.

I only use disposable bags now, much better. I have a cyclone also, so in the end I don't use much bags.

 

[Pjrcarpentry]

I have the 36ltr,I thought the reusable bag would be handy,but from all comments looks like there not,I would be mostly using it with a plunge saw cutting mdf,thanks for the advice

 

[WastedP]

In the shop, I have a long life bag on the chopsaw vac (CT26), and one on the sanding vac (CT36).  Almost all of the cutting and sanding is on fir ply or cedar.  The bag on the sanding vac is four years old, and I see no difference in suction between that vac and the one that's only six months old.  The bags get emptied outdoors at the same time the ambient air cleaner filters get blown out, so we're wearing dust masks when we do it.  It's not the worst thing in the world.

At home, I use disposable bags in my CT36.  I may have drywall dust, or metal shavings, or rock dust, or acrylic, or who knows what.  I'd rather sacrifice a $12 bag than a $200 bag for that.  Because it's not daily use, I estimate that a bag lasts over eighteen months at home.  It's always a big surprise when it's full.

 

[sancho57]

I have LL bags for my 26 and 22 and love them. Never have to worry about running out of bags in the middle of a job and running to the dealer or ordering on line and wait for them to arrive . I just walk over to the trash can and empty. Since I moved to Az got some bare land now ,
I just walk out my shop door and empty it right there. Pretty quick and easy.

I do think I loose some suction with the LL bag. Could be because they need a good shaking out, I turn them inside out and beat them like a old rug.

Yes they are pricey, but I never have to buy another bag, had these for about 5 years or so

 

[JFelchlin]

I bought a long life bag. Never opened it. Still in the package - On the shelf.
With my CT36 and CT26 hooked to my two Dust Deputies -
I RARELY have to ever replace a regular CT vacuum bag.
The DD’s catch virtually all of the dust/debris.
I just open the DD’s and dump the contents on the garden.

But... I’m a hobbyist. My woodworking is done in my shop.
I might feel differently if I was doing “on site” work.
As several of you professional woodworking tradesmen have opined -
The “job pays” for the expenses.

 

[Peter_C]

Welcome to the FOG

The last thing I want to have to deal with is dumping a dusty mess into a garbage can, then having that dusty mess piss off my garbage men as they have to be at the rear of the truck.

I bought a long life bag. Never opened it. Still in the package - On the shelf.
With my CT36 and CT26 hooked to my two Dust Deputies -
I RARELY have to ever replace a regular CT vacuum bag.

The Dust Deputy or even Festool's cylcone work very well for catching most of the wood chips and fine dust. You still have to empty it, but it is pretty easy to empty a 5 gallon bucket into a kitchen sized garbage bag, with a bungee cord around it to contain the dust. Festool has plastic bags for their cyclone available. Eventually the dust collector bag will have it's pores plug and need replacement.

 

[Imemiter]

The LL bags seem like a good idea and I can see myself using them some of the time, but I clean up too much lead-based paint to use them very often.