Powermatic PM1250 Air Cleaner

[kross]

[member=66875]simonh[/member]
Hi, I bought one of these from axminster a couple of weeks ago. It was faulty, kept switching itself off, and on again, at random (and in so doing cancelling the timer setting) . Axminster sent me a replacement, which had the same fault, and I've just received a third one which also has the same fault. I assume everyone here who owns one of these hasn't experienced anything like this? I guess I'm just going to have to get a refund, which is a huge shame - this sounded an ideal solution to my dust problems. All three machines sounded exactly like your youtube recording - which was also a bit of a disappointment to me, after all the adverts saying how "silent" they are!
All three came with a 2 pin plug, by the way, and no adaptor for the uk. I had to ask axminster to send me an adaptor for the first machine I bought - after that they they seemed to cotton on, and sent an adaptor separately with each replacement machine. There seems to be something odd about this whole deal.

 

[ChuckM]

Three times not a charm here.

Surprised to hear that the vendor did not even try out the third one to make sure it worked (knowing the history of this particular transaction) before shipping it out. 

 

[kross]

Three times not a charm here.

Surprised to hear that the vendor did not even try out the third one to make sure it worked (knowing the history of this particular transaction) before shipping it out. 

You would think so wouldn't you! Guess they're not too bothered!

 

[Keats0071]

[member=59771]air19[/member] I received mine today from Axminster here in the UK so it may be different from US models. The fan is very quiet but there's also a buzzing sort of noise coming from maybe some electronics. Does yours make this noise too? Just trying to determine if it is normal before I contact the manufacturer.

Just received mine from Axminster UK and there is a definite annoying buzzing coming from the unit. I’d probably live with it if it didn’t cost £500! Waiting on Axminster to get to me.

No buzz with mine.  Just the quiet sound of the air movement.  I run it on medium or high and it's quiet.

 

[mkasdin]

Just curious if anyone has one of these?  Trying to do what I can to handle the dust we all make.

Powermatic PM1250

there was an article done by Fine woodworking? About fan filtration, where they compared several models against a homemade box fan. If you google fan filter shootout or dust fan comparison etc., something along those lines you might find the article. It was a very thorough and analytical comparison.

 

[mkasdin]

I just found the article:https://www.woodmagazine.com/tool-reviews/dust-collection/air-filtration-systems

 

[grbmds]

I may have misunderstood the Wood Magazine results but, regardless of which air cleaner filtered the most air quickest, they should have been looking a size of particle as a factor also. They did raise this issue but really didn't apply it to the cleaners they tested. I don't know how good the Powermatic 1250 really is, but it is a HEPA filtered unit. As far as I know, the others tested are not equipped with HEPA filters. I'm sure I don't know everything about dust collection but I do know that air cleaners are a supplemental method of dust collection, only truly effective if adequate dust collection is used at the source. The reason I have thought of replacing a 25 year old JDS air cleaner with the Powermatic is specifically because my JDS doesn't have HEPA filters available (at least not economically). In addition to a HEPA cyclone and HEPA vac, I have the JDS unit and also most times wear an air powered mask. Having a HEPA air cleaner would seem to be the ultimate even though I get very little dust on anything in my shop right now. So, for me, it's not really only how much air is moved, it's more importantly about what size particles are removed.

 

[TXFIVEO]

What do you guys recommend for a 1200 sq ft shop?  I need to get an air filtration setup quick for my new shop.  The Rikon ceiling unit worked great for a two car garage, but by tripling the square footage I’m afraid I need something with more “umph.”  Recommendations?

 

[grbmds]

What do you guys recommend for a 1200 sq ft shop?  I need to get an air filtration setup quick for my new shop.  The Rikon ceiling unit worked great for a two car garage, but by tripling the square footage I’m afraid I need something with more “umph.”  Recommendations?

When I bought mine, the recommendation was a unit that will exchange the air 6-7 times an hour. You can calculate the cubic feet in your shop by multiplying width X length X height or your 1200 square foot number times the height from floor to ceiling. If you have an 8' ceiling - 9600 cubic feet - 960 CFM (I think should do it.) Most larger units will move more air and thus exchange the air more often which is a good thing.

 

[ChuckM]

What do you guys recommend for a 1200 sq ft shop?  I need to get an air filtration setup quick for my new shop.  The Rikon ceiling unit worked great for a two car garage, but by tripling the square footage I’m afraid I need something with more “umph.”  Recommendations?

Do you have time to build one? Its performance can be as good as that of the commercial ones.

Get a second-hand furnace blower (typically rated1200 - 1800 cfm, $50US or less, or free if you know someone who is replacing their furnace), and build a box to house it. I designed mine for use with 4 filters (pre-filter washable nylon (unrated) and merv 11; main filters two merv 11). Two to three should be fine. A friend of mine built his too (strapped to the ceiling), but uses only one filter and no pre-filter, and still finds it good enough.

For my low ceiling, double garage, the ACH (air changes per hour) is about 20. The min. ACH for a shop should be 6 according to Wood magazine. I buy the merv 11 filters in a pack of 6, costing under $10 Cdn per filter. The first filter (nylon) is washed, the next two replaced. The last one (still relatively clean) is moved to the front for reuse as one of the pre-filters and replaced in the next cycle.

The consumable cost is about $40 a year, more if the shop sees frequent uses, as was the case in the past pandemic year. I have a timer, and leave the unit on for another 30 mins after the shop is shut down.

Assuming your shop is 9' high, and the blower is 1800 cfm, the ACH for you would be around 10, still exceeding the minimum. Of course, you can build two, probably positioned and mounted. (Edit: Noticed that you already have a Rikon, so you only need to build one.)

 

[Ron B]

If you build a box, just make sure you don't make the filter slots too tight.  I made one years ago and made it to fit whatever filter I had at that time.  I have found that all 24" (or whatever size) filters vary in width and I cannot get filters to slide into my box anymore without some "engineering" on the filter. 

 

[ChuckM]

Snip.
So, for me, it's not really only how much air is moved, it's more importantly about what size particles are removed.

Yes, both the filter efficiency and filtration speed in cfm are important. I consider the filtration system a secondary line of defense in protecting me, and that's why I use filters rated at MERV 11 or 12. The highest rated filters available at my local hardware stores are MERV 13 or MPR2200, the latter capable of handling 69% particles of 0.3 micro - 1 micro, which is still inferior than a HEPA filter.

Both my dust collector and most used shop vac are equipped with a HEPA filter for capturing dust at source -- the primary line of protection.

 

[ChuckM]

The castored shop-made air filtration system has finally been re-configured and mounted at eye-level today:https://www.lumberjocks.com/projects/418246

 

[Stan Tillinghast]

I just received my PM 1250. It is acceptably quiet even on the highest setting; my Dylos 1100 Pro showed about a reading of about 400 a while after doing some sanding. After 10 minutes or so out of the shop, the reading was down to about 150.
I tried sanding an old breadboard with my ETS/EC 150 with CT36 dust collection. The reading tended not to rise, even sometimes to fall, while sanding, but went up to about 200 after stopping sanding. I then did a little hand sanding, with and without the CT36 on with the hose nearby. I couldn't see that having it on made much of a difference. With no dust collection (sanding by hand), the dust was annoying and made me cough. I'll go back in another 156 minutes or so to see what the reading is.

It's true that this kind of filter (at least placed where I have it, on the floor about 6 feet from the workbench) doesn't keep the particle count down as much as one would like immediately, but it will clear the air pretty quickly (about 4000 cu ft shop, so theoretically would turn the air over in a little over 3 minutes.

I think I might make a cart for sustainers or drawers and mount the PM1250 on top at bench level, so I can have the air cleaner as close as feasible to the work.

Festool's unsurpassed duct collection has always been its biggest draw for me; without it I wouldn't be able to do woodworking. So thanks to those who brought up the issue of air cleaners; I think the PM1250 will do this particulate--I mean particular--job quite well.