Jet pleated canister dust collector

[MikeSibley]

I have one of the Jet collectors that has the pleated filter canister on top. Of course, it has the little bar that moves paddles interior to the canister to clean the buildup on the filter. However, the fine dust seems to fill up the filter and on occasion I take my air compressor and blow it from the outside. It seems to help but I really think that the overall suction capacity is not what it used to be.

Anyone know of any other methods of cleaning the filter or do I just need to replace it? It is probably 8-10 years old.

I also thought about adding a container to collect some of the dust before it gets to the unit but that would pick up the larger pieces but the fine dust would probably still impact the filter.

Just curious if you folks have any thoughts or experience in this arena.

Mike

[Herb Stoops]

I have read that using a nozzle on an air hose can punch holes in the pleated filter, I reverse the hose on the shop vac and blow the air into the outside of the pleated filter. Some people I have read have good success by using an old tennis shoe and slapping the outside of the filter. Then using the shop vac to clean out the dust box at the bottom.
Herb

[Cherryville Chuck]

When I had my log skidder I used to take the air filters and wash them in a 5 gallon pail with dish soap and water. Then several rinses until the rinse water came clean. I was told that if you held a trouble light inside and couldn't see it through the filter that it was time to replace it. Whether you can take one of those and wash it I don't know but if you get to a point where it's not working satisfactorily and nothing else is working it might be worth a try.

Like Herb I've heard hat compressed air is bad for them. Maybe if you drop the pressure to around 30 psi it might be okay. If you do that I would try holding a vac wand inside the filter opposite the compressed air. Maybe just using the vac on the inside might help too.

[Herb Stoops]

On the log skidder,Chuck, were those the intake filters for the engine? those would have the dust collecting on the outside of the filter, the opposite for the jet. I notice the upper filter on the jet must be the pleated filter, there is only the chip/dust bag or bin below the filter. Mine is setup on a cyclone where the chips fall out first, then the air goes through the 2 pleated filter and dust drops into a box at the bottom,or sticks to the inside of the filter.
On my first dust collector, I built it in an enclosed box. the air from the exhaust of the cyclone blew into the top of the box through the filter then clean air out the bottom of the filter. There was no wire screen on the outside of the pleats, it was inside of the filter and the pleats were exposed on the outside of the filter inside the tall box. Talk about an SOB to clean. The filter had to be removed taken out in the yard, blown out the best you could, then washed with soapy water and rinsed then dried before re-installing inside the filter box.
Herb

[Stick486]

Mechanical cleaning - shaking or shocking filters to dislodge the built up dust cake.... but don't over do it...
Reverse air cleaning - introduced large volume of low pressure air flow in the opposite direction of the filtered air... emphasis on low pressure... if you blast them with compressed air, you’ll easily blow a hole through them ruining the filter... use your shop vac exhaust..

let's look to your system for design issues...
did you try to turn your DC into a shop vac???......
as in your air flow is restricted...
we need pics of your system...

[Cherryville Chuck]

On the log skidder,Chuck, were those the intake filters for the engine? those would have the dust collecting on the outside of the filter, the opposite for the jet. I notice the upper filter on the jet must be the pleated filter, there is only the chip/dust bag or bin below the filter. Mine is setup on a cyclone where the chips fall out first, then the air goes through the 2 pleated filter and dust drops into a box at the bottom,or sticks to the inside of the filter.
On my first dust collector, I built it in an enclosed box. the air from the exhaust of the cyclone blew into the top of the box through the filter then clean air out the bottom of the filter. There was no wire screen on the outside of the pleats, it was inside of the filter and the pleats were exposed on the outside of the filter inside the tall box. Talk about an SOB to clean. The filter had to be removed taken out in the yard, blown out the best you could, then washed with soapy water and rinsed then dried before re-installing inside the filter box.
Herb

It was reverse flow in comparison but I'm not sure it would make a difference when washing one. I can't remember now if it had wire mesh around the filter material or not. Without the mesh on a filter that big could be a problem but like I said, try washing as a last resort.

[Herb Stoops]

On the pleated filters the pleats are tight together inside the round filter, and the outsides are loose to the point that they can be separated with your fingers a little. If the wire screen is outside like the ones I have now when air is blown into them they will separate a little, but the inside pleats are tight together,that is why the rotating brush will work fairly well to clean off most of the debris. I don't have the rotating brush inside mine.
Herb

[Jon]

I added a Wynn filter to my DC and have used 2 approaches to cleaning the fine dust from it each beginning with the traditional tapping. The 1st approach was to remove the canister from the DC and use a brush head on the shop vac to gently clean the inside of the filter. Seems to work well but one needs to take care not to damage the pleats. The 2nd approach was to roll the DC over to the shop door and after tapping using my battery powered leaf blower set on low, with the nozzle removed ( leaves a short tube about 6" in diameter). By keeping the blower about 2' away from the filter I could easily observer dust falling into the collector bag.
I now use the tapping plus leaf blower approach as removing and replacing the filter just adds additional effort.

Adding a cyclone system has also improved the overall performance of the system.

[HandyDan]

Get one of these for the shop vacuum and stick it up in there.

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[Cherryville Chuck]

Get one of these for the shop vacuum and stick it up in there.


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I hope we're still talking about cleaning the filter.

[Jon]

Get one of these for the shop vacuum and stick it up in there.


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I hope we're still talking about cleaning the filter.

Been there done it.