My work is primarily remodeling, and keeping dust out of inhabited spaces is always a challenge. To that end, I salvaged a squirrel-cage blower out of a central-heating system and attached a 6-in. flexible hose to its outlet port, as shown in the drawing. This rig allows me to exhaust the dust kicked up by demolition, drywall and carpentry, as well as paint fumes and hot air.
The hose can be snaked through another room to reach a window on the downwind side of the building, and the fan is quiet, so I don’t mind running it a lot. The fan is strong enough that it creates a negative pressure in the work area, which keeps construction dust from getting through the inevitable small holes in the plastic that I put between work and living areas. To be on the safe side I put a screen over the blower’s inlet. For top performance I use rags to plug the openings around the hose where it exits the window.
Alan Bellamy, Berkeley, CA
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Could you please re-post this with the drawing? Thanks.
The problem with this method is the fact that there is no Hepa Filter Action and your're exposing everyone to the health risk associated with the exhausted materials. So I suggest you make so modifications before you use this method again. Or invest in a BuildClean unit for around $1000.00. and cover your assets.
This is a great effort that is far above what many, if not most, contractors will do. Good job, Alan!
"No Hepa Filter Action"? It's exhausted outside! I'm pretty sure not onto a playground.
Come on, Bob. Sell your units on another blog.
Yes fix the link to the image and repost. Cant see any image.
Yeah, how about that picture??
Hepa wasn't mentioned because this tip was in the 82nd magazine in 1993.