Shop Vac HEPA filter

[Doyle Thomas]

I bought a 5 gal Rigid shop vac with a hepa filter and plumbed it into my darkroom to remove dust. Works great!

 

[Peter De Smidt]

Yep, I use hepa equipped vacuums for all of my vacuuming needs, and the overall level of dust in my house (and darkroom) has gone down significantly. Now if I can only get the dog to vacuum himself after he's been playing in the yard, I'll be all set.

 

[mps]

I bought a 5 gal Rigid shop vac with a hepa filter and plumbed it into my darkroom to remove dust. Works great!

Could you give us the basics on how you did this?

 

[raucousimages]

Are you useing it to vacuum the darkroom or as an air filter?

 

[Doyle Thomas]

The vac has a vacuum port and blow port. To keep it simple all you really need to do is put it in the darkroom with a filter installed and turn it on to move and filter the air. I plumbed a light tight port through the darkroom wall using 2" electrical plastic conduit and draw air from outside to maintain positive pressure. It does get warm but I only print in the winter anyway because of temp control issues and FLYING BUGS!

RIDGID store'en go WD5500

 

[bdial]

Shop vacs are pretty noisy, here's an alternative from the woodworking world that should be much quieter. Jet tools sells a similar unit. Cost is probably higher.

http://www.deltamachinery.com/index.asp?e=136&p=870

 

[Peter De Smidt]

Or get on of the room Hepa filters. They do a great job in a small space like a darkroom. I combine this with vacuuming with hepa vac, and this works well.