While a nice technological solution, I suggest that a regular replacement schedule (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc…) would be a better solution. Wood shop, since it is the “most used area of the space”, shouldn’t have a problem finding volunteers willing to do those replacements.
Clearly, quarterly isn’t sufficient, though if it hasn’t been replaced since the June time frame @Kentamanos mentioned, this isn’t getting replace quarterly as @bscharff said.
To be clear, that’s the ones in the ceiling as opposed to roof. I’ve heard people who should know say we should do one or the other, but not both. To be honest, the discussion gives me tired head at this point 
We only have 3 filters to replace after it thaws, unless a forth is hiding
At this point I’m damn scared to share my 2c, cause I’m the new guy and this is starting to sound like a political issue… but I have some experience with wood shops. I have absolutely no dog in this fight. Joined up because I liked the facilities at dms.
I ran an architectural millwork and casework facility out of college. Largest south of San Antone. It was an AWI premium grade facility.
I’ll say I don’t think that your caps are tripping because of 90 degree ambient heat. Your A/C does it every summer. If that is a concern, I would ask someone with more electrical experience than me to comment on the wisdom of substituting a larger capacitor. Either way, these are industrial motors. They should be rated for continuous duty well above the sub-100 ambient temps involved.
Our shop was in Brownsville Tx (100+ regularly), un-airconditioned, in a high humidity environment. We never blew caps. We ran both one and three phase equipment, using some of the same manufacturers you use. (Y’all have some great pieces.) I had a two-table 3 axis Biesse, two CNC edge banders, a CNC panel saw, and a host of other pieces on the casework side of the house. The other half of the warehouse was pure millwork “traditional” equipment. It all ran flawlessly in the 100+ dog days of summer.
I do believe that the dust collector in your shop is likely undersized. It was the first thing I noticed when I toured the place. If you’ve got more than two machines on a 6" line, you’re probably stressing it. Especially since it basically a trash collector machine. Our Biesse required an 8-10" line at the machine head. We ran an 24" line from it to the dust collector. Everything else ran into it.
Y’all don’t need that set up we had, but it’s worth mentioning because the equipment (wood, HVAC, etc) is only as strong as the weakest link.
I mention this because it’s obvious that dust is a systematic HVAC problem. Pre filters (plural), as previously mentioned, should be a key component in your system, as they are the first line of defense. I hope they’re in the return duct grill coming out of wood shop. Hang a ladder on the wall and change them often.
Seems like we’ve got a bunch of cowboy engineers here (I include myself in that group). Surely we can put together a series of high flow filters that feed into the HVAC return that can be easily maintained from the shop floor that do not require a million dollars or a million people.
Again, I’m the new guy. I want no part of politics. Outsider’s observations. Y’all be excellent now.
This is not going to thaw by dark tonight. Tomorrow someone will have to go on the roof, replace 3 of the 4 filters and turn the main disconnect back on. The 3 filters are in the unit and you will need a 5/16 socket to open the unit. Don’t knock the filters down the hole! If we have a fourth filter bring it up with you.
I will be back at some point and will do it if no one else has.
What about hanging a couple of these from the ceiling?
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200450941_200450941
They would catch a lot of the airborne dust before it makes its way into the AC filter, so someone wouldn’t have to go on the roof as often.
My best friend has one of these in his home workshop. It works pretty darn good. But we’d need a lot of them, we’d overwhelm the small filter really fast.
There are two already deployed and a 3rd still in a box.
I gather that the filters are proprietary and expensive, thus the air cleaners are not often used. I believe that Alex or Brian Davis mentioned to me some months ago that with a surprisingly small minimum purchase quantity some firm can custom-make filters for us in almost any size imaginable - perhaps this solution should be investigated.
FWIW, OEM versions are not cheap. They seem to be about a half inch smaller in each dimension than labeled as well, which causes the generics to be a PITA to install (lots of pushing and bowing).
We have two if the smaller Grizzly versions of those, and my boss ordered 2 cases of custom filters because it was so much cheaper than getting the OEM ones from a local place…
I will be amazed if we don’t end up with a coil leak. That’s a lot of ice. I’m also amazed we haven’t lost a compressor yet.
Jesus! I almost crapped my pants!
The three filters we had on hand have been replaced in the roof unit (thanks, again, @mkart); we still need a fourth. I’d like to order the fourth we need now, plus two more sets of 4 for back-up (i.e. 9 altogether). So…from where do we order them, and if I do order/pay for them, can I assume I will get reimbursed in a timely manner? @ESmith. @Azalaket.
I would direct this question towards infrastructure. They are the ones who should be paying for the filters.
Well… since I went down the ladder first I’m glad you didn’t
I just saw this thread… I bought all the filters that standard supply had (3). @mblatz if you can source one more filter that would be awesome and will certainly be reimbursed. We in the woodshop will figure out a replacement schedule amongst ourselves to get them replaced 1-2 times a month. I will add it to our committee meeting on 10/11.
Looking at graph of past 30 days, it is very obvious now what happens when woodshop has effectively no AC, since filters were fixed on October 9th temp has been consistently 82-84, so maybe the AC is adequate for tooling in woodshop as long as its functioning.
The outside temperatures have been lower as well in the last week or so. That may have something to do with it as well.
I think it would be nice to have an outside temperature graphed as well. We might be able to see how much the outside temperature effects the inside. Can we put up one outside?
