Like many hobbiests I work in my two car garage. I am looking for a quiet dust/chip vacuum system that can also function as a whole house vacuum. Does anybody make something like this or has anybody put one of these together?
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A vacum cleaner "system" is similar to shop vac, in that they have a high suction, but low volume.
A woodworking chip extractor (I think that is the British term, which is better than calling it a dust collector) is a low suction, high volumne system.
Neither a whole house vacuum nor a duct collector is very quiet. Inside the house it isn't loud, but in the basement or garage its as loud as a shopvac. My dust collector is louder than most of my machinery. You'd have to put either one in a soundproof enclosure with appropriate venting to get something quiet. They're designed for efficiency, suction and flow. Nobody seems to care how loud they are.
Major man,
Using my second system based on a built in vac for my shop.
I am a professional carpenter, do cabinet work and build furniture. I do none of the above on a daily basis. That is, I am not planing wood or even running my table saw 8 hours steadily.
The first system was in an attached workshop and serviced the house as well. I chose a very powerful twin motor design with bypass cooling. The damn thing would almost suck the carpets off the floor in the house. It also worked well for my woodworking tools. Virtually nothing got away from the portable planer. A little dust from the table saw (I enclosed the contractor type saw base) but it still came off the blade. I tried a home made hood to cover the blade and that worked well but obscured the blade. Decided I'd rather breathe a little dust than lose a finger.
Similar system in new shop (detached garage). Stand alone Vacuum that I enclosed in sound insulating mdf box. Biggest problem with this system is that they fill up so quickly, esp. with planer. I have a 5 gallon pre vac container. Will soon move to a garbage can sized pre. (check out Lee Valley for their lids for standard containers. Their design really does work well.
Be aware that if you do use a built in vac that has bypass cooling and want to put it in a box, as I did, you may have to supply clean, fresh air to it. My first system was not enclosed. The cooling fans were on top and I simply protected the motors with a large diameter automotive air filter with a piece of mdf (a sink cutout) on top.
Hope this helps.