JAKE’S BAGHOUSE
Submitted to Shelton Blog by Jake Rufer Mason County Progressive
Fourteen or so years ago, I bought a Sears wet/dry Shopvac. The internal filter finally wore out last month. I checked-in at the Lacy Sears store for a new filter. No comparable filter on the shelf but was told I could order one. I needed it now as my wife was a bit displeased with the escapage from the old worn out filter. Sears did have a “hepa” quality filter at twice the list price for a regular filter. I bought it.
I showed it to my wife. She smiled and I smiled, too. I fitted it onto its plastic frame. I hooked up the suction hose to my table saw. The filter worked fine for a couple hours--then--I noticed sawdust being whipped from the blade into my face. I stopped the saw, stopped the shopvac, inspected the filter; it was plugged. I unhooked the hose and it was laden with sawdust.
I did a search on baghouse problems--many hits--and there it was--Like a flash, I understood what one of the problems with biomass baghouses is.
They plug up! Not only do they plug up, if there is any means of bypass, the junk to be caught is dumped into the air--effectively into the face and nostrils of every breathing being within nature’s reach. I, of course, became aware of a problem when the sawdust hit my face. As to operators of biomass baghouses, who is to know when they become aware of junk being dumped into the air. We people rely upon scientific instruments such as properly calibrated and “unfiddled with” nephelometers--provided the information is reported to us.
Now, if the folks back in Vermont really want to know what is wrong with biomass baghouses, they should try an experiment with a Sears shopvac fitted with a hepa filter, 0R simply type “baghouse problems” into a favorite search engine.
It is said that if you want to know the state of our economy walk down to the store and buy a quart of milk. Jake’s experience with bag-house filtration “technology” may not reflect all of its complexities but I’ll bet the basic design is similar. What has become increasingly obvious in today’s world is that “things” are not really as complicated as many would have us believe, and nothing proves that point more than a good bag-house fire.
ReplyDeleteThank you Jake for putting these baghouse fires into perspective.
ReplyDeleteOccasionally we do hear about fires at Simpson/Oly Panel... now we know what might be causing such fires.