Game Changer

[Jim Davisson]

Of all the mods I have made to my equipment this undoubtedly has to be the best yet. I have been tackling the filter problem lately. Externals suck because the are messy and clog fast, old school bags that hang in the tank are okay, but clog and suck to clean. This mod works wet and dry, stays in the tank, is 95%+ efficient, never reduces airflow, is $65 and the filters are disposable. For my Scooter I cut a new 2" port in the side with a hole saw and cut off the top hose connection to the cyclone, 10 mins... done.

 

[Jim Davisson]

What the filter bag looks like under full vacuum load.... Pretty much a balloon.

 

[since-1968]

Hey Jim, I’m 50 miles north of Roanoke. Interested in building a box unit to incorporate your idea with dust deputy ,but my thick head can’t invision how the dirty water ect. Returning to my waste tank,(150 gal.) enters this dust deputy. [email protected].

 

[Jim Davisson]

Hey Jim, I’m 50 miles north of Roanoke. Interested in building a box unit to incorporate your idea with dust deputy ,but my thick head can’t invision how the dirty water ect. Returning to my waste tank,(150 gal.) enters this dust deputy. [email protected].

No problem. I get it that it seems too easy, but I cracked the F'n code for no vacuum loss through out the day. Here's the scoop... Inside your tank you connect the tangital inlet to where your vac hose connects to the outside of the tank. On the bottom of the dust deputy you attach a bag/panty hose/rigid filter, anything you want, but you want it to be exposed to just a little vacuum, the more the merrier. Inside the tank vacuum will enter not only from the preferred top fitting, but also from the bottom (more to come on this), the cyclonic action created inside the dust deputy pulls all the water laden debris to the bottom bag, while just air exits the top fitting. This means even though the bottom filter gets laden with debris, water will still flow through to be pumped out (the more debris in the bag the better the water gets filtered) while airflow is unimpeded going through the top fitting. Zero loss of airflow and lift all while filtering everything out. I've been a woodworker my entire life and and have never thought about putting a cyclone in side the vacuum tank. Because there is zero pressure differential from the inside to the outside of the Dust Deputy since it's inside the vacuum tank itself it does not Flex. I have watched this under a vacuum load with a half inch plexiglass lid. I'll have you shoot me a couple of pictures of your waste tank and we'll get it right.

 

[Swani21]

No problem. I get it that it seems too easy, but I cracked the F'n code for no vacuum loss through out the day. Here's the scoop... Inside your tank you connect the tangital inlet to where your vac hose connects to the outside of the tank. On the bottom of the dust deputy you attach a bag/panty hose/rigid filter, anything you want, but you want it to be exposed to just a little vacuum, the more the merrier. Inside the tank vacuum will enter not only from the preferred top fitting, but also from the bottom (more to come on this), the cyclonic action created inside the dust deputy pulls all the water laden debris to the bottom bag, while just air exits the top fitting. This means even though the bottom filter gets laden with debris, water will still flow through to be pumped out (the more debris in the bag the better the water gets filtered) while airflow is unimpeded going through the top fitting. Zero loss of airflow and lift all while filtering everything out. I've been a woodworker my entire life and and have never thought about putting a cyclone in side the vacuum tank. Because there is zero pressure differential from the inside to the outside of the Dust Deputy since it's inside the vacuum tank itself it does not Flex. I have watched this under a vacuum load with a half inch plexiglass lid. I'll have you shoot me a couple of pictures of your waste tank and we'll get it right.

Great post Jim!

 

[Jim Davisson]

Here's a couple pictures of my completed waste tank and filter design. Installed an air dam baffle after a bunch of trial and error to maximize airflow without compromising performance efficiency. I put a pool filter (with a bag installed inside) and another one on the outside to join them together. Under a vacuum load I could watch the debris spinning inside the bottom of the filter!!!

 

[Jim Davisson]

Update, between the TM and portable over 20,000 ft² of vacuuming and cleaning and no bottom filter change and I still have full lift and cfm's on both. Dropped the hose accidentally when breaking down yesterday and sucked up some mulch on one job, oops... Didn't affect the airflow at all. I'm actually looking for stuff to suck into the wand. It's turned into let's see how long I can go without cleaning out the bottom bag.

BTW, manufacturers of filters like the Devastator, hydroforce and the lint hog are going to not like this simple already on the market device.

 

[Grn Steamer]

Great mod, might have to try this. Thanks.

 

[Jim Davisson]

Update, ran this for one week with the new LX motors no filter change.... The last portable job today the water struggled to drain out the bottom, but I had full vacuum. The top filter was hammered but still giving up full vacuum. If you are a portable guy and don't at a minimum try this, you are missing out. If it wasn't so simple I would sell these.

 

[PATRICK YANELLO]

Update, ran this for one week with the new LX motors no filter change.... The last portable job today the water struggled to drain out the bottom, but I had full vacuum. The top filter was hammered but still giving up full vacuum. If you are a portable guy and don't at a minimum try this, you are missing out. If it wasn't so simple I would sell these.

Hello Jim, I have a Nautilus, and I wonder how this would work in it.

 

[Jim Davisson]

Hello Jim, I have a Nautilus, and I wonder how this would work in it.

I'm not sure about it fitting in your tank.

 

[CodyDee]

Hello Jim, I have a Nautilus, and I wonder how this would work in it.

I'm not sure about it fitting in your tank.

But if it doesn’t- you can set it up on a bucket in line- for less than the cost of the other inline filters.

 

[Jim Davisson]

But if it doesn’t- you can set it up on a bucket in line- for less than the cost of the other inline filters.

It really needs to go inside a crush proof tank.

 

[Bob Savage]

Good work Jim!

I must be missing something regarding your inline filter problem as to the reason why you came up with this setup.

I use 2 inline pool filters (dual wand setup), each with the stainless steel cylinder, with a knee-high inside, and a hanging nylon sock inside the recovery tank, and knee-high over the APO filter which is also inside on the bottom of the recovery tank. I drilled five 1/2" holes into the black hard bottom of the stainless cylinder so the airflow would not be diverted around the bottom of the cylinder.

Before we start a job, I check the filters from the previous job, If it is OK, I proceed. If not, I change the knee high. It takes less than a minute and do not have to clean anything out.

Occasionally I will rinse out the inline filter - maybe once a week, not that rinsing it out improves anything other than it's appearance.

During the busy season, we can go for weeks without any need to do anything at all inside the recovery tank. We run 5 days a week, 2-5 jobs a day with this setup.

With the APO, we don't even have to stop cleaning or dump the recovery tank, we just need to change the inline knee-high when the vacuum drops a little.

I can rinse off the APO knee-high (without having to lift it from the bottom) with a garden hose because all of the crud will be on the outside of the knee-high, not inside. I rinse it out about every 3 months. I have never heard of any other APO that will function flawlessly through 100 jobs with no attention to it's filter!

I use this same setup with my ETM.

I have used this setup now for 15 years without fail.

 

[Jim Davisson]

Thanks Bob! I used to use the same exact filter setup you do, but I didn't like the performance decrease as they clog, sometimes needing to spray them down during the job. With this setup I still filter 100% of everything but I don't lose any lift or cfm through out the day, not to mention the performance hit of the inline filter itself even when 100% clean. This setup gets around all of that.

I put a panty hose on the bottom and the top of the dust deputy so it filters everything completely. The side benefit is that since it natively directs the water down towards the bottom of the tank it reduces the amount water that can potentially enter the vac standpipe. Since it works so well I don't need to use a filter on the APO pump, which is a miniature version of your original design.

 

[Kipp]

....or you could just prevacuum bahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

 

[Jim Davisson]

....or you could just prevacuum bahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

I actually use my portable to prevacuum with my Turbocat (even if I'm cleaning with my CDS) and even though it does a fantastic job it can't get everything.

 

[PATRICK YANELLO]

I'm not sure about it fitting in your tank.

Ok, I will just use a hose sock thingy, plus an inline filter likely.

 

[keep it clean]

I'm not sure about it fitting in your tank.

Ok, I will just use a hose sock thingy, plus an inline filter likely.

Sock in hose barb works fine. I hate those inline filters. Stay away from that hydroforce filter. Its a piece of sht.

 

[PATRICK YANELLO]

Good work Jim!

I must be missing something regarding your inline filter problem as to the reason why you came up with this setup.

I use 2 inline pool filters (dual wand setup), each with the stainless steel cylinder, with a knee-high inside, and a hanging nylon sock inside the recovery tank, and knee-high over the APO filter which is also inside on the bottom of the recovery tank. I drilled five 1/2" holes into the black hard bottom of the stainless cylinder so the airflow would not be diverted around the bottom of the cylinder.

Before we start a job, I check the filters from the previous job, If it is OK, I proceed. If not, I change the knee high. It takes less than a minute and do not have to clean anything out.

Occasionally I will rinse out the inline filter - maybe once a week, not that rinsing it out improves anything other than it's appearance.

During the busy season, we can go for weeks without any need to do anything at all inside the recovery tank. We run 5 days a week, 2-5 jobs a day with this setup.

With the APO, we don't even have to stop cleaning or dump the recovery tank, we just need to change the inline knee-high when the vacuum drops a little.

I can rinse off the APO knee-high (without having to lift it from the bottom) with a garden hose because all of the crud will be on the outside of the knee-high, not inside. I rinse it out about every 3 months. I have never heard of any other APO that will function flawlessly through 100 jobs with no attention to it's filter!

I use this same setup with my ETM.

I have used this setup now for 15 years without fail.

Sounds effective. I don't think my portable can do Jim Davissons set up. So, I'm setting up a knee high nylon in my portable recovery tank somehow, right now, first time figuring it out. Also, I need to get some sort of inline filter. Will you tell me what kind of pool filter set up I can use on my Nautilus portable? Thank you, Pat