How Your Dust Collector Can Pay for Itself
Installing a dust collection system (or updating an old one) is a big investment. Safety, health, and compliance are all important reasons to do so. Will energy cost savings with this investment benefit your company in the long run? When looking at spending that kind of money, it helps to know about a more immediate return on your investment.
The good news is that your new system can pay for itself in as little as two years. That’s by saving you a lot of money on heating and cooling costs.
It’s hard to put a dollar amount on employee health. But it’s easy to put a dollar amount on how much you spend heating and cooling your building. If you’re spending that money and then venting heated air outside the building, you’re effectively blowing money out the window.
Many of our CMAXX systems have paid for themselves within two years just in energy cost savings. And they will continue to save their owners money for many years of service. Some companies have even been able to find energy conservation incentives. These save them money on the immediate cost of a system.
Considerations for Recirculation
Recirculating air back into the facility can be an excellent cost-saving measure. But only if it doesn’t compromise the health of people working there. This means that the recirculated air has to be completely clean and safe.
If you’re planning to recirculate air, be sure to equip your system to handle the type of dust you’re producing. Particles from welding fumes and laser or plasma cutting smoke can be as small as half a micron. This usually requires a filter with a rating of at least MERV 15, meaning it is more than 95% effective for particles down to 0.3 microns. If there might be dangerous or highly regulated materials (such as hexavalent chromium) in the dust, a HEPA filter may be necessary for air that’s going to be returned inside.
Besides the savings on energy costs, a system that recirculates air can actually be more efficient. In some ambient systems, the clean air enters at the level where people are working. This moves the dirty air out of the work area and toward the collector. These types of systems are very effective at filtering the air in larger spaces.
Payback Through Energy Cost Savings
If a dust and fume collector is something you’re going to need anyway, the tremendous savings in your energy cost might be what it takes to get that project into the budget. After all, those heating and cooling cost savings will go back into the budget year after year, and that’s something everyone likes to hear.
