FAQ: What preventive maintenance steps can we follow to keep our dust collector operating efficiently?

Verify that dampers are in position, valves are working and pulse cleaning systems are functioning properly. Check pressure drop on filters to make sure it has not exceeded the manufacturer’s recommended limit.  Check compressed air pressure and purge the compressed air header, looking for signs of moisture. If you are located in a cold climate, make sure that your compressed air has a dew point that is below the lowest temperatures your equipment will be exposed to. An integrated control panel can monitor key functions and alert you when critical set points are reached, ensuring that preventive maintenance is performed when needed.

If you are conducting preventive inspections and basic maintenance but your system is still not performing efficiently, most likely the collector is undersized or inadequately designed for the dust challenge. Bring in an air pollution control supplier who has application expertise; who is knowledgeable about OSHA, NFPA and EPA requirements; and who has dust testing capability and other technical resources to develop an engineered solution to the problem.

An Introduction to Indoor Air Quality

Indoor Air Pollution and Health

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) refers to the air quality within and around buildings and structures, especially as it relates to the health and comfort of building occupants.  Understanding and controlling common pollutants indoors can help reduce your risk of indoor health concerns.
Health effects from indoor air pollutants may be experienced soon after exposure or, possibly, years later.

Immediate Effects

Some health effects may show up shortly after a single exposure or repeated exposures to a pollutant. These include irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat, headaches, dizziness, and fatigue. Such immediate effects are usually short-term and treatable. Sometimes the treatment is simply eliminating the person's exposure to the source of the pollution, if it can be identified. Soon after exposure to some indoor air pollutants, symptoms of some diseases such as asthma may show up, be aggrevated or worsened.

The likelihood of immediate reactions to indoor air pollutants depends on several factors including age and preexisting medical conditions.  In some cases, whether a person reacts to a pollutant depends on individual sensitivity, which varies tremendously from person to person. Some people can become sensitized to biological or chemical pollutants after repeated or high level exposures.
Certain immediate effects are similar to those from colds or other viral diseases, so it is often difficult to determine if the symptoms are a result of exposure to indoor air pollution. For this reason, it is important to pay attention to the time and place symptoms occur. If the symptoms fade or go away when a person is away from the area, for example, an effort should be made to identify indoor air sources that may be possible causes. Some effects may be made worse by an inadequate supply of outdoor air coming indoors or from the heating, cooling or humidity conditions prevalent indoors.
 

Long-Term Effects

Other health effects may show up either years after exposure has occurred or only after long or repeated periods of exposure. These effects, which include some respiratory diseases, heart disease and cancer, can be severely debilitating or fatal. It is prudent to try to improve the indoor air quality in your home even if symptoms are not noticeable.

While pollutants commonly found in indoor air can cause many harmful effects, there is considerable uncertainty about what concentrations or periods of exposure are necessary to produce specific health problems. People also react very differently to exposure to indoor air pollutants. Further research is needed to better understand which health effects occur after exposure to the average pollutant concentrations found in homes and which occurs from the higher concentrations that occur for short periods of time.

Click here to learn more from the United States Environmental Protection Agency