sawmill shed exhaust fumes question

[moodnacreek]

An overhead pantograph [like automatic sawmills use] with s.s. flex pipe where needed rigged up for a large sweep.  Will get hot, could be wrapped with header wrap. Don't leave the mill until cooled.  Another idea [ kinda Amish] would be a gas or diesel/ hyd. power unit running outside with hyd. lines pantographed to the saw being driven with a hyd. motor. I bet somebody is doing this.

[Magicman]

It has already been done...kinda:

VW Diesel Running a Turner Mills Bandsaw Mill in Sawmills and Milling

[Stephen1]

In the summer its not going to be an issue, only in cold weather or don't any of you saw when it gets cold out?

I'm trying to, but have no roof at all right now.  A carport with one wall would be an improvement for me.   :(  :D

Some of us would like to saw in the cold/winter weather....but

 

 
It is a chalenge

[Randy88]

Yea we have a day job so to speak and the only time I have to saw is on day's I can't work outside, meaning bad weather days, like rain, snow and days like those.     We don't hire anyone its just family, which are the most important people in my life, meaning I want absolutely nothing to happen to them for any reason, certainly not because of a hobby like wood working and lumber sawing. 

But everyone knows how life works out, and you've done something forever and nothing bad happens, then you get busy and get working and your concentrating on doing what your doing and someone thinks its a little cold and windy and shuts a door you don't notice and before long, its too late...................That's what I'm trying to avoid from every being an issue.     

Right now it takes too long to move stuff, get set up and ready to saw, and take back down again, and if the wind or snow picks up or it starts raining hard, we are forced to shut down, where I'd rather figure a way to plan on being able to keep going.      

The other issue is dust in the air right now the way we are doing it, so I wanted to work a dust blower into the equation for air quality reasons. 

With my trucks I'd have in this shed that we'd have to start to move to even saw, they are diesels with air brakes, so I'd have to start them up, warm them up as they build air, then back them out, then let the building air out..........or kick in a huge fan in the rafters that sucked stuff out, which I'd have running before the trucks were started, but fans suck air from the closest spot with the least air resistance, so I'd have to plan fan location, which takes into account the building design and placement and wasn't exactly simple to do.     Then bring logs in and get lumber pallets moved around and ready to go, you guys know what its like to get ready for the day, open and close doors for air flow, etc, start up in my case, a tractor outside on the dust blower, possibly linked to the edger off the same pto drive, start up and warm up the mill, in cold weather just to get the oil and everything warmed up takes time and since I or one of my sons runs the mill, we focus on sawing and what the mill is doing and everything else just sort of goes on around you without noticing really.       

To convert to electric on the mill only solves one problem, to put a tractor outside on the dust blower, possible edger drive as well, again only solves one or two issues, doesn't address the skid steer, chainsaws if needed or whatever else might come along I have no idea about today at all.   

To only have something hooked up on day's we have the building closed up, I'm not thinking is a very good idea at all, I'd want it hooked up all the time, you guys know that works, someone closes a door and says you'd better hook the stuff up, which leads to yea yea in a minute, then issues come up, focus gets distracted and before long its too late.   My thoughts were it needs to be done all the time, but then comes the question, is it working, if so, how good, 100 percent, 80 percent, less, how do you know?

Same question applies to a three sided shed with one side completely open and no doors at all, the wind changes direction and literally holds stuff in, or on day's there is no air and your relying on air for movement and you keep working, when do you know.     

    

 

[doc henderson]

Randy I think this could be done.  I just want to be sure you are taking precautions.  I would leave it hooked up as well so it reduces noise.  HF and other have inexpensive dust collection and it could be outside.  As open and airy as your shed sounds you should be fine,  The CO will dissipate into the surrounding air so it is equal concentration all around.  with doors open it should follow a gradient to the outside.  If you are running a saw or truck inside, then you have to leave doors open and or put a tube on the exhaust to the outside.  I am sure cost is and issue.  Let us know what you decide, and of course be careful

[Don P]

If you are running a serious blower you are out of the wind, but you're basically outdoors. You won't have to direct the exhaust to it, the air changes per hour take care of that. Any heat is radiant.

I've been around one dust tube fire and saw the aftermath of their second. In both it was fine kd dust rather than green and sparks from a sander running over a stray nail. The furniture plants here have them not infrequently.

[Randy88]

This is just in the planning stages and won't happen this year, I have three large building roofs on schedule to be replaced this year by ourselves, which will consume the summer, along with prepping and painting another large machine shed.     

Time is much more a factor than money, time to get it all done and to work it into an ever changing schedule totally dependent on weather, two shed roofs were supposed to be done late last summer, but with over 30 inches of rain in less than 35 days, during the period of time we had available to do them, nothing was dry long enough to accomplish anything, so the hope is this summer they'll all get done, if mother nature is cooperative. 

We'll keep you posted, but with the crazy weather the last few years, this shed project has already been delayed a year, now its going be set back another year.