Sink Manufacturer's Dust Problems Down the Drain

Challenge

Sink Factory, Inc. (SFI) is a manufacturer of cast polymer products. In 2004, they started their business in a facility that already had a baghouse dust collector in place. However, the volume of dust generated by the grinding and sanding of the cast sinks proved to be too great a challenge for the undersized collection system. Employees with protective masks worked in an environment of dust laden air and thick layers of settled particulate.

Solution

Farr sales rep Greg Schreier of Glacier Technology properly sized a six cartridge Gold Series® Module (GSB6) with horizontal inlets to accommodate the massive dust loading. The module was mounted outside and against one wall of the sanding/ grinding room, drawing air through a large opening. SFI was quite pleased with the results.

When business and production increased for SFI, they decided to move to a larger facility in October 2005. They called Greg Schreier and asked him to engineer the dust filtration system for the new, expanded production area which consisted of a main room and two smaller "bump out" areas totaling 278 square meters.

They took their Farr GSB6 to the new facility (shown below) and Greg recommended an additional, larger Farr Gold Series module (GSB8) to install as well. Further, SFI had the idea to have the clean air from the Gold Series units to be ducted back 23 meters over and behind the sanders to increase the air exchange rate. Their intent for the Gold Series units was two-fold: Collect the dust from the grinding operations immediately in front of the modules, and clear the air of nuisance dust through recirculation. They connected the sanding tools directly to a separate vacuum system.

GSB8 on Sanding at Sink Factory Inc.

Gold Series Booth model GSB6 on a sanding application at Sink Factory, Inc.

The installation was a success and the Gold Series units are performing to high expectations, maintaining a clear environment for the 10 to 20 workers that are in the production area at any one time. SFI admitted consideration of competitive dust collection equipment, but was swayed to the Gold Series by the superior vertical cartridge design and by their success with their first Farr unit. In fact, neither unit has needed replacement filters (over a year for the GSB8 and nearly two years for the GSB6), and the pressure drop has not yet exceeded 498 Pa. SFI continues to be pleased with the the Gold Series' performance and they often receive compliments from visitors on how clean their operation is (see below!).

SFI often receives compliments from visitors on how clean their operation is!