air cleaner placement

Higher and close to the source of dust is better than low and further away from the source.

I have a new commercial unit - the instructions recommend an optimum height is 8-10 feet. Also keep obstructions to a minimum on both the inlet side as well as the outlet side.

I understand "close to the dust" but why higher?

Utimately the dust seems to settle down, not up; seems like lower would catch more of it.

The primary purpose of these air filtration units is to catch the floating dust that is so easily inhaled to the deep portions of the lungs. The heavy stuff that falls fairly rapidly isn't a breathing hazard like the very small single-digit micron-size particles. This very fine dust can remain suspended in the air for quite some time - and that's the material you want to filter out with your air cleaner.

Higher is better because the circulation of air at the 8'-ish level is less obstructed and more thoroughly cycled through the filters. I would think a second reason is that this is the level of room air that we spend so much time breathing.

Thanks much for the responses. My shop is in the basement and the ceiling is somewhat less than 8'. I'll probably jiggle stuff around and find an upper corner.

Thanks again,

-Kevin

I recently moved my lathe to my basement and had a problem with ceiling height. Ours are about 7.5' and where to mount the 12" high air cleaner to the ceiling was a puzzler for a while. I certainly didn't want it in any foot pathway even though I'm 1/2 a foot shorter than where the bottom of the unit would be. (I think it would kinda feel claustrophobic too.) Over the lathe would feel restrictive, but I realized that I didn't need the space above the grinder to be full height so put it there. (I think this is also a good location as the grinder can put off some pretty nasty dust.)