The way the extraction works on most finishers is pretty straight forward. The fan extracts dusty air from the work area into a rear filter bag. The dust hits this bag and falls into a dust tray below following a few pulls on the shaker cable (when the fan motor is switched off). This dust tray is emptied every night.
Pulling on this cable several times during the working day encourages dust and other particles which have stuck to the filter bag to fall into the dust tray, and be removed during the daily clean. Used this way, the filter bag should be good for optimum efficiency for up to two years of solid work.
All well and good. At least in theory.
You would be amazed at the number of times we have spoken to customers on the telephone who lament the poor extraction on their finisher, but when asked about the age and condition of their filter bag confess that they haven’t looked at it for twenty years! This confession is usually followed up by the statement, “Dust tray? What dust tray?”
At this point our Service Manager decides which of our Service Engineers gets the enviable assignment of replacing the filter bag on this customer’s machine. This task is akin to a kind of engineering “Russian roulette!” The next time we see this lucky engineer he is somewhat dishevelled, and bemoaning the cutting in half (the only way of removing such a heavy item) of a filter bag which was packed solid and bulging from a couple of decades of leather scraps and dust.
If only for the sake of our laundry bill, we ask that you consider the condition of your extraction before the bag reaches this state. Generally, as stated above, with good maintenance, a properly fitted filter bag should facilitate good extraction for a couple of years.
To give yourself the best chance of trouble free extraction, remember the Standard 2-step rule (we try to keep things simple!)
- Several tugs on the shaker cable during the day
- Empty the dust tray every night