Filters that actually get changed

Nobody remembers the last change

Filters fail slowly. Suction drops a little each week and nobody notices until the bed is covered in dust. The fix is not a better filter, it is a card on the booth door with the date of the last change and the date of the next one.

How often

For a single router on MDF most days, start with a check every week and a change every two to three months. Highveld winters load filters faster from June to August. Write what you find, so the interval becomes your own number instead of a guess from the box.

Keep one spare

A spare filter on the shelf turns a change into a ten-minute job. Order the next one the same day you fit the spare. Bag the old filter before you carry it through the workshop, it is full of fine dust you do not want to breathe.

The slip we see most

Banging a filter clean against the wall outside, which damages the pleats and spreads fine dust.

How you know it is working

Suction at the hood stays strong, and the date card is always filled in.

Written by Nadia Pillay, Training Manager. Nadia designs the training cell days and the college tray systems.