Hi John,

I am setting up my workshop in the basement of a house we just rented. There were two good reasons we rented this house. One, it is right on Penobscot Bay in Maine with a beautiful view of the Atlantic, and two, it has a large, dry cement floor basement that even has the same views. We moved my machines and tools into storage when we sold our house with a separate shop while I had to spend several years on the road as a “road warrior” for a technology company.
Now my question, I just had the furnace cleaned and adjusted, a System 2000 oil, hot water baseboard, which is supposed to be state-of-the-art and very efficient. I was assembling a new table saw while the burner technician was there working and his comment was, “You know you should never do woodworking in a basement with a furnace. Any wood dust will plug the furnace right up and you won’t be getting heat and any call our company gets for service on a weekend will be on your nickel because of the wood shop.” I asked him if there was any special filtration the could be installed at the intake of the furnace and he said, “No, that will fill up and block air intake as well.”
Now I know I am not the only woodworker that cannot afford a separate shop and has to work out a basement. I also know I am not the only one not in the position to buy and install a complete dust collection system. I have to rely on a couple of good wet/dry vacs I hook up machine-to-machine plus a Jet Air Filtration System hanging from the ceiling.
When I asked the technician what I could do about the problem he told me to shut off the furnace when I was doing any woodworking. That may seem like a reasonable solution to him but it does get a little chilly in Maine during the winter and I’m positive my wife would be less than thrilled with a cold house most of the time. I’m hoping you might have a more reasonable suggestion for a solution that would allow me to heat the house, do some furniture building, and keep me married.
Thanks!

-Floyd (MrC)