Bit of a "wild card" question. How best to Hoover up polystyrene insulation from a roofspsce

[difflock]

The daughter's house where the previous owner filled between the joists with broken up polystyrene and polystyrene beads.

A shallow roof and a 2nd low placed purloin make access to the eves rather difficult.

I figure "hoovering" to be the only practical method, but need a BIG bag or collector.

Thoughts please.

[gary112]

1 minute ago, difflock said:

The daughter's house where the previous owner filled between the joists with broken up polystyrene and polystyrene beads.

A shallow roof and a 2nd low placed purloin make access to the eves rather difficult.

I figure "hoovering" to be the only practical method, but need a BIG bag or collector.

Thoughts please.

Is there room to use a leaf collecter(blower/vac)that would do it

[doobin]

You can get cyclone attachments on eBay. Mount one of those on a 20l pail with lid and run it off your domestic vacuum  

 

Cyclone Filter Dust Collector Woodworking For Vacuums Dust Extractor Separatorღ

WWW.EBAY.CO.UK

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1 x Industrial Extractor Dust Collector Set. Detail Image. Color: black. Suitable for CNC machining, wood...

I run one for collecting concrete dust when doing small floor planing jobs. 
 

Or if you can hire (or have use for) an industrial sized vacuum, that’s another option. I use a 3x1500w jobby, you can use it for wet or dry, you’d be fine running it on just the filter to suck those beads out, no need for bags. Something like this

 

80L Vacuum Cleaner Wet and Dry Industrial CARWASH KIT 6pc Free Kit Power 3000W

WWW.EBAY.CO.UK

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click to see more.

 

 

Edited December 4, 2021 by doobin

[difflock]

Gary,

Was my first thought, but what size is the collector bag?

Since there could be 15m3, say 1500sq ft at 4" deep. =150m2/10=15m3, so 60 No fills of a standard wheelie bin.

Since my other notion was to use a domestic vaccum  and a clean wheelie bin, with our  15m long wander hose.

But the plastic bin and the bloody static and polystyrene beads and wind and neighbours, AAragh!

 

Edited December 4, 2021 by difflock

[doobin]

1 minute ago, difflock said:

Gary,

Was my first thought, but there could be 15m3, say 1500sq ft at 4" deep=150m2/10=15m3, so 60 No fills of a standard wheelie bin.

 

Either get a firm in who specialise in it or mount that cyclone jobby onto a 220l ‘food spec’ barrel with removable lid. That’s a lot of beads!

[difflock]

6 minutes ago, doobin said:

You can get cyclone attachments on eBay. Mount one of those on a 20l pail with lid and run it off your domestic vacuum  

 

Cyclone Filter Dust Collector Woodworking For Vacuums Dust Extractor Separatorღ

WWW.EBAY.CO.UK

---

1 x Industrial Extractor Dust Collector Set. Detail Image. Color: black. Suitable for CNC machining, wood...

I run one for collecting concrete dust when doing small floor planing jobs. 

 

20litre ain't gan Tay cut it Sur!

[difflock]

Two reasons for removal.

(I) the obvious fire risk with deadly smoke hazard.

(ii) the fact that apparently polysteryene will "attack" and degrade the PVC insulation to the house wiring!

Which is why the previous owner, a somewhat eccentric electrican, had lovingly wrapped the electrical wires in plastic and cellophane!

 

[doobin]

You could line that 220l food grade barrel with a wheely bin liner (or two) also. Takes care of most of the mess. 

[openspaceman]

3 minutes ago, doobin said:

You could line that 220l food grade barrel with a wheely bin liner (or two) also. Takes care of most of the mess. 

If it weren'n for the risk of sparks from the motor brushes you could leave a bit of petrol in the bottom to reduce the volume 🙂

 

Back in the day of cleaning out combines in the field you could fit one of those cyclones to a barrel and have a wander suction hose. Power came from the air intake of the diesel engine.

[doobin]

Just now, openspaceman said:

If it weren'n for the risk of sparks from the motor brushes you could leave a bit of petrol in the bottom to reduce the volume 🙂

 

Back in the day of cleaning out combines in the field you could fit one of those cyclones to a barrel and have a wander suction hose. Power came from the air intake of the diesel engine.

Why collect it in a field? We just used petrol blowers.