Vacuum Pump - Mist filter / Vaper extractor. Less than $10

I made this Mist filter / Vaper extractor for my vacuum pump for less than $10. It knocks down the vapors considerably. I have a vacuum pump and it makes a lot of vapors when it’s running. It was so bad when I was running it in the garage and open the door to the house it set off the smoke alarms. I priced vacuum pump Mist filter / Vaper extractor and they were several hundred dollars. I made this filter for less than $10 using a standard automotive oil filter and 0000 Steel wool. The vapor extraction is not perfect, but it is much less than it was before. I timed the vacuum to about 27 pounds vacuum with and without the filter and the time was the same for both. I used a Fram oil filter due to the design. You must drill a hole in the filter for the exhaust and other filter designs have a spring to hold the bypass valve closed. The Fram filter has space for drilling. I think the Walmart brand is like the Fram filter design. You will have to piece together the pvc fitting and connections based on you vacuum pump design. I used ½ inch pvc pipe and connections. My vacuum pump is a Harbor Freight 3 scfm pump and there was no change in capacity with the filter installed. I used about 8 inches of 0000 steel wool in the exhaust pipe and I put some in the filter through the hole I drilled.

[@kellyplymale130]

I just finished a trip to O'Reilly's and Lowe's to get the fixin's for this. How has it been holding up?

[@edwardjackson9791]

It still working great. You get a small amount of vapor but it is drastically reduced. I did change the connection to the pump. I took the cap that came with the pump and after modifying it to fit on the PVC pipe I JB welded it to the PVC pipe so it would fit better to the pump. The fitting on the pump is some really odd Chinesium size.