Fabric Filter Operation and Maintenance

This lesson provides a general overview of common operating problems and maintenance
practices for fabric filter systems. The text is written as a general guide for both baghouse
operators and air pollution regulatory agency inspectors and permit reviewers. For the baghouse
system operators, there are checklists and general guidelines on what to look for or to
avoid during the installation phases, instrumentation and recordkeeping suggestions for evaluating
the operating systems, and examples of some common operating problems that can
occur.
For the agency inspectors and permit reviewers, this lesson provides information that will be
useful for performing field inspections, or for reviewing operation and maintenance (O&M)
plans that many state agencies require as part of air permit applications for air pollution control
systems. The lesson is intended to provide a general compilation of typical baghouse operating
problems and typical checklists used during installation, startup, and operation. The
lesson also provides agency permit review engineers with sufficient technical information to
determine if the facility baghouse operators have adequate O&M plans in place to assure
proper operation of the baghouse and subsequent compliance with the regulations and/or permit
limits.
A number of sections of this lesson were extracted from the sources listed in the Suggested
Readings section at the end of this lesson. These sources provide much greater detail on fabric
filter system O&M procedures.