dirtier track in winter

[bwchaney]

My track  on my layout seems to get dirtier faster in the winter than in the summer.  Does anyone else notice it on their layout.  I have even tried half closing the vents to lessen any dirt being blown in by the furnace.  My track cleaning cars seem to pick up residue daily.  any help or opinions":?  bwchaney

[timbob]

I would change the thread title.  It is miss-leading.  The title WINTER TRACK?  implies that you are talking about how to make your track look snowy or something like that(at least to me).

 

tim

[mobilman44]

Hi!

I assume you live "up north", and obviously have the heat going most of the time - bringing dust with it to spread on the layout.  When I lived in Illinois, we would remove the air vent grate and secure a piece of cheescloth over it (with tape as I recall).  This certainly kept dust down, but also held back some of the air - more so as it got dirty.  The point is you probably will need to change it weekly or so.

Also, it sounds like your layout is in an open area (rather than enclosed room).  If that is so you will have a harder time of controlling the dust, but you should find that the above makes a difference.

Been here in south Texas since the '70s, haven't shoveled snow (of consequence) since then.

Mobilman44

[dknelson]

The furnace is my guess and perhaps it would pay to have the ducts cleaned next spring.  I also wonder if perhaps static electricity goes up when the air gets drier in winter?  The NMRA magazine Scale Rails had an interesting article about duct taping an ordinary cheap furnace filter to an ordinary cheap box fan and running it in the layout room.  It catches a lot of loose dust and other particles.  Might be worth a try.

Dave Nelson

[bogp40]

I experience this in the entire house as well. Changing the funace filters on a monthly basis will help. You can also try the better quality heppa filters offered- they do work but cost 2-3 times as much.

Duct cleaning as mentioned will help tremendously. For the time being, try placing used dryer sheets of other suitable filter material on or behind the registers, my mother-in-law is a real fanatic about dust. This works fantastic for her. It does cut down the air flow somewhat but works.