I am experiencing the same problem so I decided to take it all apart. Found that when their is a clog the dirt gets pushed past the filter and into the motor “FAN”assembly. Every time I turned it on it blew dust. After I cleaned out the motor/fan and rinsed the filter problem when away. My recommendation is to run it outside until no more dust, clean the filter or replace and keep maintaining it after every use correcting clogs as they occur. No simple answer use, clean, store.