Great supply for Spiral Dust Collection Pipe

Marty Walsh

Member
Messages
1,396
Location
Southern Georgia
Those of you that follow my Birth of a Shop thread know that I just purchased spiral pipe to install for my dust collection system.

For those of you that don't follow my thread, I've spent quite a bit of time going over the various options for piping the dust collection system for my shop. I wanted spiral metal pipe, but the cost was a problem. I considered using PVC, but the cost wasn't much better, and PVC introduces the problem of static electricity/sparks/etc., that I won't even go into here.

I even considered learning to weld so I could use salvaged/recovered pipe which I can come by.

What I wound up doing is finding a Spiral Pipe Manufacturer that has pricing that is far less expensive than any other vendor I've looked into. In fact, their pricing puts spiral pipe on par with PVC!

One of the real nice things about this company is, since they're manufacturing the pipe, they can and will make whatever thickness you need. Since I'm using a rather large blower (7.5 hp three phase), I chose to have them make me 22 gauge pipe, with welded 20 gauge fittings. But the pipe and fittings are available in 26, 24, and 22 gauge. I'm sure they could make it even thicker, but I doubt anyone reading this would need thicker than 22 gauge.

The company is "Impulse Air", and they're located in Jacksonville Florida. Luckily for me, that's less than a three hour drive from here, so I was able to drive down and pick up my pipe and fittings. But they also ship (frieght) pipe anywhere in the US.

The owner of the company is Bruce Hampton, and he can be reached at 904-475-1822. I told him I was planning to post information here so he might be getting calls from forum members. He's a really knowledgable and nice guy to work with. He's been in the business a long time, and really knows his stuff!

The only thing he doesn't do is design dust collection systems. You'd need to provide Bruce with a take-off of your proposed system, showing the lengths and diameters of pipe, along with whatever fittings you require. He can then work up a quote for you.

The way he normally does his quotes are on a 'system basis'. Since he's a manufacturer, he actually prices the system based on the amount/weight of steel, not the length of pipe. But for comparison purposes, he gave me the following rough ballpark figures:

10' lengths of 10" diameter spiral pipe:​
26 gauge - $30
24 gauge - $36
22 gauge - $45​

For comparison, Onieda offers only 24 gauge spiral in their catalog. Their charge for 10' lengths of 10" 24 gauge is $48. Impulse Air charges about $36 for the same thing.

If you have a look at this post in my Birth of a Shop thread, you'll see the amount of pipe and fittings I purchased from Bruce. That trailer load of steel cost me a total of $1090. That's less than half what an inferior product would have cost me anywhere else.

I highly recommend calling Bruce if you're in the market for dust collection pipe. It may not work out for everyone, but it's certainly worth the call.

Good luck...
- Marty -
 
Looks like a good find on a great supplier/manufacturer! I know in the shop thread you said you would be able to trim the pipe to length...what will you use to trim it? I'm guessing it would be a little tough on tin snips. :rofl:
Anxious to "see" how it goes in! Jim.
 
For those who may not know, Air conditioning ductwork suppliers are a great source for the spiral pipe. CHeck out the yellow pages and make a few calls.

Regards,
 
Marty you are a life saver! :thumb: I've just sent my shop specs off to Penn State Ind. for help with the design. I'll call this company after I get the quote.

Thanks!

DT
 
There's a similar company in Tucson, any diameter pipe you want, made at their factory. Utterly forgetable name though, something like "Metal Manufacturing Inc".
 
Looks like a good find on a great supplier/manufacturer! I know in the shop thread you said you would be able to trim the pipe to length...what will you use to trim it? I'm guessing it would be a little tough on tin snips. :rofl:
Anxious to "see" how it goes in! Jim.

Jim,

Even the tough 22 gauge spiral I purchased can be cut cleanly with my Bosch jigsaw with a metal cutting blade. I'll be posting shots once I start...;)

- Marty -
 
For those who may not know, Air conditioning ductwork suppliers are a great source for the spiral pipe. CHeck out the yellow pages and make a few calls.

Regards,

David,

Things might be different where you're at, but around here, HVAC wholesalers don't deal with spiral pipe. Well, it's not a stock item. And since it's not a stock item, having them order it adds A LOT to the price. I know...I tried. The quote I got back from the wholesaler I'm dealing with was almost THREE TIMES the price I got from Impulse Air.

The only thing 'stocked' by the wholesaler (and three others I've visited) is 26 and 30 gauge regular HVAC ducting. That stuff would be worse than useless for dust collection. It would be dangerous!

Again, your situation might be different where you're at...:dunno:

- Marty -
 
Marty you are a life saver! :thumb: I've just sent my shop specs off to Penn State Ind. for help with the design. I'll call this company after I get the quote.

Thanks!

DT

Don,

Looking at Penn State's site, they're calling 24 gauge their "premium" spiral. That's quite a bit thinner than the 22 gauge I'm using. Depending on the size of the blower/impeller you're using, it might be ok. Not for me though...

Also, it's kind of hard to compare prices between Penn State and Impulse, since Penn State doesn't carry anything larger than 6". Plus, they don't list the length for the section of 6" they're charging $17 (plus frieght and their add-on charge). Although, if we assume it's a 5' section like their economy pipe is, that's a little over $3 per foot...pretty close to what Impulse charges for 10" in that thinner gauge.

Anyway, I'm sure it's worth the call to Impulse once you have your parts list. Let me know if there's anything I can help you with. And please let us all know how it goes.

Good luck...
- Marty -
 
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