central vac tubes for the shop?

Dan Worsick

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14
Location
Baltimore, Ontario, Canada
I have some left over white plastic tubes when I installed my central vac system. I was wondering if I could use these tubes for my dust management system in my shop? I know you can use metal ducking and I do have the plastic coiled tubes in my shop. I was looking at using some of the cental vac tubes from my disc sander up to the ceiling and down to a Y-junction on my dust system. I use grounding wire in and around my other coiled tubes. What about the central vacuum tubes are they ok to use or do they generate too much static?

Dan
 
not sure of the size your talking about but i use 4"pvc tubing on my machines and 6" in the main runs.. no trouble thus far.

Same here. No problems.

If you're only using the small diameter tubing on sanders, etc. then there shouldn't be any problem. I wouldn't try to use it on chip producing machinery like planers, though. It'd clog too easily.
 
Any thing under 4" and in fact even 4" does not move enough air to effectively capture the finest dust the stuff that will cause health problems in time.

Your call :wave:
 
Isn't that a factor of air velocity, not pipe size?

The factor is the Cubic Feet of air moved per Minute (CFM). Most vacuums have a great static pressure, that is the amount of "Suck" :rolleyes: but the CFM is fairly low, and you need that CFM right at the source of the cut to capture the super fine stuff.
 
When running a dust collection system, the diameter of the pipe will limit how much air will move (CFM). Size of pipe isn't as critical to vacuum systems because of the static pressure difference. The blowers are made different for each type. I do have a central vac set up in my shop that I plan to run to the SCMS port, with the cyclone running a 6" pipe to a yet to be built shroud behind the unit. I hope it will work. Jim.
 
Any thing under 4" and in fact even 4" does not move enough air to effectively capture the finest dust the stuff that will cause health problems in time.

Your call :wave:

Stu,
Not to argue with you, but my DC at the intake at the impeller only has a 4" port... wouldn't I have to get a step down to run 6" piping through the shop?
currently I run a 4" aluminum dryer vent from the DC through the wall of the shop and under the work bench, then connect to the regular 4" hose sold by the various catalogs for DC... mine is a HF unit that states it has a 1600 CFM.. not sure about that, but with only one port open at a time, I've had it suck my hand up to the intake port.... if I use a step down, would not that defeat the purpose of a 6" pipe...

I need to check the impeller again, I had a jam up when I lost an Abranet sheet into the system and it clogged up at the impeller.... I pulled the cover and cleaned, then switch on the system to make sure the impeller was clear, then I managed to drop the cover and one corner hit the impeller... now I think I have a bent vane... haven't found it, but the sound of the system is different.
 
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