Dust Collector ????

[bobleibo]

I am in the process of re-arranging my shop and have a question for those of you who are smarter than me.....which means everyone.
Currently, my dust collector is outfitted with a hard plastic 4" smooth main collection tube that runs along the wall and sits right next to all of my machinery and does a good job sucking up all of the sawdust. One of my goals is to relocate it to a place where I don't hear the noise as much.
Here lies my ???
Leaving all of the collections gates where they are and extending only the main 4" tube, will it lose much efficiency moving it about 20' further than where it is now? I thought about moving it to test it but that would involve buying 20' of hard plastic tube and buying that just to find out it won't work seems a bit of a waste.
Any thoughts?
Thank you!
Bob

 

[low_48]

Much effiency? We could calculate the pressure drop with a fan chart and air flow numbers from your collector. Without any data, all I can say is maybe a little drop.

 

[Skie_M]

Have you thought about simply making a sound-proof baffle box and muffler for your dust collector so that you can't hear the silly thing running?

 

[bobleibo]

Much effiency? We could calculate the pressure drop with a fan chart and air flow numbers from your collector. Without any data, all I can say is maybe a little drop.

Would it be far to say that the drop in efficiency would be minimal when adding the distance? The other stuff is way above my pay grade.

Have you thought about simply making a sound-proof baffle box and muffler for your dust collector so that you can't hear the silly thing running?

I tried that, even used some foam lining the box....didn't help much and made it a pain in the rear end to empty, plus the sound proof box became another place to stack things on - which made it even more of a pain in the rear end.


Thanks for the input.....

 

[Skie_M]

Ok ... just move the noise into another room. Pop a hole in the wall and route the hose through the wall.


Move it into a closet space or into a lean-to shed type space outside the workshop... Don't forget to soundproof that section of wall and wire a remote switch!

 

[jaywood1207]

What dust collector do you have?
I would not put it outside considering your location. You'll suck all the heat out in the winter.

 

[Skie_M]

What dust collector do you have?
I would not put it outside considering your location. You'll suck all the heat out in the winter.

Route the exhaust back into the shop with a muffler/baffle?

 

[bobleibo]

It's an industrial dust collection motor 1 HP and is going into another room for noise control, just want to make sure that adding the extra 20' of tube won't diminish the efficiency, kind of like adding extension cords...the further you go the thicker gauge the cord has to be or it loses amperage. From the sound of it, the loss will be negligible so I'm going to give it a try and cross my fingers.

P.S.
Amen on the heat loss...burrrr~

 

[brownsfn2]

There is a great link for this: Figure Dust-Collection Needs: Static Pressure Loss

Static pressure loss for a 4" tube is .07 per ft. So 20' of straight added to your set up already would be an additional loss of 1.4" of sp. If you take that 1.4 and add it to the SP loss of your furthest run then you have your worst possible SP loss.

Next you need to see how much SP loss your DC can handle at around 400 CFM which is what most machines require. This will help you determine if you have a large enough DC for that length of run for you furthest drop. At 1hp it may not be enough.

I hope that helps. I had to build a close with insulation around my DC in order to make it quiet.

Good luck. I know that some DC zealots will have you spend thousands to get the level of DC they think you need. I think it is just good to do the best you can.

 

[Charlie_W]

I would think the reduction would be minimal. Just don't go adding elbows. That will mess with the flow.

 

[bobleibo]

There is a great link for this: Figure Dust-Collection Needs: Static Pressure Loss

Static pressure loss for a 4" tube is .07 per ft. So 20' of straight added to your set up already would be an additional loss of 1.4" of sp. If you take that 1.4 and add it to the SP loss of your furthest run then you have your worst possible SP loss.

Next you need to see how much SP loss your DC can handle at around 400 CFM which is what most machines require. This will help you determine if you have a large enough DC for that length of run for you furthest drop. At 1hp it may not be enough.

I hope that helps. I had to build a close with insulation around my DC in order to make it quiet.

Good luck. I know that some DC zealots will have you spend thousands to get the level of DC they think you need. I think it is just good to do the best you can.

Thanks for the link Ron, that told me exactly what I needed to know....that I need a bigger DC motor to make it all work. Better I know now than afterwards.
Cheers
Bob

 

[allmaclean]

Appreciate the information. I was in the process of moving a Delta 50-760 and piping a line to a couple of positions. Used 4" as that was the option out of the machine. Found a significant drop in performance after the move - although it was only about 10' away with a mixture of solid pipe and flex down-shoots off of a Y.
Thinking of adding a Wynn instead of the current bag, shortening the run by flipping the motor and intake on the housing so the intake is on top, but not sure if the results will be worth it. Rather than investing in incremental fixes, I may be better off purchasing a larger, more efficient cyclone unit.

The set-up is in a garage, which is shared by our cars. Don't want the fine dust getting to us or the kids. Reading some of the articles is getting me worried.

Thoughts and suggestions would be appreciated, as I am a novice at this.

Allan

 

[oneleggimp]

Another small concern with plastic tubing is Static. Some wrap all the plastic tube with copper wire (spiral wrap) with connections to each machine and each blast gate and with the start of the wire connected to the grounding point on the Dust Collector. I've heard of an exploision or fire caused by static buildup in a dust collection system and I think i'd tend to err on the side of caution if I had a system like this. Since i am now limited to one lathe in my Dining Room with a short run of hose to a shop vacuum, I feel reasonably safe but If I had a longer run I'd ground it. (Of course if you have metal piping then the grounding takes care of itself.

 

[brownsfn2]

PVC pipe is regularly available and does not build up a static charge that is of any significance. When I did my research for my system I looked really hard for an article on DC explosions caused by static build up and all I found was the Myth Busters episode that proved it can't happen. I think that there have been some websites in the past that have built up that rumor. You are correct that metal pipe needs no grounding whatsoever.

Really the purpose of grounding is to protect yourself from shock. I know that I can get a very slight shock form the outside of my pipe in the middle of winter when the air is dry. Here is a good link that talks about it briefly: Exploding PVC Dust Collection Ductwork? / Rockler How-to