# My dust collector inlet and outlet sizes are not the same ! What size pipings should



## Rency (May 26, 2017)

I bought a Shop Fox W1826 Wall Dust Collector, 1 hp, wall mount style with one bag. I am not going to use the bag. Venting everything outside to a chip separator bin is the plan. 
Now please don’t worry about my neighbors or me sucking out air from my shop. I don’t have those problems. 

So let’s get to my real issue:
The inlet port on my dust collector is 4” and the outlet port where the bag was hanging is 5”. Now my question is should I use 5” ducting on my outlet/venting side or should I use 4” on both side ?


----------



## Rick Christopherson (Jun 27, 2016)

Lower velocity air is less turbulent and will drop out chips easier. Stick to the 5".


----------



## Rency (May 26, 2017)

Rick Christopherson said:


> Lower velocity air is less turbulent and will drop out chips easier. Stick to the 5".


Would the 4” on the inlet side negate the benefit of having 5” on the outlet side ? I guess since the outlet is not sucking but blowing out it should be good to use a larger size on that side. 

Thanks for the input 🙏


----------



## Rency (May 26, 2017)

Cannot find 5” pvc anywhere. Since my DC inlet is 4” and outlet is 5” now I can either do both side in 4 inch pvc or I can do metal 5” on the outlet end and 4” pvc on the inlet side. I don’t know what’s better. Please give me some suggestions. 

Technically PVC has less friction than equal sized spiral ducting according to the H/W friction factors rating listed on the Bill Pentz site. But I don’t know how much of an efficiency difference I will have between going with 4” pvc on the outlet side vs 5” metal ducting. 🤔

Pour in your helpful suggestions please.


----------



## Mark Jones Ozark (Feb 26, 2019)

Metal is expensive and it is not as tight as pvc. I would go for the 4" pvc. I used a few short pieces of metal on one system to bring it up through the ceiling and then reduced it to plastic. Also drill the corners out of your dust gates so they don't get clogged up by saw dust.

The best thing you can do is add in a dust deputy and have 100% of your suction all the time as no filters clog up. I hate cleaning up shop vac filters and dust collector filters and the dust deputy keeps me from cleaning those. I still do it every year or so just because I am curious but seriously they don't need it. 

I don't glue up my pvc. I use heating and air alumn tape to hold it together. Seems like there is always a modification or a update or a change in the machines and locations that make non glued pipe easy to work with. I do have to revisit the tape every now and then. Everything I have is on wheels and mobile. My garage shop is different than my fixed woodworking shop where everything was fixed in place...but I still didn't glue those joints either. 

Have fun. The cleaner it stays the safer it stays.


----------



## DrRobert (Apr 27, 2015)

If the run is short, 4" on the outlet is probably not going to affect the performance. 

That said, another alternative is a 5x6 reducer to a 6" exhaust hose.


----------



## Rency (May 26, 2017)

Mark Jones Ozark said:


> Metal is expensive and it is not as tight as pvc. I would go for the 4" pvc. I used a few short pieces of metal on one system to bring it up through the ceiling and then reduced it to plastic. Also drill the corners out of your dust gates so they don't get clogged up by saw dust.
> 
> The best thing you can do is add in a dust deputy and have 100% of your suction all the time as no filters clog up. I hate cleaning up shop vac filters and dust collector filters and the dust deputy keeps me from cleaning those. I still do it every year or so just because I am curious but seriously they don't need it.
> 
> ...


I am not going to use any cyclone or separator. Just venting everything straight out.

Thanks for the suggestions.
I appreciate it.


----------



## Rency (May 26, 2017)

DrRobert said:


> If the run is short, 4" on the outlet is probably not going to affect the performance.
> 
> That said, another alternative is a 5x6 reducer to a 6" exhaust hose.


I like that idea.

I don’t know much about this whole air/dc things. Learning a little bit now by reading all the stuff online and in forums.

Will 5x6 reducer to a 6" exhaust hose affect the fpm and suction power to lift the dust up on the inlet side? 

I am leaning towards making the inlet port 5” and running 5” on the inlet side. 

Thanks 🙏


----------



## Mark Jones Ozark (Feb 26, 2019)

Rency said:


> I am not going to use any cyclone or separator. Just venting everything straight out.
> 
> Thanks for the suggestions.
> I appreciate it.


I did that when I had my 3 man shop with fixed dust collection at each machine. Down side of this is winter months venting straight outside It would suck the heat out of the building pretty fast. Put the dust deputy outside on a drum and return the air back inside to the filter fixes that.


----------



## Rency (May 26, 2017)

Sold the 1hp shopfox dust collector . I am going to get a 2 or 3 hp dust collector used. Thanks for all the support and teaching. Will be starting a new thread with more questions now😊🙏


----------

