# PVC Duct & Static Electric Problems?



## SteveKoz (Feb 22, 2019)

It seems on UTube most people use PVC for their ductwork. Was talking to the folks at Oneida looking for PVC adaptors and they said they don't recommend using PVC for the duct work? She said it creates a static electricity problem. Anyone experiencing this and is there a fix for it? Appreciate the help..


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## samandothers (Jan 20, 2012)

*Going through the same planning.*

Movement of the air and chips in pvc will create static. I will not get into the debate of whether this will cause an issue. It can definitely cause a static discharge. Some folks run wires with the PVC to ground it back to the DC just figure this into your overall cost and time. 

I too am trying to plan a DC system. I like to price of PVC, but may go with the Oneida metal ducts. I have tried to layout a system with the Oneida Super Dust Deputy XL cyclone with metal duct and the ClearVue CV1800 cyclone with PVC. I am leaning toward Oneida. Part of that is the difference in cost of the cyclones. I also like the Oneida metal elbows I was looking at can vary from 90 to straight which could help with duct directions.

I might mention I have an older Grizzly 4 hp DC I am trying to make use of with my set up. If I was buying new.... I might go ClearVue PVC and wire to ground. Hard call Do the planning and math.

Good luck and let me/us know what you decide it will help us!:vs_laugh:


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## SteveKoz (Feb 22, 2019)

Thanks for the response. How do you run a ground wire with the PVC piping? PVC would be cheaper and I would think would provide a better sealed system. If it's just a matter of running a small metal wire through the PVC that wouldn't be expensive. If it's a special wire or size? wire I suppose it could be. I'm looking at the HF DC with the Oneida 5" Super Dust Deputy. If I go with PVC it will be 4" pipe.. If I go metal I'm leaning towards 5". Just want to ask questions and learn from people with experience instead of just buying and learning/regretting. This is suppose to be fun...  Thanks again..


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## Pineknot_86 (Feb 19, 2016)

A bit different than the question here- I have a DD on a portable cart. I ran a wire from the metal mount on the DD top, soldered a washer to the wire and let it drag on the floor. No static problems.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Static discharges/shocks are .....*

The static shocks you can get from touching the DC unit while it's running are annoying, even painful, BUT not hazardous. The number of static dust explosions in home shops are miniscule, if even existent.
*It takes a huge volume of airborne dust and a significant spark to make an explosion.*


I have 2 Jets 1100 DCs which have a 7" plastic wire wound hose which connects the blower to the separator. While it was running, it would shock the $hit out of me. I finally figured out a solution which was to "electrically/mechanically" connect to two with a bare copper 14 GA wire. This stopped all the static shocks. Since then, I have never been concerned with any static, BUT I don't have long runs of PVC pipe either. 



We need to separate the "hazard" discussion from the "annoyance' issue? :vs_cool:


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## johnep (Apr 12, 2007)

Flour mills had some horrendous explosions in the past. 
johnep


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Like I said above .....*



johnep said:


> Flour mills had some horrendous explosions in the past.
> johnep





Woodworking doesn't produce flour dust, even in small quantities. :|


Apples and bananas comparison. Graineries doen't deal with wood dust and woodworkers don't deal with flour dust. 



http://www.home-wizard.com/article/home-explosion-risks


https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/chemicals/combustible_dust.html
read the section on "What conditions are needed for a dust explosion to happen?"


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## johnep (Apr 12, 2007)

True. But both produce static and flour dust is highly inflammable. Sawdust usually coarser but sanding wood produce similar particle size. It was these small particles that were breathed in by wood workers and could produce cancers. Did so in the UK furniture industry.

https://www.google.com/search?q=fir...ome..69i57.15441j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

https://www.woodshopnews.com/features/boom-the-dangers-of-wood-dust


johnep


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## Pineknot_86 (Feb 19, 2016)

johnep said:


> Flour mills had some horrendous explosions in the past.
> johnep


A college friend worked in a feed mill where smoking or any type of open flame was forbidden due to the explosive nature of the fine dust. So...he learned to chew tobacco. Example- I had a small bucket of sawdust that I tossed on a burn pile. Flashed like a quart of gasoline! In the future, I will dump the sawdust BEFORE lighting the burn pile. I learn real fast!


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## Scott410 (Feb 2, 2019)

Great topic. Getting ready to build a small PVC Dust Collection system. I will use some copper wire and run it to ground to be safe.

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## Tool Agnostic (Aug 13, 2017)

I have an all-plastic Craftsman shop vac, connected to a plastic dust separator. They share a movable cart. I take a plastic hose from the dust separator and attach it the the tool in use. The hoses are those black plastic "accordion" hoses. On dry days, I can see the sawdust fingers around the hose that is plugged into the tool. (In case you are thinking about leaving a wire touching the ground, I operate my tools mostly on paving stones set in sand on hard dirt, but I work on the concrete slab in the garage on rare occasions.)

Here is my question:

-> How would you ground the hoses, the dust separator, and the shop vac? There is nothing but plastic, plastic, plastic on the outside of this contraption. My goal is to prevent static discharge between the "final" hose and the tool itself.


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## SteveKoz (Feb 22, 2019)

Thanks for the replies. My mind was in a totally different place on this topic. I thought the static charge would cause the dust to stick to the insides of the pipe. Sort of like when you cut PVC and the dust sticks to the pipe. After reading I'm not too concerned about an explosion or fire but that static electric shock would drive me nuts. Do you need to run a wire inside the entire length of PVC tube or can you attach/tape a wire to the outside near the blower and ground it there? I'll have about 30' in total PVC before connecting the flex hoses. Started thinking about using the 5" light weight metal duct piping from Home Depot. Cost would be about the same as the 4" PVC, a little bigger diameter pipe, but since I'll be feeding that into a plastic DD I'll still have to run a ground wire somewhere.


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## Scott410 (Feb 2, 2019)

Mine will be a small PVC Dust Collection System and it will pretty much be all plastic. I plan on running a small non coated wood screw into one of the pipes, not so long that it would catch debris. I will run a wire to ground from that.

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## Larry42 (Jan 10, 2014)

Deciding whether to use 5" or 4", metal VS plastic. There is a big difference in the air volume that the two can carry. Cross sectional area = pie x r squared so the ratio is 25 to 16. So the 5" duct can carry 50% more air! That said, if your fan is only capable of enough air movement for a 4" duct, use the plastic. Many of the small (cheap) dust collection systems use a "free air" cfm rating. That # is totally worthless for use in calculations for your system. If yours has a CFM rating at a specified suction measured in water column then you can use that for your calculations. Usually machines need a minimum of a 4"wc at the hood. There are multiple loses before that. Each foot of pipe, elbow, flex duct, and especially the filter bag. The typical cheap system doesn't have enough filter to move its rated air volume. Especially once the filter has some dust load. There are lots of system calculators on line. Watch out for the recommendations to use an increasing trunk line size for each additional tool. As a one man shop you won't be using multiple tools at once. So trunk line calculations don't apply. You need to keep your duct velocity above 3500'/min. Or the duct will fill with chips. Chips increase friction and reduce flow even more. 
You can increase the performance of your small system by adding filter area. I've used American Fabric Filter Co. They can help you. 
The mini cyclones available will reduce the filter plugging but they also add to the lose of flow. A planer makes a lot of chips and will quickly fill a 55 gallon drum.


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## Tool Agnostic (Aug 13, 2017)

I just made this comment in another thread, but it also applies here:

"If you design your system with runs of pipe, be sure you include a way to clean them out from time to time. Sawdust will settle in them, even with the best of dust collectors, let alone a shop vac. With time, temperature, and humidity changes, the sawdust can accumulate and harden inside the pipes like arteriosclerosis."


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## SteveKoz (Feb 22, 2019)

Appreciate all the help.. 

Larry42: I'm getting the HF DC and the 5" DD from Oneida. I also ordered the Wynn 35BA filter. The lady at Oneida said the HF DC comes with a 5" inlet which is why I felt it would be good to run the entire system with 5" metal piping. After looking at the HF DC again it states a 4" inlet.. Not sure a 4" inlet connected to a 5" pipe run will produce the best results. I don't have the mindset to understand the physics behind all this. Thought to ask the people who have actual hands on experience what they found to work and not work. I do appreciate the help!


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*All that's good, but .....*

You should also replace the impeller:














OTHER modifications that are popular include mounting the motor/blower on the wall .....
https://www.google.com/search?q=har...lebgAhVn2IMKHTLZDUcQ_AUIDygC&biw=1536&bih=750


Understanding dust collection basics is spelled out here:
http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/beginnnerscorner.cfm


Look at the header that runs across the top and you will find:
http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/blower.cfm


and:
http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/blower.cfm#impeller_sizing


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## TMA Woodworks (Apr 23, 2010)

Wood magazine had a tip a while ago where one guy took HVAC foil tape and wrapped it around like a barber pole. He then terminated it with a bare wire underneath and grounded that wire.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Static electricity and dust collection ......*

This section from the Pentz web site deals with static in the home shop system:
http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/ducting.cfm#static_electricity


He also ran an aluminum sticky tape (HVAC tape) inside and outside the pipe, but there were issues. his falls into the difference between "annoyance" and hazardous" issue that I mentioned a few posts above. One solution I've read is to run a bare copper wire inside the pipe with a connection to ground at both ends, being careful not to interrupt the continuity at the joints. That seems like a real pain and may induce clogs if it's not kept perfectly smooth and flat. Not for me .....


Pentz references this article which says;
_Dr. Rod Cole wrote an excellent article in Fine Woodworking that debunked the static myth with PVC pipe._ 

http://www.woodcentral.com/articles/shop/articles_221.shtml


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## WesTex (Jan 5, 2014)

SteveKoz said:


> Appreciate all the help..
> 
> 
> 
> Larry42: I'm getting the HF DC and the 5" DD from Oneida. I also ordered the Wynn 35BA filter. The lady at Oneida said the HF DC comes with a 5" inlet which is why I felt it would be good to run the entire system with 5" metal piping. After looking at the HF DC again it states a 4" inlet.. Not sure a 4" inlet connected to a 5" pipe run will produce the best results. I don't have the mindset to understand the physics behind all this. Thought to ask the people who have actual hands on experience what they found to work and not work. I do appreciate the help!




My HF collector has a 5” inlet with a removable 5” to 4” Y. It allows for 2 4” runs. Remove the Y & you have the single 5” inlet. 


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## SteveKoz (Feb 22, 2019)

WesTex said:


> My HF collector has a 5” inlet with a removable 5” to 4” Y. It allows for 2 4” runs. Remove the Y & you have the single 5” inlet.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


While out today we decided to make a trip to a Harbor Freight store. They have a unit on display which I had no problem taking apart and playing with. It did have the 5" inlet which was a good surprise. I'm still leaning towards using 4" pvc piping. I think I will get a much better sealed piping system than using the metal pipes. With the metal I'd have to tape all the joints and all the elbows and would probably tape the entire seam joint just to be safe. Also, sucking with a 5 inch inlet through a 4" hose I would assume I would get more sucking power at the tool end? Want to make sure it sucks up the small chips of wood and not have them rattle around in the vertical pipe. As for the static electric problem, do people get a shock when they touch the PVC pipe? Scott410 had the same idea I had.. Wouldn't attaching a metal screw to the outer wall of the pipe and attaching to a coper plumbing line OR the blower housing eliminate that problem?


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## SteveKoz (Feb 22, 2019)

Woodnthings: Thank you for the links! I've already thought about the impeller change as an option IF the HF unit doesn't perform well enough. Hope it's not needed but seems like a fun project if it does.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*If you read any of the links .....*



SteveKoz said:


> While out today we decided to make a trip to a Harbor Freight store. They have a unit on display which I had no problem taking apart and playing with. It did have the 5" inlet which was a good surprise. I'm still leaning towards using 4" pvc piping. I think I will get a much better sealed piping system than using the metal pipes. With the metal I'd have to tape all the joints and all the elbows and would probably tape the entire seam joint just to be safe. * Also, sucking with a 5 inch inlet through a 4" hose I would assume I would get more sucking power at the tool end?* Want to make sure it sucks up the small chips of wood and not have them rattle around in the vertical pipe. As for the static electric problem, do people get a shock when they touch the PVC pipe? Scott410 had the same idea I had.. Wouldn't attaching a metal screw to the outer wall of the pipe and attaching to a coper plumbing line OR the blower housing eliminate that problem?



There's a whole lot more to this than pipe diameter, although in any case "bigger IS better'.! 



To summarize the 47 pages by Bill Pentz ... :grin: The home shop blowers do not move enough air. The impellers are too small as are the motors. They will collect chips OK, but not fine dust. The best plastic pipes are P &D sewer pipes. A 4" pipe is too small. etc. :sad2:
http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/ducting.cfm#ducting_diamter


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## SteveKoz (Feb 22, 2019)

woodnthings said:


> There's a whole lot more to this than pipe diameter, although in any case "bigger IS better'.!


OK.. so now I"m back to the 5" metal duct work. :smile2: The impeller upgrade seems to make sense too. What got me wondering is that it seems a lot of HF owners are looking for upgrades which makes me wonder if the 5" duct is big enough? I've heard the 5" is better than 4" so 6" should be better than 5" as long as the blower can pull enough air. It's not about the pulling power but the volume of air moved is what I've been learning.. The question is that it all seems to connect to 4" hoses at the tool. Doesn't it loose volume of air movement when it's reduced to the 4" pipe at the tool? Does the 6 to 4 create better suction at the tool? I'm getting ready to order my piping and blast gates. Hate to purchase 5" if I'll be regretting not getting the 6 from the start. Thanks!


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*I don't have metal duct work .....*

I don't even have much of a run of 4" PVC except what's under my 3 table saws, about 10 ft, which I do connect with a 5 ft flex hose directly to a Jet 1100 DC. So, I'm not your best source of advice, but I read a lot of Pentz's material just for the knowledge and pass that along here. According to his articles, even my Jet 1100 which has a "rating" on paper of 1100 CFM, it's only actually somewhere between 400 CFM and 800 CFM. All I know is they work OK when connected as directly as possible to my sanders and planers for one and the table saws and jointer for the other. I found it was much easier for my to get 2 Jet 1100's than run a bunch of pipe around a vaulted ceiling where it wouldn't look very good and it would be a pain to hang.


Just beware that any thin gauge metal duct from a home store may have flanges and seams which will collect the dust and if your blower id powerful enough, it may collapse, again I'm quoting/reading from Pentz's material. Also any transitions in sheet metal will be expensive for the slow curves. You may want to sketch out the layout form your system and post it here for us to comment on.
I don't have all the answers of course, since it is a science unto itself. Bigger Is better, but also more expensive...... :grin:


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## Larry42 (Jan 10, 2014)

The metal pipe you talked about is furnace duct. It is for pressure not vacuum. I watched a guy turn on his dust collector for the first time after installing furnace duct. A big part of it collapsed! Dust collection duct is the spiral stuff or the more ridged flanged stuff. PVC will work, just less than ideal. The elbows are pretty tight radius and will cause more drag than a proper duct elbow.


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## Red5hft (Dec 20, 2018)

*Simple PVC Static Discharge*

I installed my central dust collection with PVC for several reasons, cost, ease of installation, future modification. I had previous experience with the static electricity build up when using any plastic type duct or hose. I looked at existing grounding systems available for purchase and home made systems. They were unattractive, difficult to install and rather expensive. I found a very simple and easy solution. Using aluminum foil duct seal tape, I adhered strips to the duct work while folding 1/3 of the strip back under its self to place the aluminum in direct contact with the exterior of the PVC. I then ran a second strip over the now 2/3 wide strip fully securing it to the PVC. You may have success just adhering the tape directly to the PVC, but I was uncertain about the rather thick adhesive interfering with the connectivity. I ensured I had continuous runs over all PVC duct, then attached an electrical eye connector and wire to the end of the tape near a grounding source. The other end of the wire is connected to the ground. I conducted multiple tests using various chip/dust particle sizes (MDF dust included) and have found the system is completely discharging all static. 



The idea that you have to penetrate the PVC with connectors to capture the static charge is not correct. All that is necessary is to provide a discharge pathway that offers less resistance than the PVC. 


Total cost, 1 large roll of aluminum foil tape, about $9. Installation time, 1 hour. (I connected all flex hoses internal wire frame to the system as well and they remain static free and very clean on the exterior.


I will try to upload some pictures tomorrow, but most the tape is out of sight.


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## Larry42 (Jan 10, 2014)

I ran some quick & dirty calculations for you. Based on half way between woodnthings 400 to 800 cfm real #s for the inflated 1100 claimed. I used 600cfm which seems about right. (normally around 1/2 of the free air #) So if we use the standard industry velocities of 3500'/min for horizontal runs and 4500'/min for vertical. Take a look at these #s. These would be the velocities right at the entry into the ducts at the collector. They do not include the losses from ductwork, bends, flex hose, dust hoods or dust loading of the bag, etc. One 5" duct 4400'/min, Two 4" ducts 3428'/min., One 6" duct 3061'/min. Flex hose and poor hood design will greatly reduce the actual results. Anything that creates turbulence drags the flow down. 
I haven't gone into calculating the required suction level at the hoods. You can find the formulas for that one line. Most tools will require a minimum of 4" water column. 

In a one man shop I would connect each machine to the collector with a run of duct directly to the collector, all the same size. You can use branches as long as you don't reduce diameter without a terrible loss of suction. Put the blast gates so they are easily operated at each machine. You can use extension rods to operate them so they can be in the best location with the fewest fittings. Get yourself one of the wireless remote switches so you don't have to run back to the collector each time you want to use it. 

Do your layout taking into account likely tool changes, additions etc.


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## Scott410 (Feb 2, 2019)

Stevekos: I think it will work. I have foundation bolts that hold my garage to the slab, I will use that as my ground.

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## Larry42 (Jan 10, 2014)

I don't think your foundation bolts make a good ground connection.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*interesting issue .....*



Scott410 said:


> Stevekos: I think it will work. I have foundation bolts that hold my garage to the slab, I will use that as my ground.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk





Larry42 said:


> I don't think your foundation bolts make a good ground connection.



One may think that a foundation bolt would be a good ground, but how would you know/test it? I had to drive an 8ft rod in the ground for my system years ago and it wasn't all that easy in rocky soil. Then years later I learned about using an electric impact hammer to drive them in, may be on You Tube? I don't think the rod was copper, but some alloy maybe? The moisture in the soil would help conduction, but there wouldn't be any in a concrete slab. Interesting ..... :nerd2:


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## tewitt1949 (Nov 26, 2013)

I used PVC on my whole system. It works great. I had to make a wood donut adapter for the PVC to fit the planner exhaust. But I was getting static sparks from the PVC to the metal part of the planner. That spark jumped about one inch or more. Some say the static won't start a fire, but I'm not taking a chance. If it started a fire in the PVC, and all that fresh air through the pipe it would fuel the fire very fast and very difficult to put out. So I took a rag, attached a small thin wire to it and sicked a wire trough the pipe. I then fastened the wire to the planner and the other end to the vacuum. I did this to each piece of equipment. Problem solved. No more sparks and I can relax while using it. 

Some say the wood dust isn't like flour in a flour mill that causes explosions. If you don't think so, start a wood fire in your wood stove and after its going good through a shovel full in the fire. Stand back because it will flash back!!


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Wood stove and flashback ....*



tewitt1949 said:


> Some say the wood dust isn't like flour in a flour mill that causes explosions. If you don't think so, start a wood fire in your wood stove and after its going good through a shovel full in the fire. Stand back because it will flash back!!



That's a completely different set of circumstance, with the fire already started, tremendous heat already there are a draft going up the chimney to bring in combustion air. You have ffire, ignition and fuel in that case.


The wood and flour dust explosions occur only when the correct combination of the 3 elements are present and in the right proportions. In the case of flour dust, huge proportions of dust and volumes of air are present and in a wood manufacturing plant the same situation, huge volumes of dust and air combined. 



I'm glad you have solved your static issue just like I did because it was real painful and annoying. It was a simple fix in both cases. I just ran a bare copper wire from the separator to the blower motor because the 6" clear plastic suction hose did not provide either a mechanical or electrical connection between them. :|


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## Scott410 (Feb 2, 2019)

Just took this picture from a book I got from the library. Basically what I was going to do.









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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Annoying VS hazardous static ......*

I solved my annoying, even painful static issue with a single bare copper wire from the separator to the blower motor housing. No more static shocks when I'm near the DC and it's running! 



Wrapping the *outside* of the hoses and pipes with bare wire will do the same IF the one wire solution doesn't work. This is where it gets interesting .... running a bare wire *inside* the pipes and hoses will prevent a static discharge that could possibly be hazardous according to this rather scientific and scholarly article which I have quoted here many times:
http://www.waterfront-woods.com/
Quoting:
The primary point about dielectric breakdown, is that it takes far, far less voltage for a spark to jump through air, than it does to jump through PVC. This is the reason why it is absolutely pointless to wrap a ground wire around the outside of a PVC duct and expect protection against static buildup on the inside.


Another site that deals with debunking static explosions:
http://www.billpentz.com/Woodworking/Cyclone/ducting.cfm#static_electricity

http://www.woodcentral.com/articles/shop/articles_221.shtml
:vs_cool:


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## SteveKoz (Feb 22, 2019)

IT seems wrapping the wire on the outside of the pipe will take the static charge out of the PVC pipe while running a copper wire inside the pipe will prevent a static charge from building up. Plus it's hidden. If running inside do you drill a hole near the blower connection to bring the wire out of the pipe to ground? Guess it wouldn't hurt to bring it out at both ends instead of trying to attach the wire to the inside at the far end. What gauge copper wire is used or needed?


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## Red5hft (Dec 20, 2018)

*Grounding PVC the easy way*

Thought I had already posted on this, but couldn’t find it. I grounded my PVC dust collection system using aluminum tape on the outside of the tubing. I folded the tape back onto itself 1/3 of the width, lengthwise. Thus 1/3 of the tapes non-adhesive aluminum surface was in direct contact with the outside of the PVC. I then secured the affixed strip with a second piece. All this is connected to the house grounding system. My flexible 4” ducts have the encased structural wire also attached to the ground. Total cost, about $6.99. Took about an hour to complete. 

Works 100%. Zero static charge buildup. It is not necessary to ground the internal pipe. By simply providing a pathway with less resistance than PVC, the aluminum tape carry’s the system charge to ground. May not have been necessary to fold the tape so that th3 outer aluminum was in direct contact with the outside of the PVC, but I did not run my small test system with that setup. I wanted to eliminate any insulative properties of the ahpdhesive between the PVC and the tape’s aluminum backing. 

Will try to upload a few pics after I get back from the PATINA auction tomorrow.


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## Red5hft (Dec 20, 2018)

*PVC Grounding*

BTW, I agree with those that have posted data on the almost non-existant threat of explosion from woodworking dust. I grounded my system mostly to avoid the buildup of charged dust particles all over the system, raining dust down as the charge dissipates and to avoid annoying static shocks. Success on both counts.


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## SteveKoz (Feb 22, 2019)

Red5hft said:


> Thought I had already posted on this, but couldn’t find it. I grounded my PVC dust collection system using aluminum tape on the outside of the tubing....


How many places did you wrap the tape on the pipe? I thought PVC was no conductive where just grounding one section would not ground the entire pipe?


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## tewitt1949 (Nov 26, 2013)

I believe any wire or metal material will work. All I had available at the time was a small roll of piano wire. I don't know the diameter but it was about the size of kite string or 8 lb fishing line. I first sucked a small rag fastened to some chalk line then pulled the piano wire through the inside of my pipe. It just lays in the bottom of the pipe. I then drilled a small hole through the pipe for the wire to exit and fasten to the piece of equipment. I did this in every pipe. So far I'm very happy with it, no sparks or shocks anymore
. I had a shop burn down once (not from vacuum and saw dust) but it wasn't nice at all. Lost everything. So I'm very cautious now and go out of my way to prevent it from happening again.


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## Red5hft (Dec 20, 2018)

Straight run along length of pipe. No need to wrap it. Again, remember you only need to provide a less resistant path for the electrostatic charge than the PVC. Plastic is a poor conductor so it is not hard to provide a less resistant path. I will get some pics up in a few. Will try to demo how I folded the tape back. The key is to ensure you have continuous connectivity to ground. Passing over joints and my blower discharge to the steel chip collection trashcan was the most difficult, but still quite easy. 

I pretty much hid all the tape behind the PVC but can capture some images. The idea of running wire inside the PVC is concerning as it presents a great opportunity to snag chips (surface planer) and clog your system. It is unnecessary and problematic in my humble opinion.


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## Red5hft (Dec 20, 2018)

*Aluminum Tape Grounding System Success*

Follow up to my earlier post.


I didn’t have any PVC for the demo, but these photos should convey the necessary info. I left the roll of tape in the frame for scale.


You can see in the photos, the aluminum tape is mostly behind the PVC. I also included a photo of the final connection to the grounding wire. Very simple stuff here. But completely effective. A firm plastic squeegee or credit card does an excellent job of smoothing the tape out like glass, if you are concerned about appearances. 


I hope this provides an alternative, low cost, simple method of grounding a PVC dust collection system. 

If you are a careful observer, you will notice my system is the lightweight drain, vent, sewer PVC pipe that is two layer. I recommend avoiding this stuff if you have access to the thin wall, monolithic PVC. It was not available here. The stuff I used is slightly rippled internally probably creating unnecessary turbulence in the airflow and reducing overall efficiency. (Unless you want to get really scientific and start a discussion on laminar airflow and boundary level turbulence efficiency. See wing turbulators. Yes, I had a career in aviation).


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## SteveKoz (Feb 22, 2019)

Thank you for taking the time to post the pictures and yes looks do matter.. Your's looks pretty good.. :thumbsup:


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