# 4" Hose Recommendations



## Ken Johnson (Nov 8, 2007)

As anyone used the 4" Economy Hose sold by Penn State Industries? I am curious to know if it is any good.


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## Taylormade (Feb 3, 2011)

Sorry, Ken, I can't speak to that, but I can, however, speak to the effectiveness of the Harbor Freight kit hose. errr the hose that comes with the DC kit. I've got about 20' of it running around in my shop and it does great. Wait for the sale, grab the 20% off coupon and pick one up for under $30. Comes with blast gates and hose clamps, too!


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## dbhost (Jan 28, 2008)

I got the 50' box of it, cut into sections I need. Does what hose is supposed to, no problems going on 3 years now... Mind you, I live in Coastal Texas, so bitter cold isn't on the menu for me...


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## Marv (Nov 30, 2008)

I received a length of that hose with a dust collector I bought on craigslist a while back and while it was definitely flexible it was also really thin in comparison to the Woodcraft medium duty hose I ended up getting. I never used it so I can't comment on durability however if I can find it you or anyone else is welcome to it if you happen to be nearby. BTW, Rockler has this on sale which appears to be similar to the Woodcraft hose I bought and not much more than the economy hose.

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=16957


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## dbhost (Jan 28, 2008)

I have 2.5" thick walled hose from Peachtree, and the 4" economy hose from PSI. After several years of use, and honestly abuse, the Penn State stuff is holding up FAR better, and is much more flexible. Unless you are dragging the hose across gravel, I wouldn't worry too much about it... Like I mentioned above, the only thing I would worry about is cracking in cold weather... I can not attest to that due to my location...

The stuff I got is THIS.


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## Ken Johnson (Nov 8, 2007)

dbhost said:


> I have 2.5" thick walled hose from Peachtree, and the 4" economy hose from PSI. After several years of use, and honestly abuse, the Penn State stuff is holding up FAR better, and is much more flexible. Unless you are dragging the hose across gravel, I wouldn't worry too much about it... Like I mentioned above, the only thing I would worry about is cracking in cold weather... I can not attest to that due to my location...
> 
> The stuff I got is THIS.


Thanks for the direct comparrison. I am not worried about the cold weather because my shop is in my basement. Although it's not heated it stays pretty warm during the winter. I am glad to hear it holds up well because I need a lot of it and the price is definately right.


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## bob sacamano (Jan 24, 2012)

Ken Johnson said:


> I am glad to hear it holds up well because I need a lot of it and the price is definately right.


if you need 'alot of it' i would stay away from the ribbed hose. it creates a drag which cuts down on effectiveness. why not go with 4 inch pipe from home depot. theyre 10 feet long and cheap.


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## Ken Johnson (Nov 8, 2007)

bob sacamano said:


> if you need 'alot of it' i would stay away from the ribbed hose. it creates a drag which cuts down on effectiveness. why not go with 4 inch pipe from home depot. theyre 10 feet long and cheap.


I need a lot of it because I have a lot of machines to connect to my 6" main trunk. I'm not too concerned about loss of effectiveness because I have much more CFM than I need for the size of my shop. The flex hose will be much easier to route because pipe would get in the way of lights and other things hanging from the ceiling. The flex hose can go up between the floor joists easily.


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## dbhost (Jan 28, 2008)

Oooh... Yeah, flex hose really ought to be run in as short segments as possible.. I got the 50' box but have used less than half of it to connect my shop up. I try to keep my jumpers under 3'. 

My longest run? 6' from blast gate where the jumper starts to tool, through the hard plumbing, and then 6" from pipe to wye fitting... 

If there is ANY way you can route smooth wall / hard pipe instead of flex, do it... It's not the CFM at the DC that will be the problem, it's what can physically move through that ribbed hose... It will make your CFM drop. Think of it like this, there are only so many cars that can travel on a 4 lane highway in a given time period right? Now add a series of speed bumps to those lanes. The cars have to slow down to clear those speed bumps, so fewer cars total in a given time frame pass through those lanes. Same thing goes with CFM. Every bump, ridge, and tight bend slows it down which is what you want to avoid as best you can...


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