I have an easy question I need answered. I have set-up a dust collection system with a central dust collector, but don’t know how to ground it. Is it better to run the wires inside of my pvc tubes from machine to collection, or run them on the outside. If on the outside of the tubes, do I occaissionally connect to screws that pass through the pvc to the inside of the tube to release the static electricity from building inside of the tubes, or does connecting the machine to the collector do the job? If I do run the wires on the outside of the tubes, do I circle the tubes several times or just run a straight line.
I’m perplexed and could see advantages for each way to work better.
Replies
If your collector is 5 hp or under it is unneccessary and usually inneffective to ground it other than the ground through the power connection.
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SOME PEOPLE ARE LIKE SLINKIES...THEY ARE NOT REALLY GOOD FOR ANYTHING, BUT...THEY STILL BRING A SMILE TO YOUR FACE WHEN YOU PUSH THEM DOWN A FLIGHT OF STAIRS
It's only 1 1/2 horsepower, I started cheap and have to work my way up to a nice one. Just worried about fires. Thanks for the info.
Your fire danger would be from a piece of metal making it to the impeller and throwing a spark into the bag of chips and dust. Get a smoke detector and a good extinguisher and keep an ear out for the sound of metal on metal.
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SOME PEOPLE ARE LIKE SLINKIES...THEY ARE NOT REALLY GOOD FOR ANYTHING, BUT...THEY STILL BRING A SMILE TO YOUR FACE WHEN YOU PUSH THEM DOWN A FLIGHT OF STAIRS
I thought the static electricity could cause a spark and thus a fire or explosion from the dust.
A vastly over-rated risk for small dust collectors in small shops. Read through this article to get another perspective.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Edited 9/19/2008 11:11 am by forestgirl
It's ineffective? Is that true? Is the only reason to ground it to eliminate fire hazards? I ask because I can feel the static near the hose, and thought about grounding it just to eliminate the static. But I guess that's not really worthwhile.
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