Dust Colllection

[John Rad]

Hi

I have installed the ridgid dust collection system and it has been use for almost two years. I have nine tools connected to a 6.25
16 gallon vac. It works great and the power on the end tool (Band Saw)is more than enough to handle the saw dust from resawing. Now the question several people have seen the system and asked about grounding,it is not and I did not because I contacted ridgid when I installed the system. I guess i'm asking again because of the chance of static electricity and fire. The pipes are clear and sawdust does not stay in the pipe. Should I be concerned other woodworkers think I should be.

[RRitch]

John,

If you spend any time over at rec.woodworking (which it sounds like you have if you are concerned) this has been beat to death. The general consensus among most (there are a few passionate that say otherwise) is that it is not needed in a home shop. There has NEVER been a documented case of a Dust Collection explosion in a home shop. It can be a problem with large industrial systems and more likely grain elevators, but you just do not get a large enough concentration of dust in a home shop system to make an explosion possible. Now on the other hand if you have ever touched on of those pipes while the system is running you know that it can shock the @#$% out of you. Grounding would prevent this. Bottom line is that it IS safe to tun it ungrounded. HTH

-Rob

[Dave Arbuckle]

John, on the newsstands right now is a special issue of Fine Woodworking, called "Shops and Tools" or some such.

In it, there is an article written by my friend, Rod Cole. I haven't read the article yet, but I've read his original (long form) research. His bottom line, you can worry about almost anything more than this.

Some time ago, when a lot of people were really worrying about this, I made an offer on a couple forums, fifty bucks for a VERIFIABLE static explosion in a DC pipe, in a home shop environment (I think I capped the size of the dust collector at 2,500 watts). Still got my fifty. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Enjoy, don't sweat it.

Dave

[JSchnarre]

John

The chances of getting the correct concintration of particles in the air to cuase an explosion is so little, that you'd have a better chance of getting struck by lightning. Too few particles and there is not enough to sustain a burn, too many and there is not enough O2 to feed a burn.

Jake