Dust Collection Plumbing

[Russ Phelps St Albert AB]

Hi All; I am contemplating a dust collection system of say 2 HP and approx 1400CFM. This would be a 1 machine at a time system.The longest run would figure out to be approx 50ft(20ft with 5 elbows. 1 elbow = 5 ft pipe ? ) My question is what size of DC pipe do I need ? Do I need a 6 or 8" header with 4" takeoffs or can I plumb it all in with 4". Thanks in advance. Russ

[Garth]

When I was designing my dust collecting system one of the sources of information I used was www.airhand.com./design.html (http://www.airhand.com./design.html) . It gave valuable information on how to design a system.
Every elbow and foot of run reduces air flow. A larger pipe diameter allows for better air flow.
I used 8 inch diameter metal ducting with 5 inch connections with a blast gate to each machine. Be certain that you use piping that is designed for a dust collector. The pipe I used was spiral and heavy guage. It cost about $37 for a 10 foot length.
I hope that this information is useful to you.

[Mike King, Sherwood Park,]

Russ, I'm not sure you'll get 1400 out of 2 hp, but long runs should be sized to provide airspeed in the duct. Too large a duct can be bad too. Within the realm of 2hp and that cfm, you'd likely be alright with 6" to 8" but it depends oa lot on the efficiency of the fan doing the work. Lots of good info around- there's some excellent work done by Jim Halbert over on wwforum.com in the Archives.. Chester, right here on this board is also very approachable- it's his line of work..

I'm settin' up to do the same thing. I'm going with a self-built cyclone..

[Chester Van Ness]

Russ: If you want to fax me a drawing of what your planning I can have a look and see what you should use. You can fax me at 1-519-484-2073 or talk to me at my E mail address.Chester