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I am in the middle of setting up shop and I am new to this forum. I have read a number of books and articles on DC. I thought the one real disavantage to using plastic as a DC duct, was that you had to run grounding wires with it? I have looked at a number of pictures, on this forum, and didn't see any grounding? What's up? What ist the real story?
Cost & ease of installation with plastic vs metal! Plastic is less until you have to run all those unsightly wires?
Hi Jim, welcome to the creek. Do stop by frequently and wade in the water.:)
Regarding the grounding of PVC pipe: it is a waste of time. Take a look at the work done by Dr. Cole regarding the science of plastic and static electricity.
You can't adequately "ground" an insulator...think about it.
Now, will you get a shock from your freshly installed, relatively clean PVC as air/chips move through it? Yes, you probably will. As it gets dirtier and builds up layers of dust on it, it will happen less and less.
Finally, knowing these shocks can happen, will it ignite the saw dust? No, especially in a home shop--shock isn't strong enough to ignite anything. An industrial setting could be a different story.
Finally finally, for the most part, the shocks only happen when YOU, a human, touches the pipe. Otherwise, I'm not sure how a shock happens (is it still a "shock" if it happens w/out human intervention? [tree falls down in a forest...])....
If you go with PVC, don't worry about running those silly "ground" wires. If you are worried, use metal duct.
+1 to what Chris said. It is a waist of time.. I have never done it and I never get shocked.