Help with grounding dust collection

[Jaze Derr]

I have a Dust Deputy cyclone device hooked up to a 16 gal Shop Vac I have grounded the Dust Deputy as per the manufacturer's instructions I am still getting horrible shocks.

How do I ground this system so I'm not afraid to use it for fear of getting shocked. My bandsaw reached out and zapped me today from 3 inches away!

I am using a clip to attach 12 ga bare copper wire to the bolts holding the cyclone on to the bucket lid. The wire then goes to the floor, where washers are in full contact with my concrete basement floor.

any suggestions?

[Dwight Makepeace]

I am using a clip to attach 12 ga bare copper wire to the bolts holding the cyclone on to the bucket lid. The wire then goes to the floor, where washers are in full contact with my concrete basement floor.

any suggestions?

Hi Jaze:

I am not an electrician but I think there is something out of whack in the wiring used in this set up. It's hard to believe that issues just to do with dust generating static electricity could do what you describe. There was an article in Fine Woodworking a few years back where a researcher at MIT made a strong case for not grounding dust collectors at all. If your runs of piping are short, the risk is miniscule. Grounding certainly can't hurt, but going to concrete is not grounding the set-up. You need to do something analogous to how your household circuits are grounded, ie. go to a metal rod (or something else that conducts) that is buried in the earth. The easiest thing to do is to tap into the grounding system for your household wiring. The concrete does not conduct.

In really dry climates the whole issue of grounding may be abit more real. Where I am it is fairly humid (Vancouver Island BC). I have 4 single stage collects, several hundred feet of 4" sewer pipe and flexible hose. None is grounded. In 10 years I have had no problems.

There is a lot of smoke and mirrors when it comes to dust collection but what I have said above is my experience.

Dwight

[David T gray]

I have a Dust Deputy cyclone device hooked up to a 16 gal Shop Vac I have grounded the Dust Deputy as per the manufacturer's instructions I am still getting horrible shocks.

How do I ground this system so I'm not afraid to use it for fear of getting shocked. My bandsaw reached out and zapped me today from 3 inches away!

I am using a clip to attach 12 ga bare copper wire to the bolts holding the cyclone on to the bucket lid. The wire then goes to the floor, where washers are in full contact with my concrete basement floor.

any suggestions?

concrete is not ground

[Jaze Derr]

Well, it is zapping the hell out of me, and I want it to stop. It's not a full shop dust collection with piping and runs everywhere, it's a plastic bucket separator, and a shop vac.

[Jaze Derr]

concrete is not ground

ah, ok. What can I use to ground it, then, and still remain portable?

[Mark Beall]

I'm going to go with Jaze here, I've been zapped by my Dust Deputy too. Was vacuuming out my table saw the other day - had a lot in there since the hose to the blade shroud disconnected itself. Had my head a couple inches from the table saw, got seriously zapped from static (probably hit my glasses not my head, but still hurt). After that kept one hand on the saw to finish the job and didn't have a problem after that. I'd too like to know where to put in a ground wire to avoid that, was quite painful.

mark

[glenn bradley]

The material flowing through the standard hose develops a static charge. All you are looking to do is give the charge a path to ground that is easier to use than you are ;-) I don't know that the washers laying on the ground are good enough for the type of static that can build in a standard shop-vac hose (better hoses are static dissipating but mine aren't).

When I "grounded" my cyclone I wrapped the wore about one turn per foot and then alligator clipped it as you did but, to a square foot or so of metal HVAC tape that I stuck to the cleaned garage floor like a patch. Works great.

G0440-ground-005.jpg

Wow, that new picture/attachment manager stinks. Who wrote that thing??? I post less pics on this forum than anywhere else due to the troublesome method. This is even worse than the 2-at-a-time restriction. Uh-oh, did I type that out loud?

[Rod Sheridan]

Well, it is zapping the hell out of me, and I want it to stop. It's not a full shop dust collection with piping and runs everywhere, it's a plastic bucket separator, and a shop vac.

Hi Jaze, are you holding the hose and using it like a vacuum or are you hooking it up to machinery and then receiving static electricity shocks from the plastic hose or plastic parts?

If you are using it with machines, you could use aluminum flex instead of plastic and when the aluminum flex is attached to the grounded machine, the flex is now grounded and won't develop a charge. ( I had to do that with my planer, it was darn disconcerting to get a zap to the head when I bent over to pick up the wood).

If you are using it as a vacuum that could be a problem depending upon the hose construction. I work in a static sensitive workplace and our vacuums have electrically conductive hoses to eliminate static charge. Unfortunately I don't think they make them for shop vacuums.

Using a plastic hose with a spiral metal wire will help a bit if you ground the wire. It's still not perfect as there's no way to ground an insulator. I have a polyurethane hi flex hose (2 1/2") on the overarm guard on my saw and it doesn't seem to develop a charge, which may be due to the small quantities of material handled.

Regards, Rod.

[Jaze Derr]

Rod, I do both. It's a small shop, so the setup has to do double duty.

[Rick Pettit]

Run a piece of bare copper inside your hose. Make it come out of a hole in the hose at the dust collector. Find where the ground in the plug wire is landed on the machine. Tie the piece of bare copper there. I'm talking about 1/8" hole in the hose. 12 gauge will fit right through it.

[Ed Morgano]

Run a piece of bare copper inside your hose. Make it come out of a hole in the hose at the dust collector. Find where the ground in the plug wire is landed on the machine. Tie the piece of bare copper there. I'm talking about 1/8" hole in the hose. 12 gauge will fit right through it.

Jase,
Run a piece of bare copper OUTSIDE your hose. Find where the ground in the plug wire is landed on the machine. Tie the piece of bare copper there. You don't need 12 gauge wire. The static charge is high voltage but very low amperage. 22 ga speaker wire would do. The wire on the outside of the hose will dissapate the charge and keep you from getting zapped. Wire inside the hose will possibly cause cloggs and it's not necessary to put the wire inside.

[Jaze Derr]

I would have to take the shop vac motor apart. Is there another way to ground?

[Rod Sheridan]

Rod, I do both. It's a small shop, so the setup has to do double duty.

Hi, since I presume you're receiving static shocks while vacuuming, I suggest you look for a hose that's conductive and ground the dust deputy end.

regards, Rod.

[Rod Sheridan]

I would have to take the shop vac motor apart. Is there another way to ground?

Make a ground lead as long as you need to stay portable.

Attach an alligator clip to it and clip it to the nearest machine that's grounded, or water pipe or electrical box etc.

That will give you a portable ground system.

regards, Rod.

P.S. Connecting your ground wire on the hose to the concrete floor using a wire and metal weight will also work, concrete is conductive enough for static currents.

The issue is the plastic hose.......Rod.

[Rick Pettit]

If you want to just rig it drag a piece of chain on the ground from the shop vac. If you want to do it right ground it to the green wire in your plug. Use the bare 12 gauge you are already using. Being heavier is not a problem. Or skin back another piece of 22 gauge and recycle the 12. It's bringing $3.40/lb at my local scrapyard.