I bought a 2HP Super Dust Gorilla in December of 2008. My new shop with attached garage is now complete. I mounted the dust collector but have not installed pipe. Still playing with pipe design in Sketchup.

After some time using Sketchup I decided it would make more sense to put the dust collector on the garage side, you know, the side that is supposedly for cars and meant to remain somewhat clean.

I am the only user so only one machine operating at a time.

All piping is to be 6" S&D from DC to each tool.

Distance from DC to SCMS would be about 31' 270 degrees of turns.
Distance to TS would be about 40' and 360 degrees of turns.
Most other machines are further,maybe 45'. Jointer, router table, band saw, drill press.

So my questions are:

1. Is my DC underpowered? The more I read the more I see people using 5 HP DCs (mostly clear vue folks). I emailed Oneida mid-day today (Friday) to see if I can get a more powerful motor for my DC. Haven't heard back yet.
2. Locating the DC in the garage has benefits, lower noise, DC is not taking up shop space. But will I regret it if it creates dust on the garage side? Has anyone had the canister connection fail and end up with a giant dust cloud? (Hopefully this is very rare.)

The Super Dust Gorilla is very heavy! I want to relocate it this weekend but won't bother if the consensus is to sell it and get something bigger. Weight is not an issue once mounted, but moving it, oh boy!

The Super Dust Gorilla is a very nice looking machine with it's bright yellow paint job. The clear Vue is highly regarded, just doesn't look as nice.

Keep it?
Upgrade it to a bigger motor (is this possible?)
Put it on Craig's List and get a more powerful machine?


Thanks for any and all advice/opinions.