Harbor Freight 2HP Dust Collector; Suction

[Alan Gan]

Keep in mind I am a real novice to the world of Wood Working, but not a novice to common sense and home repair.


I just purchased this unit and am at a bit of a loss, I really expected this DC to have the suction power to pull a penny off the floor, does not seem to be the case here.

My observations are from just setting the unit up with nothing attached to it yet, no pipe ducts or tools.

After posting in another thread about the noise level in regard to the DC having a lot of air flow noise. I have a Shop Vac connected to a Dust Deputy for my Orbital Sander which has worked fine for me.

For a test I connected the 3" hose that connects to the Dust Deputy to one side of the Y connector on the HF DC, using aluminum foil as a reducer as I have none at the moment. From the Dust Deputy to the Sander there is about 15' of 2" hose. The suction was almost nothing, the bags were about 3/4 inflated until I disconnected the Dust Deputy, I am at a loss.

How is it possible to have so much apparent airflow under no load to almost nothing when connected to the Deputy? The HF DC has the Y connector to connect 2 machines at one time, as is it seems one machine could not be used with the what seem like a complete lack of suction.

I thought the HF DC would at least double the suction compared to the Shop Vac...

If I place my hand over one side of the Y it just does not seem like there is the amount of suction I was expecting, Help!

Sorry if I am missing something so simple but things just are not adding up. Any advice or help would be appreciated.

[Rick Potter]

A dust collector operates on air flow, not suction. The DD operates on suction, as in shop vac. I tried my dust collector on the dust deputy also....same results. Any time you restrict the dust collector flow, as in hooking up a DD with a small port, it kills the efficiency. The larger DD with the 4 or 5" ports will work with your DC.

Rick Potter

[Paul Stoops]

Rick is right on. Using your DC with anything less than 4" ducting will severely restrict the airflow. In general, it is better to use a shop vac with ducting smaller than 4".

[Alan Gan]

A dust collector operates on air flow, not suction. The DD operates on suction, as in shop vac. I tried my dust collector on the dust deputy also....same results. Any time you restrict the dust collector flow, as in hooking up a DD with a small port, it kills the efficiency. The larger DD with the 4 or 5" ports will work with your DC.

Rick Potter

Rick is right on. Using your DC with anything less than 4" ducting will severely restrict the airflow. In general, it is better to use a shop vac with ducting smaller than 4".

Thank-You Rick and Paul.

Make sense now to a point for me. Is the "Grizzly 2 Stage Cyclone Separator" http://www.grizzly.com/products/W1049 different than the Dust Deputy????


Could you explain what and how would I connect my DC to my Sander, TS 2 1/2", ETC... The dust ports on the machines are all smaller than 4", I was thinking about running a 4" duct overhead and then drop down to the machines with 2" hose, that would make about 6' to 8' of 2" drop hose.

Or would I drop 4" duct down to the machine and use a coupling?

Thanks for your help!

[Robert Delhommer Sr]

You are chocking it down with the smaller line. I have 4" PVC around the shop and reduce to 2 1/2" at the machines that need it and get good results using my 2Hp HF DC.

[Rick Potter]

Alan,

There are many more expert than me, but here are my general thoughts. If you duct the DC to the tools, the main run should be whatever size the intake on the DC is (with the wyes removed if it has them). Drops to the machines should be no less than 4", and the machine should have the outlets sized to 4" if possible. If not go right up to the outlet with a short piece of 4" hose, then neck it down. Keep the runs as short as possible. Consider clustering tools so that one drop will draw from several by simply switching a hose.

Don't know what type sander you have. Assuming you are talking about a random orbit type hand sander.....that's shop vac work. If you have bench top tools you can make a simple manifold as close to the tools as possible with a 4" hose going to it, and several 2 1/2" inlets for small band saws, benchtop sanders etc.

Hope this helps,

Rick Potter