Hangers for duct work in attic.

[Jim O'Dell]

I'm going to hang my PVC 6" duct in the attic space obove my shop to save overhead. Ceiling is only 7'7". I would like some ideas on what to use that would help isolate any vibration, and be somewhat adjustable for hanging height. I've thought of bungee cords, but there's no good way for adjusting them except trial and error. I could use a threaded rod with a hook to innertube material around the pipe, but that sounds really involved to manufacturer. Anyone have any ideas? Something that's available at the local box stores? THANKS! Jim.

[Cecil Arnold]

Jim, I used large tie wraps with a 2" deck screw through the center. It won't totally isolate but the elasticity of the wrap take most of the sound out. Once strapped up I use side cutters to clip off the ends. If you can't find them at the Borg, you might try A/C contractors or a cop shop, cops use them in place of handcuffs.

[Jim Becker]

I also used the 24" ties that Cecil refers to to mount my duct throughout the shop.

[Matt Meiser]

Large zip ties here too. I either put them through the eye of a screw eye if there was a rafter convenient, or I cut a 24" piece of conduit, attached it to the nearest 2 rafters with conduit hangers, and put the zip tie around that.

[Steve Ash]

I would suggest making some hangers from plywood cut out to accept the diameter of you pipe, and cut in half. These would be more or less a "cradle" for the pipe to sit in. You can adjust these by using drwall screws, fastened to the webs of your trusses, or screwed to your rafters.

I've seen something to this effect a while ago in a woodworking magazine and thought it would work well.

[John Miliunas]

Jim, I used plastic strapping. It's on the line of the metal strapping you find in the plumbing dept., except the holes are much smaller and snip off the length you need easily with tin snips. I found mine at one of our local big box stores. (Menards).

[Jim Hager]

I have used plumbers strap for mine in the past. Works good and is usually inexpensive and can be bought in metal or plastic. I have also used lengths of sheet metal cut on a shear and screwed to the dust pipe and the rafters.

[Matt Meiser]

I used the metal straping in my old shop. It works fine, but I didn't like working with it because it was coated with an oil film, leaving my hands filthy, and the edges were sharp. It is cheaper than the zip ties though. Luckily I got most of mine for free from my dad after he installed his shop furnace duct work and bought a few (bags) too many.

[Jim O'Dell]

Thanks, guys. After I wrote the post, I thought about the tiestraps, even went and got one of the largest ones we have here in the parts dept (still way too short) I could maybe put some type of...well I got interrupted about 1 1/2 hours ago and just now getting back to this. I was going to say put something at the bottom of the pipe to cushion it, and while locking the shop up found a 6' long piece of armour seal in the trash. Dense foam rubber shielding for pipe, so it has a hole (3/4") in the middle of it for the tiestrap to go through. SO, this looks like the idea to use.
I will also look for the plastic plumber's strapping. Sounds like that would also go through the opening. As always, thanks for the input, it is appreciated. Jim.

[Matt Meiser]

Dense foam rubber shielding for pipe, so it has a hole (3/4") in the middle of it for the tiestrap to go through.

If that's the stuff that is hanging off the bottom of our Freestar, it should work really well. Our PVC flue for our furance is hung with strapping wrapped in something like that.

[Bill Pentz]

Jim,

Although I am not worried about static or an explosion, I am seriously concerned about PVC and fire. Most 1.5 hp and smaller dust collectors and 2 hp or smaller cyclones can create dust piles in our main ducts especially if you use smaller downdrops. Hit a staple or nail and land that hot ember in one of the dust piles and it could become a serious problem. In the ceiling hidden away, this problem becomes much harder to see. Also, in most areas it breaks the building codes to cut through the sheetrock without a metal wrap because it breaks the fire barrier. I would think you should run metal if the pipe is not going to be visible.