Shop Vac Dust Collection Pipe Size

[Michael Zerance]

I am installing shop vac collection for the panel saw and Ridgid oscillating sander. I ran a 6' piece of 1 1/2" pvc pipe between the tools and the shop vac. I am wondering if I should have used 2" pvc; would there be that much difference in airflow that it would be worth redoing it?

[Ben Rivel]

Shop-Vacs are not the type of suction devices that benefit from a larger hose/pipe. They rely on high static pressure which they get from their smaller diameter medium. Im no expert, but Id guess your best bet if attempting to stretch the distance of suction from a shop-vac would be to leave the run at whatever diameter the hose was that came with it.

[Jim Finn]

be careful when running a shop Vac as a dust collector. I killed three of them doing that. One of them was a new Ridged. Shop vacs are not made to run very long at all.

[Ben Rivel]

be careful when running a shop Vac as a dust collector. I killed three of them doing that. One of them was a new Ridged. Shop vacs are not made to run very long at all.

Yep, nor are they meant to be over worked by increased resistance from things like longer runs or multiple ports open at the same time. They really shouldnt be used for dust collection. But we use that we got sometimes.

[Jim Dwight]

I don't get to use my shop as much as I would like but my shop vacuum is holding up fine and it is my only dust collection. Universal motors are not going to last as long as an induction motor but we use hand held tools with universal motors all the time. My table saw has one (Ryobi BT3100). So while I agree that a shop vac with a universal motor will not run as many hours as a DC with an induction motor, I am not sure it is an important point for a home shop. Mine is at least 6 or 7 years old at this point. If it quit today I could replace it for maybe $100. I doubt it will. I expect to get at least 10 years out of it. It sucks through a dust deputy so it sees little dust which probably helps. But it has been used to collect concrete debris and drywall dust and anything else I need sucked up. Wood dust is relatively easy on it.

What it doesn't do well is move the volume of air necessary to get all the chips from my jointer or planner. So I sweep up after them. But for tools within it's capability, it works fine. If I did this for a living, I'd need both a bigger shop and probably a DC.

I like 2 inch PVC and used it to connect my shop vac to the cyclone. I may run a length over to my drill press so I can pick up the chips at it too. I don't know how much difference 1.5 inch will make. I'd use it and see how well it works at this point.

[Michael Zerance]

I just finished up a dust collection installation but didn't want to connect the panel saw or sander to it. The panel saw port is only 1 1/2" and the port on the sander is 2 1/2". I didn't feel that the dust collector would work properly on those small ports. Also, I didn't want to plug up the dust collector filters with the really fine dust from the sander. I have it hooked up with 1 1/2" PVC because that's what I had on hand. Initial tests went well but I'll monitor over time with actual use.

The shop vac would be used only intermittently but I wouldn't hesitate to run it for long periods of time or use it as a dust collector based on my previous experience with them. I have had 7 full-size Ridgid vacuums in the past 12 years. The one that I kept on the truck for site use lasted about 8 years. It was used heavily, abused regularly, and ran for long periods of time. It was covered in paint, thinset, mortar, drywall mud and dust, and we used it for everything from saw dust, muddy water, concrete slurry, metal shavings, and anything else you could think of. It was still working when I tossed it but it had developed a really loud, annoying whine which was unbearable. The other 6 vacuums are still in use and work like new, even the ones that I am rough on.