Garage central vac system?

[Number21]

I have a pretty nice Ridgid shopvac with the 2.5" hose that REALLY ***** if you know what I mean...problem is my "shop" is made of two seperate areas and I don't like dragging the big vac around, or even storing it on the floor where I can reach it. (I use it almost daily)

I was thinking about getting a 20' or so long hose, and plumbing my shop with vacuum lines. Not a "real" central vac you might find in a house, but just some pipes/hose hookups on the wall. Vac mounted somewhere in the corner, with pipes and a longer hose.

Would a normal, pretty strong shop vac (Ridgid) have as much suction as a profesionally installed central vac system you might find in a house? Also, can I plumb it with normal DWV pipe/fittings? I was thinking 2" lines with, uh, poop tees as I call them, with the cleanout for every corner.

Would it be better to use 3" pipe? Or would that reduce the overall suction of the vac?

I'll probably just get a wireless remote to turn the vac on/off.

 

[HetrickElectric]

Normal Central Vac is 1 1/2 I think. I would definitely not use 3". I am not certain on using the Shop vac though. I have been thinking about doing this in my new garage, because you cant **** liquids into a regular central vac unit and a shop vac you can. I say try it and tell us how you make out. If all else fail get a bigger shop vac or maybe hook two big ones up to run together.

 

[MN BIANCHI]

Central vacs use 2" thin wall suction lines. I don't think the Ridgid would have enough suciton power to operate as a central vac, but it is certainly a lot less expensive.

 

[irisservice]

You want to look at static water lift...
Ridgid does not list it from what i see,but
Shopvac 6.5hp has a Static lift of 58"
Fein Turbo II has a static lift of 90"
Fein Turbo III has a static lift of 99"

But for the price 2 shop vacs in parallel would be killer for the price, but loud

 

[Number21]

I was thinking about using two vacs in parallel. I'm building a little shed to put my air compressors in, might be a good place to mount the vac(s) too.

If I connected the input hose from one or two vacs to a 55 gallon drum lid, with the suction hose for the vac system on the other side, would the drum fill up with dirt before the vacuum(s)?

 

[mrb]

if you want to use a 55 gal drum, check out the Shop-Vac 970-06-10 its a 2 stage vac that goes on top of a 55 gal drum. Its around $360 but it has over 100 in/h2o and over 100 cfm.

 

[Number21]

if you want to use a 55 gal drum, check out the Shop-Vac 970-06-10 its a 2 stage vac that goes on top of a 55 gal drum. Its around $360 but it has over 100 in/h2o and over 100 cfm.

That's cool, but damn, I only paid $25 for my Ridgid on sale last year before christmas. Hoping they'll do that again. I can't remember now but it uses around 12 amps, so it should be as powerful as that is.

 

[nissan_crawler]

no, not even close to enough power. Our central vac system had two pumps inline. Even if you shut one off, I don't think two shop vacs would equal the power it had. If you plugged a shop vac hose into it and stuck something on the end, it would **** that hose flat.

Ours was for the house, but my parents had two ports installed in the garage, too. If I ever build a house, I'll mimic that setup. WAY better than dragging a vacuum around. Dust is contained, easily changed filters, etc.

IIRC, it was rated around 150" of lift, and 180 cfm.

 

[krooser]

Shop vacs ****...

 

[svtfordlightning]

Just watch craigslist for a nice size dust collector like they use in woodworking shops. that should do the trick.

 

[nfuriate]

Just watch craigslist for a nice size dust collector like they use in woodworking shops. that should do the trick.

, but if he wants to **** up water?

 

[Number21]

no, not even close to enough power. Our central vac system had two pumps inline. Even if you shut one off, I don't think two shop vacs would equal the power it had. If you plugged a shop vac hose into it and stuck something on the end, it would **** that hose flat.

Well, the thing is, I'm not doing a whole house with it. The longest pipe run + the hose shouldn't be more than about 40-50 feet long. I have about 14' of hose on it now, and it will **** gravel out of the bottom of a hole no problem. My main issue now is I've basically got two seperate shops, with a 50' walk in between the doors, I'm tired of dragging that big vac back and fourth.

, but if he wants to **** up water?

That too.

 

[mustangmccance]

another option is something like this.
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/ProductD...opVacs&catalogId=12605&sid=IDx20070921x00003j

you could mount it to the wall in the other part of the shop it stays up out of the way and has a pretty long hose. all of the attatchments store in the little bucket underneath, then it is pretty simple to detatch.

 

[ddawg16]

There are two parameters to vacuum....suction (lift) and volume.

A vacuum can have a lot of lift but poor volume....and vice versa....

The typical wood working vac is designed more for volume in order to pull sawdust and wood chips.

A shop vac would work 'ok' for what you want to do assuming you use gate vavles to properly seal off unused ports.

The larger you make the hose, the lower the suction velocity will be...thus it will reduce it's ability to pull heavier objects up the hose...smaller hose means higher velocity....but the suction (lift) pretty much stays the same.

 

[7echo]

These guys...

http://www.oneida-air.com/
have some stuff that is designed for home/hobby use as well as full blown wood shop set ups.

You can get some pipe and hook it up temporary and test out how well it works.

 

[Number21]

You can get some pipe and hook it up temporary and test out how well it works.

That's the best idea, lol. I'll just get a couple peices of 2" pipe for a few bucks and see if it "*****".

 

[Keep]

Hit your local woodworking shop and pickup the dust collection system for shop vacs. It should consist of flexible hose, ridge hose, a cap for a small metal trash can with to hose attachment points and a couple of "outlets"

Folks use shop vacs for dust collection all the time, as long as you seal the extra outlets while its in use and use the same diameter hose/pipe for the entire run you will be fine.

 

[Keep]

This will give you an idea what I am talking about.

http://busybeetools.ca/cgi-bin/picture10?NTITEM=B2460

http://busybeetools.ca/cgi-bin/picture10?NTITEM=B2408

 

[Motorhead Extraordinaire]

We are actually out at SEMA this week and one of the products we have been looking for are shop vacs. It is rather disappointing what is available; most of what we have seen is home depot grade or **** made in China.

Our preference is for a central type units with a good quality shop hose system. I would like a unit thaat can be used for general cleaning, to work with a bead blaster, to **** up body work dust, etc.

I am looking at units from www.hafcovac.com and a bunch of others. When we get back next week into the shop, I will post a list of the units that we are evaluating.

Regards,
Joe Germann
Motorhead Extraordinaire

 

[Distinctive-Garages.com]

We carry the Electrolux Garage Vac. It's a central vac system tailored to the garage enviroment. At least I think we still carry, ,LOL. I need to check Monday morning as for some reason I don't see it on our suppliers website anylonger. I will confirm. But here is the info on it on our site.

http://distinctive-garages.com/product/electrolux-garage-vac

The GARAGE VAC includes:
- Powerful 550 air watt power unit with bagless collection receptacle
-32' stretch hose to clean up to 1,000 sq.ft.
-Crevice tools and car detailing kit
-Rec. Max Sq. Ft. - 3,500
-Motor Size - 5.7
-Suction Power (water lift) - 138”
-Airflow (cfm) - 122
-Maximum Amps - 14.3
-Voltage - 120
-Dirt Receptacle Capacity - 4 gal
-Venting Option - Yes
-Built-In Utility Inlet - Yes
-under 70 decibels
-5 year limited-lifetime warranty.

Quick and painless sale through Paypal as well.


We've sold a few to forum members. $299 + $35 shipping