Recommendations for a shopvac/dust collector

[Lhorn]

First of all, great site. How did I not know about this site until now?

We recently moved into a house with a 3 car garage. The former owner was woodworker and put in a homemade dust collection system. Basically it's 2 in PVC pipe that runs across the ceiling (about 10 feet off the ground). In three separate locations, a pipe drops down to about waist level and I assume he hooked up a hose to his various woodworking tools. There are plastic caps to go over the ports which are not in use. He used a large shop vac for suction and vented it to the outside. It's bigger than the vac's you get at Home Depot. Unfortunately he took the vac with him.

Since the system is in place I'd like to try to use it. Can anyone recommend a large shop vac style vacuum that would do the job (must be able to take dirt etc to ceiling level)? I only do basic woodworking so I'd rather not get a typical woodworking dust collector especially since they are rather large. Would the large vacs you'd get at Lowe's or Sears (16-20 gallon and advertised as 4-6.5 peak HP) do the job or are these gonna be underpowered? I'm not broke but price is a factor (under $200 would be nice). Thanks in advance.

 

[PAToyota]

You can get a 1hp Grizzly dust collector in your price range. It will move a lot more cfm than a shop vac and you'll be more pleased with the results.

http://www.grizzly.com/products/1-HP-Dust-Collector/G8027

 

[Lhorn]

I wanted to avoid that type of setup (although the price is right) because it's pretty large and would take up too much space. I also wanted to be able to move the vac around as need (clean out the trunk, suction up a spill in the house etc). Do those dust collectors provide more suction than say a 20 gallon, $150 shop vac? Sounds like the HP ratings for shop vac's are misleading (as they are for air compressors).

 

[ddawg16]

Misleading HP ratings....oh, you jest....NSS.

There are two factors to dust collection....CFM at a given vacuum and vacuum level it can pull....volumn.

Shop vacs tend to be able to pull a decent vacuum (**** the dirt up), but don't have a lot of volumn.....dust collectors do both.

In addition, the dust collector has a collection bag that traps a majority of the solid material before it gets to the filter....shop vacs....we all know how quickly the filter fills up. I would be willing to bet he was cleaning out that shop vac a lot.

Just so you know, a dust collector does a fine job as a general vac...you just need a long hose...or several access points with gates.

Once my garage is re-built I am going to have a good dust collector with several ports and gates. My shop vac will be for all the other stuff outside the garage.

 

[mcgyverit]

go with Ridgid wet/dry vacuums, best stuff for the home wet/dry vac per consumer reports and my experiece. their proline/professional line is very quiet and can roll around to do the other chores that come up in a garage. you will need at least a 12 or 14 gallon for wood workinging. chips take up a lot of space. plus they pick up water spills. They are engineered in the US by Emerson.

 

[PAToyota]

As DDawg states, a dust collector is going to beat a shop vac on the volume and filtering capabilities - just look at the difference in hose size to understand the volume issue.

Since your PO already put in the piping system, I'd just hook a dust collector up to it and then make an attachment for a shop vac hose that you can hook up to that rather than moving the dust collector around.

And although the shop vac is going to be more squat, the dust collector really isn't going to take up that much more floor space. And remember that the top bag "deflates" when not in use, so it can be pushed back under a counter for storage.

 

[Lhorn]

I didn't realize that the top bag deflated. I really don't know anything about them except that they look pretty tall. I'll have to check them out. Is it OK to pick up small metal shavings, welding slag and the other crud that you might normally use a shop vac for? (I've got a small shopvac for wet stuff). I'll check out the Rigid vacs too. They seem to be nice stuff.
Thanks.

 

[timgr]

I have one of the Ridgid vacs - works well. Long cord, good accessories. Quiet for a shop vac too.

 

[larry4406]

slightly off topic - do they make inductive switches for the vac's? For example, the vac is plugged in, but off. A saw, planer, or? is plugged into an outlet. When the tool is energized, the inductive switch senses the current flow and then energizes the vacuum and shuts off when the tool shuts down. That way your not turnining the vac on first, followed by tool operation, then shutting down the vacuum.

 

[varunner]

I also have a Ridgid brand, works great. the Shopvac brand didn't last very long at all.

 

[tojan19]

slightly off topic - do they make inductive switches for the vac's? For example, the vac is plugged in, but off. A saw, planer, or? is plugged into an outlet. When the tool is energized, the inductive switch senses the current flow and then energizes the vacuum and shuts off when the tool shuts down. That way your not turnining the vac on first, followed by tool operation, then shutting down the vacuum.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00924031000P?vName=Tools&keyword=Craftsman+Auto+Switch

 

[larry4406]

Thank you!

 

[tojan19]

I'd say hook up a true dust collector to the 2" pvc is a waste of time. Like said a dust collector is high volume and the vac is mostly high suction pressure. The suction power of the DC would drop off very badly if it's only flowing through 2" pipe. even a small one needs 4" pipe. The shop vac would actually do better if your reusing the 2" pipe.
Google Bill Pentz or clearvue and you can learn a lot more than you ever wanted to know about DCs. I'd personally go buy the 16gal Ridgid Pro vac. $150 at HD. I picked one up just a week ago. If your really into woodworking I'd take a look at the HF DC. It's one of their jems. You can get enough hose to hook it to various tools or increase your piping size.

 

[mcgyverit]

you dont want to use a 2 bag Dust Collector for picking up anything metal, the metal will tear up the bags.

 

[Lhorn]

I'll probably get the large Rigid shopvac and see how it does. With the 2 inch piping I've got, maybe the shopvac will work ok. (With 4 inch pipe I'd be afraid the vac wouldn't move enough CFM). If I hook it up and don't get adequate performance, I'll take the vac back and scrap the whole system probably. Thanks. I'll let you know how it works when I get things set up.