dust collection grounding wire

[Christopher Kanda]

can speaker wire be used for the grounding wire for the dust hose?

[Larry Frank]

I think that you would find it interesting to search this site for grounding of dust collection systems. The necessity and value of grounding them in PVC and hose systems has been debated.

[paul cottingham]

I think that you would find it interesting to search this site for grounding of dust collection systems. The necessity and value of grounding them in PVC and hose systems has been debated.

"has been debated." Thats putting it mildly.:D I would never tell someone not to ground their dust collection system, but I don't bother myself.

[Dan Friedrichs]

You can use anything you want, because it won't do a bit of good.

(Was that too direct this early in the thread? :) )

[Bruce Wrenn]

Google "copper antenna wire" and be prepared for sticker shock! Mine is wrapped and run inside pipes, mainly to keep dust from collecting on outside of pipe.

[paul cottingham]

Lets say it: You can't ground an insulator.

I've pointed this out before....the mythbusters could not make dust explode with a spark, so I'm not worried.

[Bob Wingard]

You can use anything you want, because it won't do a bit of good.

(Was that too direct this early in the thread? :) )

OH MAN !!!! You beat me to it !!! !!! !!!

[Anthony Whitesell]

You guys take this too literally, both from the responses and from the OP. It's not "grounding", it is for static discharge and it does help. I don't know and haven't found the correct term, akin to calling a tissue a Kleenex.

I don't know about anyone else, but I managed to disconnect by wire the other night while doing some deep cleaning (move equipment to clean under, behind, and over). I didn't know it until I took a hit from the flex hose to the shoulder. I had to stop for a 1/2 hour while I regained the feeling in my left arm. The worst yet. Worse than any hit I've taken from 120V. The pipes have been up for 3 years plus it's so humid I'm running two dehumidifiers in the basement shop.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

You can't ground an insulator and thus grounding at a specific point will only prevent a static charge at that specific point and a few mils around it. Period.

[Christopher Kanda]

i didn't mean to start to debate, but thank you for all the input. I think I'll skip the wire since I havn't had an issue for the past year.

[Jerome Hanby]

This akin to saying that a lightning rod won't work because your house is an insulator. I haven't seen any proof that PVC in a dust collection system can discharge static electricity in such a fashion to ignite wood dust, but I think everyone can agree that you can shock the foo out of yourself with the static buildup. Adding wire to bleed off that charge to ground may be a fine idea if you worry about zapping yourself. If everything is routed so you never come in contact, then I wouldn't worry about it.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

There is no evidence that a home DC has exploded or caused a fired as a result of proper use.

Grounding PVC to eliminate static will only be effective at the point of contact and a few mils around it.

Lightning rods work because the metal used is more conductive than the house and the charge is directed there via ionized air which is more condictive than non-ionized air or your house.

[Darrin Vanden Bosch]

It couldn't hurt, and for a few dollars more you'll have piece of mind. (Using bare copper wire is the easiest and cheapest.) Thats worth a couple dollars isn't it.

[Jason Roehl]

If you really want to eliminate static on a non-metallic DC system, the cheapest way is probably to wrap all pipes/hoses in aluminum foil, then run a grounded lead to that. Otherwise, Dan and Ken pretty much said it...

[Dan Friedrichs]

This akin to saying that a lightning rod won't work because your house is an insulator.

Actually, the point of a lightning rod is to provide a more preferential path for the lightning. Rather than going through something important in your house, it goes through the rod and its ground wire.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Hoowwwever..........I have 8' +/- of flex hose from 15" planer up to metal blast gate and main metal pipe run to DC. Run stuff thru the planer, and those shavings do a great job of creating static electricity - I think it can jump about 4 feet to hit me :D. I have a bare copper wire inside the flex, screwed to metal pipe on one end and crimped+ soldered to an alligator clip on the other end [to hook to the planer]. Nothing to do with fire potential - it's there because I'm a weenie when I take the static hit. It has always done the job for me..............

For that purpose - any type of bare copper wire does the job. 18ga. 10 ga. Solid. Braided. Whatever. Cheapest = best.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I have metal pipe with only the last 4'-5' of flex hose.....EXCEPT....on my main run....in the middle of my shop that is shared by my b/s, t/s, sander, planer and tabletop router table. I have a 10' section of flex that gets moved from the tablesaw to the router table when the router table is being used on top the t/s. I was routing some oak and getting very fine shavings and for the first time since my shop was built I saw static cause the shavings to stick to the 2 1/2" flex. Keep in mind, I live in near desert conditions so humidity is very low and static electricity is common year round.

Point blank.....that's why I went with metal. I didn't want to put up with static shocks.