Blast Gate Company -- what a pleasant experience

[Lisa Starr]

I just completed upgrading and re-configuring my DC duct work. I worked with the Blast Gate Company and they were great. They provided exceptionally quick replies to my emails regarding component sizes/lengths as well as design of the system. In the end, I chose to go with 5" Spiral Pipe for my main line with a combination of 4" and 5" takeoffs for my equipment. I ordered everything from them including the vinyl tape for sealing the joints. Today I finished up the install which was easy.

It isn't everyday you get to work with a company that understands customer service. Thank you, Blast Gate Company!

[Steve Wurster]

That's good to hear you had a good experience with them, Lisa.

I'm in the middle of yet again redoing the duct work in my shop. I have a basement shop with low ceilings and existing HVAC duct work taking up some overhead space, so my options are fairly limited. I'm experimenting with running a DC duct down one of the open joist bays, in an attempt to get the pipe behind the tools that reside against another wall. My DC might not be powerful enough for this run, but we'll find out. I had looked at Blast Gate Company, but since I only needed a few "non standard" parts I went with KenCraft for those (for everything else I need at the moment I'm just using 5" HVAC duct from the Borg, which is what I've been using for years along with a few pieces from Oneida).

If this experiment fails from a dust collection perspective, but works from a workflow perspective, then I will probably look into upgrading my DC to a more powerful unit. That will almost certainly justify going with actual spiral pipe, and thanks to your review I will look at Blast Gate Company for that. Maybe I'll get lucky though and won't have to shell out any more money though. Time will tell.

[Jim Becker]

Steve, I've heard good things about this company previously and it's nice to hear Lisa's positive feedback. I plan on going spiral in the "next shop" should we downsize in a year or two. I hear you on the ceiling thing...I remember it from when I visited. All that "stuff" is one of the challenges with a basement shop since the builders don't show much initiative around optimizing the space after a buyer moves is. Subcontractor convenience is more important it seems.

[Steve Wurster]

I hear you on the ceiling thing...I remember it from when I visited. All that "stuff" is one of the challenges with a basement shop since the builders don't show much initiative around optimizing the space after a buyer moves is. Subcontractor convenience is more important it seems.

Tell me about it! I did manage to shove a 5" round HVAC duct between the diagonal braces in one of the joist bays. But that meant the duct was flat up against the joist and so taping the joint where it meets the next piece was a bit of a pain (there's some flex so it wasn't impossible, but I can't guarantee those tape jobs are perfect).

On the far end of that bay I have 2 adjustable elbows connected for an approximately 45 degree drop down through a narrow opening between existing HVAC and water and gas pipes that run perpendicular to the joists. That then meets the far wall and 2 more elbows make up the remaining 45 degrees before a short section of vertical pipe that connects to flex hose.

On the near end there's a little more horizontal room along the joist, with a long-form adjustable elbow dropping down into a 45 degree "true wye" right off the collector. The other half of that wye drops down to the floor and then goes behind my table saw. I haven't finished putting that floor-level part together yet, but all the overhead stuff is done. It's a pain working overhead in narrow bays (it's actually a narrower-than-normal bay), and due to the overall limit I can't tape joints ahead of time before placing the pieces up there. To say nothing of the not-so-great quality of the Borg-sourced HVAC stuff. (Some of the pieces are non-Borg and those are definitely higher quality, but they don't always fit together will with the Borg stuff).

I still have no idea how well this setup will work. I'm running a 1.5HP DC with a Super Dust Deputy and a Wynn filter. I've had this setup for years in various configurations, but never tried to pull through this much duct and flex, nor with anything going overhead. I would really rather have the flex hose on that far wall though, as it means it's then behind my jointer/planer, router table, drum sander, and bandsaw. That means I don't have to step over the flex every time I'm using one of those tools (the most annoying is with the J/P, since I can't rotate that around to use it like I can the other tools). So we'll see how this performs with the J/P and drum sander, since those are the "most trying" from a performance requirement.

If I like the workflow but not the performance then I might be upgrading to something like an Oneida V-3000. I have the power for it (just gotta replace the 20A 120V my DC uses now w/ a 20A 240V), but the floor space will probably be *really* tight. I'll have to contact Oneida for more detailed layout information in that case. But it also means I'll have to redo all the duct work I just put up, because I'm pretty sure that DC works better with 6" duct, and that will be a bit of a pain. But I'm sure that DC will have no problem pulling through all that duct and flex. Anyway, if I go this route then I'll be contacting the Blast Gate Company. lol

[ray grundhoefer]

I bought some hose, gates and a few fittings from them for my system last winter. Great place to deal with.

[Steve Mathews]

All of my DC components sans the spiral pipe came from Blastgate and my experience parallels Lisa's. Kudos to them.

[Chuck Saunders]

I'll pile on the praise as well. Great to work with, good parts, fast shipping, nothing but net as they say.
Chuck

[David Takes]

I also have nothing but great things to say about BlastGate Company. I installed their clamp-together metal ducting and it went very well. I even had to jump over a metal beam in one spot to reach my forthcoming mitre station I will be building. I love the future flexibility it offers. I'll be reaching out to them next week for a swivel ball joint that will serve the CNC machine I'll be adding in the next few weeks. Should have ordered it with the original components but didn't think a machine would be within my reach so quickly.