Joining 6" ducting to 6" flex hose

[Burt Alcantara]

I'm using standard 6" 2729 ducting and trying to attach pieces of it to 6" flex hose from Wynn Environmental. The flex hose is too small (no surprise) so I tried the Bill Pentz trick of cutting into the ducting in an attempt to reduce the duct's OD.

Unfortunately, my fingers are raw from trying to get the flex onto the ducting. I even have a hose clamp on the ducting to help reduce the OD on the duct.

I'm sure some of you have done this with success. Will you tell me the dark secret of this magic?

Thanks,
Burt

[JayStPeter]

Where I use metal duct, I use a crimp tool to crimp the end of the duct and attach the flex. Where I use PVC pipe, I cut a 2 or 3" slit in the flex tube, clamp in place, and tape over the gap from the slit.

[Jim Becker]

Buy some sheet metal, roll it with a little overlap and make a sleeve that fits into your 6" plastic duct. Tape it up with foil HVAC tape. The hose should fit over it for clamping.

[Ken Deckelman]

I used a heat gun to soften the hose a little, it will go on but it is VERY tight.
Also, the hose will fit very nicely inside the bell end of the pipe,then add a couple three 1/2" screws to lock it in.

[Darl Bundren]

Six inch snaplock should fit snugly inside both the 2729 and the 6" hose. Cut a length that goes 2 or three inches inside the 2729, screw it in place after you've inserted it. To decrease the likelihood of stuff snagging on the ends of the screws I'd used, I snipped them off with diag. cut pliers to make them pretty much flush with the inside wall of the 2729. Then, work the hose onto the snaplock and hold it in place with a clamp. I just used the snaplock from Home Depot with the hose from Wynn and the 2729. Good luck. You may find as I did that you'll need to engineer things on the fly.

[Burt Alcantara]

Darl,
Since the folk who work at the local HD are a bit in the fog can you describe the snaplock in more detail? A while back I needed welders gloves. It took about 5 people to direct me to where they were.

Thanks,
Burt

[Mark Duksta]

Burt,

I found that 6" black stove pipe just fits in the 6" S&D pipe. I cut about 6" of stove pipe, force it into the S&D pipe about half way, they crimp the end of the stove pipe just enough to get the flex hose on. Keep the hose in place with a hose clamp.

Mark

[Darl Bundren]

Darl,
Since the folk who work at the local HD are a bit in the fog can you describe the snaplock in more detail? A while back I needed welders gloves. It took about 5 people to direct me to where they were.

Thanks,
Burt

The snaplock is in their HVAC duct section, about 28 gauge, I bought galvanized. It comes in (I think) 2 and 4 ft. sections. Find the vents that look like this and the snaplock should be nearby:

http://www.homedepot.com/cmc_upload/HDUS/EN_US/asset/images/eplus/161627_3.jpg

I couldn't find the duct pipe on their website so I figured I'd make do. Most of the folks I've encountered at HD haven't been able to answer many of my questions, either.

[Jim O'Dell]

I'm uising the flex hose from Woodworker's Supply, and it must be slightly larger. I still had to use a hair dryer on it for a few minutes, and it was hard to get started. I believe that Ed uses the Wynn Environmental hose on his, and that it is what came on the cone of my Clear Vue cyclone. If so, I understand your frustration, because I worked with it for an hour, and couldn't get it on the 6" 2729 for my ship can lid. I finally removed it, and installed some of the WS hose I bought, and it went on fine. Not having an actual heat gun (those things do get hotter!!!) may have been the difference using the Wynn hose. Jim.

edit. And the snap lock may even come flat, and has a "hook" on each end that lock into each other to hold the round shape.

[Ken Garlock]

Bert, after all the arm waving, go to the place where you got the PVC, and buy a simple coupling. Attach one end to the pipe and slide the flex hose into the other end. At most you wll need a little caulking on the ends of the coupling. It is much easier to get the hose into the coupling than try the near impossible of stretching the hose around the pipe.

My 6" hose is from Wynn Environmental also, and I have used this technique on two connections in my system.

Its so easy even a caveman can do it.:eek: :D

[Chris Merriam]

You can use 6in metal 90 degree adjustable elbows from the Borg too. One end fits inside the PVC, the hose slips over the other end. They're not super airtight though, they need to be sealed with silver taple.

[Burt Alcantara]

Great Answers Guys!

I especially like the ones that don't require any more owiees. My hands have pinch marks all over and the finger tips don't want to touch anything.

The place I bought the 2729 was so cheap I thought they made a mistake. Unfortunately, they only have about 3 connectors total. The Lowes here has a better selection so I may try there. I'll also look at the snaplock and stove pipe.

Jim, the pisser is I had a 10' 6" hose on order from WS for over a month. They kept pushing the date back so I finally opted for the Wynn hose as I couldn't find anything else. I have the CV1400.

[Burt Alcantara]

Actually, two. I picked up a 6" PVC coupler at Lowes and a 90 degree metal flex elbow at HD. Neither store had a snaplock. The stove pipe was roll-your-own which I-did-not-want-to-do.

The coupler and flex elbow slipped on with zero problems. While the elbow is about $1 +/- cheaper then the PVC, I'm going with the PVC for the main stuff. I can see where the flex elbow would come in handy.

The other advantage of the PVC is a much better fit and it looks better.

Thanks for all the help guys!

Burt

[Kent Fitzgerald]

Neither store had a snaplock. The stove pipe was roll-your-own which I-did-not-want-to-do.

Glad it worked out.

Just as a point of clarification, I think that what you're calling "roll your own" is snaplock pipe. Snaplock is metal duct that comes in sections rolled into an almost-cylinder. The edges have mating flanges that snap together to make a complete tube.

[Eric Wong]

I have a new question related to this post:
For those of you who simply push the flex hose into either the bell end or a coupling, and then caulk the outside, are you at all concerned about the "rough" edge of the hose just being shoved in like that? When I was experimenting with this, I noticed that the inside edge does not lie smoothly against the wall of the coupling, so air turbulance is going to result. I suppose it's not much compared to a length of flex hose, but it seems like a spot where dust could collect.

Has anyone had any problems at these spots?

P.S. I continue to be amazed at the volume of information on this forum. Just about any question I could have has been posted before!

[Ken Garlock]

Hi Eric.

In the two cases where I used 6" flex hose, they were very short runs of less than a foot. A little rough end turbulence will be small compared to the losses of the flex hose. Flex hose should only be used where it is an absolute must.

If your dust collector system can suck the chrome off a trailer hitch, you will be OK.:D

[Jim O'Dell]

Burt, I got the 6" in pretty quick, but the 4" took about 3 months. I wasn't in a hurry. Part of the down time was a problem with the gift card I was using. It was close to the amount for the purchase, and they do a check on the card to make sure there is money, then run it again when they process the order...OOPS not enough on it to try to take it out twice, because the first run has that amount on a 10 day hold...then it went backorder again...frustrating, but like I said, I wasn't in a hurry for the 4". Jim.