Ductwork planning ahead

[Sean Troy]

Is there any disadvantage to running DC pipe to where future tools will go and capping the ends? Thanks, Sean

[John Bush]

Hi Sean,
I ran pipes to all areas of the shop during my initial installation, and so far I have changed the shop configuration twice. I actually bought two new machines sooner than I had planned because there was no hassle in hooking up the DC.(Great excuse!) You will save a lot of time and have limited additional cost to do it all at one time. Good luck, John.

[Jason Beam]

I doubt that you'd see any performance hit, really. It's just a dead leg at that point. That is as long as the entire run is well sealed. If you run lots of dead duct and it's leaky, those leaks are a problem of course.

[Jim O'Dell]

I have a dead run right now, that I've taken the blast gate off of, and I end up popping a piece of styrofoam on the open pipe when in use. :eek: Seems to hold just fine. There is never any dust in that run. Jim.

[Matt Meiser]

Ask yourself this question: What's the difference between having a leg with a cap or having the future tool hooked up with the blast gate closed? :D

[Jamie Smith]

So are you saying that Sean should just go ahead and buy all of the tools now? :D

[Mike Heidrick]

I think you should run all the pipe you need and then just go ahead and buy the tools you need so you can get a feel for how well all the ductwork and the DC work together with those tools. It is great planning for the short term.

[Jim Becker]

Not really....if they are capped off, no real effect as long as they don't leak appreciably...and you don't want leaks even when they are being used for real.

[Sean Troy]

Thanks all. I'll run some extra lines and cap.

[Robert Strasser]

I recently changed my ducting around because of new equipment. I placed the blast gates as close to main duct run as possible. I used to have the gates as close to the machinery as possible. This made a slight improvement in my system. I have a gauge on my cyclone that showed a 1/10" improvement. I also noted a decrease in sound. By sound I mean the little hisses you hear around small leaks and the blast gates that don't shut completely. I'm not sure why there is an improvement. It might be because of all the joints that were before the gate and now are after it. There may also be some turbulence or other factors that are beyond me. Buy I counted over 60 joints and other possible sources of leaks that I now have the blast gates in front of. If half of these joints had a 1/16-inch leak... well that adds up to quite a leak. And I did find quite a few. You might be surprised at how many leaks can go undetected in a metal duct system sealed with HVAC tape. Now after all this, does my dust collection work that much better. Not that I can notice. But it is a little quieter.