I have found quite a bit of discussion of using a shop vac as a dust collector. My question is about using a dust collector as a shop vac. I have a 3 hp cyclone with 3 gated connections. One is "permanently" attached to a table saw, a second is used to connect to whatever machine I am using, and the third is currently unused.

My shop is small (about 16'x22'). A 13 foot hose should let me reach into the furthest corners. i have seen floor sweeps that would let me sweep the floor into a fixed spot and have the DC pick it up. Instead of a floor sweep, I think i would get more utility from having a vacuum hose attached as the third connection. I could then put the shop vac in another room and retrieve it when needed for something when the DC was not appropriate. I'm even thinking of using a 1 1/4 inch hose instead of the 2 1/2 inch hose my vacuum uses. The smaller hose would take up less room and could easily be coiled and hung up on a wall. If I did this, I wouldn't be moving the vacuum and its hose nearly as much as I do now. Although moving the vacuum only results in a small increase in floor space, much of the floor space is already permanently occupied with work bench, table saw, band saw, etc. so that moving the vacuum to another room is very functional.

Does anyone do this or something similar?

What are the pros and cons?

Would the 1 1/4 inch hose just be too small?

Other suggestions?

Thank you for any advice.