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Thread: Thoughts on using a Central Vac System instead of Shop Vacs

  1. #1

    Thoughts on using a Central Vac System instead of Shop Vacs

    I'm curious if there are any downsides to using a central vacuum dedicated to the shop over the usual shop vac? Centrals would appear to have greater suction, in both flow and water lift and have provision for exterior exhausts and mufflers. They also come in 110V and 220V flavours with more power from the 220V units. Admittedly more money but not by much when compared to a Festool. Some come with HEPA filtration and some in both wet and dry configurations. Are any of you using one in your shop?

  2. #2
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    I havent used it in the shop, but have used my house central vac on my ROS for misc projects in the house. It works great. It has a 3 stage Ametek blower on it, and vents to the outside after going through a collection cannister. Fine dust goes through it pretty easily so not a 'cyclone' performance.

    And it is not portable.

    Plumbing is plastic pipe (easy to setup).

    It would work imo whenever you wanted a shop vac but no water and no portability.

  3. #3
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    It might work for a 100% hand tool shop but would not be appropriate for stationary power tools. You need high air volume as well as suction and even powerful vacuum cleaners just don't have it. Some people have a central system based on a shop vacuum and 2-1/2 inch hose but those are generally considered inadequate.
    Last edited by Art Mann; 03-19-2019 at 3:48 PM.

  4. #4
    I understand the lack of portability and with my shop being only 600 square feet that wouldn't be an issue. I also don't have a need for wet suction in my shop but there are central vacs that can suck water. You still have to pull the filters out like a shop vac and I wouldn't want to try and lower the collection bin with 10 gallons of water in it to dump. It would be useful to the guys that park the cars in the shop, um garage , in the winter to clean up melting snow. Wouldn't putting a mini cyclone work to take out most of the dust before it goes through the Vac? Is the suction good at the end of the hose?

  5. #5
    Art I want it as a supplement to the DC.

  6. #6
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    If it was dedicated to the shop and used purely as an alternative to a "shop vac" for things shop vacs are good for, I don't see too much trouble, although you'll want to be sure it's not going to have an issue with the kinds of larger debris that one typically picks up with a shop vac. I certainly wouldn't use the same unit that's also used for the home, personally.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  7. #7
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    I had a neighbor who totally remodeled his house. One day I saw the central vacuum headed for the dumpster and asked him if I could have it. He obliged and set it down in front of my shop, with the parting statement "it doesn't work". I discovered that the control transformer was bad and replaced it the next day for about $16. Over the next couple of days the accessories and even the wall piping showed up in front of my shop. I bought a Dust Deputy and installed both the central vacuum and the Dust Deputy on a 5 gal bucket in the attic of my shop, because there isn't room enough for it downstairs. I ran the pipes and installed the inlets in the shop, in the attic where I store wood, and one next to the passage door through the outside wall. This one lets me use the vacuum for the trucks and cars, and the 25' hose lets me easily clean them.

    I collapsed the plastic bucket the first time that I plugged the hose with a wood shaving. So after some significant thinking, I realized that there were ribs molded into the top 1/3 of the bucket. I stacked three buckets together, making the walls 3X as thick and ribs all the way down the top-most bucket. This ended my collapsing problems, but a few months later, my son brought me a 20 gallon metal grease barrel. It was clean because the grease is shipped in a plastic bag inside the barrel. I made a plywood lid from 2 pieces of 3/4 cabinet birch ply and mounted the Dust Deputy to it, then replaced the plastic buckets with it. Other than that first imploded bucket I haven't had a single problem with this setup. I vacuum the shop floor, cars, trucks, and use it for collecting the dust from all of my fine dust producer tools like drill presses, sanders, scroll saws, etc. The Unisaw collects it's dust in it's cabinet and I use my DeWalt 735 planer outside with the hose running to a 60 gal plastic barrel. The hose and barrel cover is the DeWalt option that was initially offered for the planer. It works great, as long as the draw string keeps the cover on the barrel. I'm mostly collecting the chips to keep them from blowing into my neighbor's pool. My shop is 14 X 26' and way too small for a real dust collector. The central vacuum does a pretty good job for what it is. The 20 gal barrel needs to be dumped about once per year, so I do it every Spring, but not yet this year. The container in the central vac has never had more than a finger wipe of dust in it, but I exhaust the vac to the outdoors, so even the tiniest dust never gets back into my shop. The exhaust sounds like a small jet plane, but it exits on the North side of the shop toward a 160 acre lake, so the noise doesn't bother anyone, except the Canadian Geese, and I don't care if they don't like it. They get revenge by crapping on my sidewalks.

    Charley

  8. #8
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    Years ago I plumbed my shop with central vacuum plumbing pipe. I have one drop above my workbench and another one centrally located for vacuuming. This is strictly a vacuum system for use with portable power tools and general vacuuming. I have a separate dust collection system for my machines. I have been using an old Fein Turbo vacuum with an inline Dust Deputy separator. It has worked well enough for my ROS, track saw, biscuit joiner and Domino. However, it doesn't seem to have enough performance for general vacuuming with a 20' long hose.

    I have considered installing a real central vacuum unit. Charles, it's encouraging to know that your central vacuum unit was strong enough to collapse your bucket. Do you have the specifications for the vacuum unit? I have been eyeing the system below for awhile now. However, at $600, I would like some assurance that it will do everything I want.

    https://www.centralvacuumstores.com/...package-cv3200

  9. #9
    I was looking at ones Costco sell and if this one is available in the US it would be about $411US and has more lift and a higher flow but lacks a couple of the accessories.

    https://www.costco.ca/Soluvac-SVS-80...100376640.html

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sean Nagle View Post
    Years ago I plumbed my shop with central vacuum plumbing pipe. I have one drop above my workbench and another one centrally located for vacuuming. This is strictly a vacuum system for use with portable power tools and general vacuuming. I have a separate dust collection system for my machines. I have been using an old Fein Turbo vacuum with an inline Dust Deputy separator. It has worked well enough for my ROS, track saw, biscuit joiner and Domino. However, it doesn't seem to have enough performance for general vacuuming with a 20' long hose.

    I have considered installing a real central vacuum unit. Charles, it's encouraging to know that your central vacuum unit was strong enough to collapse your bucket. Do you have the specifications for the vacuum unit? I have been eyeing the system below for awhile now. However, at $600, I would like some assurance that it will do everything I want.

    https://www.centralvacuumstores.com/...package-cv3200
    Sean,

    My central vacuum is a Beam, I believe made by Electrolux. It is a 120 volt unit. I don't have any other specs on it. It was being removed from a neighbor's house during a renovation about 6 years ago. I saw it headed for the dumpster and asked if I could have it. My neighbor told me that "it didn't work", but brought it over and set it by my shop. I said "I'll fix it". Over the next several days the 25' hose and accessories, and even the pipes and inlets showed up at my shop. The problem was a bad control circuit transformer and was an easy fix. I think I paid about $12 for the new transformer. I tried using the vacuum before getting the Dust Deputy, but the fabric filter in it plugged with fine saw dust too quickly. After adding the Dust Deputy and it working so well I'm considering cutting the fabric filter out of the vacuum. I have it vented to the outdoors, so nothing would get back into my shop anyway. All I ever find in the vacuum is a very light layer of dust stuck to the walls of the collection container, about the amount that you find on a table in your home if you haven't dusted in a while.

    If buying a new vacuum, I would get the most powerful that you can find. There is a very noticeable difference in flow between a direct connection to the vacuum and an inlet 6 elbows and 30' of pipe away, but still enough flow for keeping my scroll saws, drill presses, portable sanders, etc. that I use mine with clear of saw dust and it works well for cleaning the cars and trucks too. My inlet ports are located in 2 places in my shop, one in the attic near the vacuum unit, and one in the outside wall next to the passage door (that I use for the cars and trucks). The 25' hose will reach anywhere from one of them. I installed ceiling hooks to hook the hose on to keep it off the shop floor and have these hooks running in the directions that I commonly use the vacuum. A loop in the hose can be held up to hook or unhook the hose from these ceiling hooks when relocation is needed.

    Charley
    Last edited by Charles Lent; 03-22-2019 at 9:04 AM.

  11. #11
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    Duplicate post - deleted by me Charley
    Last edited by Charles Lent; 03-22-2019 at 9:05 AM.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sean Nagle View Post
    I have been using an old Fein Turbo vacuum with an inline Dust Deputy separator. It has worked well enough for my ROS, track saw, biscuit joiner and Domino. However, it doesn't seem to have enough performance for general vacuuming with a 20' long hose.

    I have considered installing a real central vacuum unit. Charles,
    Your result isn't surprising as a regular (or even "really nice") shop vac wasn't designed to support long networks of "hose" (hard or soft) while the central vac is designed specifically to support the longer runs that would be typical of the usage of a centralized system.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Peter Christensen View Post
    I was looking at ones Costco sell and if this one is available in the US it would be about $411US and has more lift and a higher flow but lacks a couple of the accessories.

    https://www.costco.ca/Soluvac-SVS-80...100376640.html
    I didn't realize Costco offers central vac units. It seems that here in the U.S., the model they offer is about $800.

    Correction: Apparently that's with a power head. It's $600 without the power head.
    Last edited by Sean Nagle; 03-22-2019 at 12:45 PM.

  14. #14
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    I have had a Central Vac system in the house for 20+ years am and very happy with it. Added a Rigid shop vac with a Clear Vue cyclone to the basement shop last fall and hard piped it to workbench and other spots. NOW after reading this I realize I should have just installed another Central Vac in the garage piped to the basement shop and used Clear Vue cyclones with both central vac's. I like the Clear Vue cyclone with how it packs the dust in the bucket, and the Central Vac exhausting in the garage gets the noise out of the house and warms/cools the garage in the process. I do have a 3hp 4 bag and a 2hp 2 bag dust collectors hard piped to a cyclone then hard piped to planer, shaper, bandsaw, tablesaw, radial arm saw, 15" wide belt sander, jointer.
    Ron

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