How-To Ground a Dust Collection System

[@RobertRalphR]

I worked at a large plant back in the day, and they sanded panels in one of the buildings. The fire inspectors always checked the grounds on the ductwork and all of the equipment. Industrial explosions are no laughing matter! 💥

[@JerryF4]

We had a grain bin explode in the net town over when I was a kid. The entire building was gone, and several people died 😞Dust is some pretty potent stuff!

[@TrapDoorWoodworks]

A few of those happen every year, and you are correct, they can be massive explosions! You hear a lot less about the fires though, but there is a lot more of them!

[@NewWoodGuy]

I have PVC duct, and it collects a ton of dust and shocks the hell out of me. I may need to do this!

[@ccrx6700]

Great idea, i never would given static electricity a thought. Birds get in our loco shop all the time, big door wide open and they cant figure out how get out... 😮

[@TrapDoorWoodworks]

Static electricity builds up big time in dust collection systems, and can slow the flow of stuff through the pipes. There is debate as to whether it can cause an explosion or not, but it is easy to remedy so that's what I do. We get birds in there all the time as well. Hummingbirds almost always die, and barn swallows always get out. Everything in between is a tossup. 😑

[@ccrx6700]

@TrapDoorWoodworks interesting to learn bout the static, i did not know that. A lot of swallows in my barns at home and the big loco shop 🐦🐦🐦

[@ShedHomePro]

I should show this video to our door guy. He has pvc ducts on his machines, and there is so much static in the pipes that the dust on the pipes stands on end when it is running 🤪 It really is just a matter of time before he has a fire or worse!

[@TrapDoorWoodworks]

He may think the motor is doing the grounding, but I don't think that is anywhere near enough, and some people have the ground prong broken off, so there is zero grounding. All systems should have least one robust, dedicated ground - I will likely have five when all of the ducts are installed 😊

[@luwk]

What are you going to be doing with your smaller dust collector

[@TrapDoorWoodworks]

As far as grounding, or in general?

[@luwk]

@@TrapDoorWoodworks in general

[@TrapDoorWoodworks]

@@luwk I'm going to convert it to use a canister filter, and use it on the machines that don't have dust collection yet (or maybe never will). I expect I will always have some use for it😊

[@adenvet2830]

Hi Mojo you reminded me of the time I was hooking up some cargo to a hovering helicopter in my Army days, one of the other soldiers deliberately pulled out my grounding rod,oh boy did I get a kick from the Heli.

[@TrapDoorWoodworks]

​@@adenvet2830 Thanks Larry! That must have been a hell of a zap! We have explosions in grain elevators and dust collection systems quite often here in the states, and I would prefer that not happen right next to me 😮 One of the places I worked at had two fires and one explosion in their 30 years of existence. I'm shooting for zero 😉