Grounding Shop Vac Hose

[Luigi Zanasi]

While I was vacuuming the shop tonight, I noticed that sawdust was clinging to the hose and nozzle. When I touched the Shop Vac, I got quite a shock. There is obviously a seriously dangerous problem here, that could lead to sawdust explosions through static sparks, just like in dust collectors.

So my question is how does one ground a shop vac hose? I have googled and, while there are many references to grounding PVC pipes and dust collectors, I have not seen anything about shop vacs. Have you done it? Or do you have any ideas on how to do it? I wouldn't want to be the victim of a Shop Vac explosion.

TIA

Luigi Replace "nonet" with "yukonomics" for real email address

[Bill]

Although it is technically possible to cause combustion in a dust collector by a static discharge, I doubt you'll find anyone who has actually had it happen. And stories concerning a friend of a friend don't count! LOL

That said, discharge kits are available all over with a quick internet search.

Here is a link to Rockler.

can tell by the photo there, that it is relatively easy to construct your own kit for your vac with minimal trouble.

[Groggy]

Option 1. Shop dog comes in handy for this. Touch that warm wet nose with the hose and all static will dissipate (along with the dawg).

Option 2 is to run a PVC pipe underground to the metal letterbox and put an earthing strap on the vac to a wire leading up the pipe to said letterbox. A side benefit, apart from removing the static from the shopvac, is the postman will emit a loud shriek announcing the arrival of the mail. Drunken letterbox wrestlers and nosy neighbours will also announce their arrival with various bellows and squawks.

Greg

"Luigi Zanasi" trolled in message ...

[JGS]

[Dave Balderstone]

Just connect it to half of the 220 volt circuit. You'll be fine.

djb

[Michael Baglio]

Is the rest of this post all lies, too?

[gabriel]

OK, so where's the social responsibility in this thread? Grounding a vaccum by zapping a dog's nose or even by connecting the shop vac to "half of the 220 volt circuit"?

Do you guys not realize that google exists and someone somewhere WILL eventually follow your asinine advice? Yes, all our posts live forever. And yes, someone looking to properly ground their shop vac WILL see this thread.

Why not joke with something less serious than electricity?

Man, sometimes I feel like grabbing people, shaking them, and saying "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?!?!?"

[Leslie Gossett]

Do you kiss your mother and/or wife with that potty mouth?

[gabriel]

Sorry. Normally I don't cuss gratuitously, but this makes me really angry.

[Leslie Gossett]

lol...just teasing!

[Bridger]

consider it a public service to the human gene pool. weed out the weak and all....

; ^ )

[Bridger]

go ahead and let it explode. make sure your homeowners insurance is all paid up first.

then you can buy more tools.....

[Bridger]

this got the responses it did because it has been so thoroughly debunked, time and again, but still won't die.

dust explosion in a shop vac my ass.....

[Gerald Ross]

Bill Although it is technically possible to cause combustion in a dust collector

It can give you a little shock. I ran a flexible wire down the outside of the hose, attaching it with a circle of tape at intervals. Where the hose plugs into the vac, put an automotive disconnect plug in the wire. Continue along the power cord and end with an alligator clip to connect to the outlet box. If your boxes are hidden and or plastic, you could connect it to the ground (round) prong of the plug or to the screw on the receptacle.

[Silvan]

If you think his statement was offensive, you should hear my wife. My mother too, for that matter.

[mttt]

Compressed air isn't nearly as funny. And Steam is too much work.

Me too. Some folks take anger management classes. Me? I've decided to raise mink.

[gabriel]

Hmmm, was your reply supposed to be funny, thought-provoking, or entertaining? Oh, well. Some people just _have_ to talk I suppose.

[Wes Stewart]

|While I was vacuuming the shop tonight, I noticed that sawdust was |clinging to the hose and nozzle. When I touched the Shop Vac, I got |quite a shock. There is obviously a seriously dangerous problem here, |that could lead to sawdust explosions through static sparks, just like |in dust collectors. | |So my question is how does one ground a shop vac hose? I have googled |and, while there are many references to grounding PVC pipes and dust |collectors, I have not seen anything about shop vacs. Have you done |it? Or do you have any ideas on how to do it? I wouldn't want to be |the victim of a Shop Vac explosion.

Fortunately, you can't ground an insulator. If you could, there wouldn't be a piece of electronic on the planet that worked, thus we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Why carge builds up is explained (more than you want to know) here:

an explosion is highly unlikely is here:

of the problems is that _you_ become charged while vacuuming _if_ you are insulated from ground. Then you touch a grounded conductor and zap. Most of us these days are walking around in insulated shoes.

In the electronics industry, where electrostatic discharge (ESD) is a serious problem, they use heel straps that connect to bare skin and the bottom of the shoe. They then walk around on conductive mats. We don't have to go this far. Leather shoes and soles on concrete will bleed off the charges that disturb us. Or just bend over occasionally and touch the concrete with your hand. I can't speak to wood floors.

Raising the humidity will help, but that is usually counterproductive to woodworking and in Arizona where I am 6 or 8% RH is not uncommon so we have ESD problems in spades.

You can run a "grounding" conductor in or outside the hose and bring the business end to the same potential as the vac or collector, but you are *not* grounding the hose.

You can buy (semi)conductive hose. There are also topical treatments that increase the moisture retaining properties of the surface of the hose.

[Michael Baglio]

Mr Zagnasty, I'm sorry I called you a liar in my first reply. That wasn't very nice of me. My brain got overloaded reading that thread about bandsaw coplanar -ity -ness -something.

An important issue, and one that can't be brought up enough. Safety's the name of the dust collection tune.

Immersing the entire shop vac in water before turning it on will eliminate any potential for static buildup. The iono-impediance factor will approach zero, negating any concern about electron bounce.

If you don't have a bucket of water, de-ionize the shop-vac unit with the pee out of your sawdust bucket. That'll work _just_ as well.

Michael "It's all about the flow."

[Dave Balderstone]

Then they'll hopefully read the whole thing. If not, and they become Darwin Award candidates, let's hope they haven't bred yet.

Deep breaths, Gabriel. DEEEEEEP breaths...

djb