dust collector
 

I hard piped my system and want to make sure it's grounded properly. Has any one done this? My son said he got zapped the other day. thanks mike

He probably got a static shock. What did you use for piping material? If it's aluminum, run some copper wire to a nearby plumbing pipe, or other ground. I've seen some that use PVC pipe, which holds a great deal of the static days after last use.... not my first choice.

It probably is static, but I'd check the electrical wiring just to be sure. Get a polarity tester and plug it in to your socket - if it lights up properly, you're OK. I actually found boxes in my house that have three-prong sockets, but no ground wire is run to them. That's against code, and I have no idea when it happened.

If you ground to a pipe, you should check for continuity. Sometimes what looks like it should be doing the job by eye really isn't a good connection.

dust collector
 

I used PVC. I had it on hand an it fit the collector fittings. thanks for the ideas mike

PVC builds up a lot of static
you HAVE to run a ground wire along inside the pipes
that's your best chance of reducing static
it could start a fire believe it or not.

I used metal and where there is plastic fittings anywhere, I ran a ground wire.

as well as the above... EACH machine needs to be tied into the "system" then terminated at the dust collector.... when I upgraded my shop, I changed out all the PVC runs to Galvy... all the drops are PVC with bare copper ground wires inside AND outside, the outside is wrapped spiral and tied into the inside wire then each wire is terminated at each piece of equiptment, including sanders and grinders... no more "zaps"... my small belt sander was notorius for giving you a jolt when you used it..i tied it ino the system and it too stopped "biting" me ....

dust collector
 

Are you using a multi strand or solid core wire? I'm figuring 12 or 14ga. would be heavy enough? thanks for the replies. Mike