Can a dust collector be used as a central vacuum?

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AngusMac

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Dan
My girlfriend's mother's house was nearly completed when her husband, who designed its vast majority, died suddenly. The house is designed for a central vac system but the central vac itself was never purchased. We've all come upon hard times and it doesn't seem likely that any of us is going to invest $1000 in a vac system. Given that there are no carpets involved (wonderful wide reclaimed oak beams as hardwood floors), would a dust collector hooked up to the central vac ports be an inexpensive solution to this problem? Does anyone have any thoughts on this matter?

How much horse-power would it take to thoroughly clean a 2000 sq/ft house?
What could some of the risks be?
Am I a frugal genius or is this a bad idea?

-Dan
 

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Dennis
Staff member
Corporate Member
Dust collectors & vacuum systems are based on different designs. DCs are designed to move a large volume of air at a relatively light static pressure/vacuum. While the dust collector may carry a lot of sawdust away from your saw, it will not have enough negative pressure to pull lint/dust from a throw or bare floor and then transport it through a ~1-1/2" corrugated hose 20+- feet long and then a myriad of 2" pipe. You'd be better off getting a large shop vac & connecting it to the piping than using a DC.
JMTCW
 

Woodman2k

Greg Bender
Corporate Member
+1 what Dennis said. I used to install central vac systems and would say ,buy the biggest metal drummed shop vac you can find and you will be better off.
Greg
 

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Dennis
Staff member
Corporate Member
Most in home vac systems use a metal contact ring at the wall outlet that completes a 24vdc circuit to start the vac. I'm sure something could be worked out with a transformer & relay.
 
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