Grounding PVC Ducts

[Mark J]

This is an interesting (and long) article I saw posted at AAW and thought I should share with you folks.  It discusses whether or not grounding is necessary.

https://www.woodcentral.com/articles/shop/articles_221.shtml

[Tpt life]

I never worked a shop where dust ratios warranted spark concern, but PVC was at least partially addressed because it sucks to keep getting shocked. 

[wtnhighlander]

I think in most cases, if the fine dust concentration is high enough to ignite from a static discharge, you probably are already dying of emphasema.

 

[gee-dub]

Interesting how often this topic comes up.  I loop a length of 18ga insulated wire about once per foot and ground one end.  This removed all shocks from nuisance static build up.  This is purely to make working more pleasant as no one likes being shocked . .. even a little.  All you need is a path to ground that is more "attractive" than you are.  The path allows frequent discharge when the potential is reached so that we humans never have to get surprised

As to explosion problems? There are enough articles about the perfect storm that has to exist to allow that.  Suffice to say that if you were in an atmosphere that could ignite, you would probably be unconscious

[drzaius]

3 hours ago, gee-dub said:

Suffice to say that if you were in an atmosphere that could ignite, you would probably be unconscious

And before you passed out, you literally wouldn't be able to see past your own arm.

[BillyJack]

I've worked in some that did but many are running metal duct work.

I run pvc but don't ground anything.