What Size Hose Should You Be Using When Vacuuming Out An Attic?
Vacuum hose size has a lot to do with the efficiency of your vacuum. Common sense tells us that using the largest diameter of hose as possible is the most efficient. Sometimes, that is not the case.
What is the Best Hose Size to Use?
Most insulation extractors use 6” hose to remove loose-fill material. In many cases, that is the right choice. Use as much 6” as possible. This allows for the machine to take advantage of the maximum Cubic Feet per Minute (CFM). You don’t want to choke the performance of your machine.
What Do We Recommend when 6” is Hard to Manage?
Sometimes, you may find extracting insulation to be most efficient with 4” hose. If you are in an attic that is tight and has a lot of mechanicals, you should consider reducing down to the 4” hose, only the last 25 or 50. Trying to push and manipulate a 6” hose in tight areas will slow down your ability to vacuum. It is important to keep your hose in the material as much as possible. In our testing of performance, we found that running 100 feet of 6” and then reducing to 25 feet of 4” did not slow the vacuuming efficiency by much.
Summary
Use the largest diameter as possible: 1) That allows you to use as much CFM as the machine is designed to provide; 2) That allows you the most flexibility to move quickly and easily in the attic.