How old is the "surge" protector and how many times has it been tripped? Amps and wire gauge of the circuit? My shop power circuit is on a 20 amp breaker with 12 ga. wire and a 20 amp GFI as the first outlet in the run. My saw is rated at 15 amps., but will trip the breaker at stall or a really heavy cut. I had to replace the shop breaker in my previous shop because I tripped it so often. The previous home owner wasn't much of an engineer when he set the shop up.

 

Hey Jim I finally saw your post,sorry. The surge protector is old and probably tripped a lot. Not sure about your other questions. I’m just going to have an outlet installed and resolve problem

 

@Blynx
For some people this will be hard to understand what I'm trying to say.
If you close off all the air able to go into the fan the current will drop off to almost nothing because it's no longer doing any work.
This is the key not doing any work with no airflow.
As you allow to acquire more airflow the current will go up.
The intent of changing the fan blade to the wind larger capacity means moving more air or acquiring more static pressure to move more material over greater distance.
Whether it be a pump or fan when they are moving the greatest amount of air or fluid they draw the greatest amount of current.

You had a wife fitting on there before put it back on close one cord off most the way are all the way you will have a lot more suction lower volume cuz you're drawing all through the one line and your current will drop off the motor should stay running normally.

Quite a few of the Harbor Freight units were only designed for a two horse on the size fan that was provided.

With the Wen family in there with smaller hoses I eat the two 4-in hoses I should have been used on it will give you better suction I used out of pressure but don't allow it to over consume air cuz it'll go into high current shutdown I'm either pop the breaker or some other failure will occur do not let the thing run and max airflow because it was on design for so much airflow.

So your first test should be suffocate the fan I eat put the Y fitting back on and close both ports off almost all the way or completely off it should not pop the breaker because it's not doing any work.

Good luck on this new adventure.

 

I don’t really understand the science behind what your saying but I think I know what your telling me to try. I took off the Y connection because I wanted to put a 5 inch hose directly on it and that runs underneath to my dust collection table. With My limited knowledge I thought 5 inch connection would give me more suction to the duct collection table, which it seems to be stronger than ever. 90% of what I do out there is wood carve with Dremel and foredom type grinder. I have band saw table saw and miter saw I use very sparingly and when using I’ve been hooking up shop vac to them for dust control which isn’t great.
I’m really trying to reduce dust to a minimum so all my wife’s stuff doesn’t get covered in dust.
to recap what you Said,put Y back on and close off most of the air. I assume I will need blast gates? (Like in the picture)

 

@Blynx
The 5-in hose fine as long as you didn't alter the fan.
Now you put a larger fan blade in there to move more air which are successfully doing and now drawing more current than it was intended to operate at..

Here is the pair of low-cost glass Gates that I bought.
POWERTEC 70295-P2 4-Inch Integrated Blast Gate Clog Resistant, Anti Gap Tapered ABS Plastic Fitting for Dust Collection Systems, 2PK. about $17

Blast Gate Clog Resistant, glass Gates have a direction of flow these are also have a requirement and they are marked direction of air flow therefore the direction is the dust. going toward the filter

They also bought mag couplers. about $50

4" MagLink Starter Kit, Magnetic Dust Collection Quick Connect Fittings low cost starter kit.

POWERTEC 70369-P2 4 Inch Dust Control Flex Cuff with Adjustable Key Hose Clamps, Hose Connector Rubber Cuff Coupler for Woodworking Dust Collection Fittings, Dust Collector Accessories & Machinery,2pk
about $20

4 Inch Dust Control Flex Cuff . also there is
POWERTEC 70149-P3V 4 Inch Dust Control Flex Cuff with Steel Hose Clamps, Hose Connector Rubber Cuff Coupler for Woodworking Dust Collection Fittings, Dust Collector Accessories & Machinery, 3 pack about $22



Dust Control Flex Cuff with Steel Hose Clamps VS thumb screws.

also Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days is coming up on October 7-8, 2025, some of the woodworking tools and the items I listed here may come up on sale but it's only for those two days next Tuesday and Wednesday.

abou $50
4 x 20 PVC Dust Collection Hose with 4 Thumbscrew Clamps, PVC Hose with Carbon Steel Wire,

Got the dust collector early January and start collecting the extra parts as shown above I did buy all these that I'm using as examples they seem to work the hose does seem to collapse more than I would like but at the price for 4-inch at 20 ft.

 

If it runs on one outlet even with an extension cord and trips at another I would be looking at that breaker for a start.

 

If it’s working on an extension cord, stick with the cord..

 

A 2 HP motor will draw 20 AMPS or more.
It will require a dedicated 20 AMP circuit and should NOT be used with an extension cord.
Get a watt meter like this to determine how many AMPs it draw under the different circumstances you propose:

P3 International P4460 Kill A Watt EZ Electricity Usage Monitor , grey - Amazon.com

P3 International P4460 Kill A Watt EZ Electricity Usage Monitor , grey - Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

Check for the name plate on the motor for the amperage rating.
Take a photo of it to post here.
A larger diameter impeller will have greater mass all things being equal.
The greater mass will require a longer start up time under that increased load.
This will mean it will draw a greater current than the OEM impeller.
There are several variables that you have here which complicate the diagnosis:
Using an extension cord, different receptacles, different impeller, etc.
You Tube has a few videos on HF Dc modifications including using a larger Rikon impeller.
See what issues those users ran into with that modification.

 

@Blynx
He posted that he used a central machine dust collector with a Five micron bag.

I looked up one as a comparison. whether I got it wrong or not but ,I looked it up and this is the table I got for it.
He posted the comment that's what it was.

Source
CENTRAL MACHINERY 35 Gallon, High-Flow, High-Capacity 5 Micron Dust Collector

SKU(s) 59726
Brand CENTRAL MACHINERY
Flow Rate 1550 CFM
Volume 35 Gallon
AC Volts 120
Amperage 15
(note the theoretical horsepower based on voltage versus current would work out to be one horsepower or 0.735499 kw, Formula: (Watts(W)=Volts(V) times Amps(A)
1 horsepower (HP) is defined as exactly 746 watts (W).

Certification ETL
Horsepower 2 ....... see @woodnthings chart above ......
Inlet Size 4 in.
Maximum Pressure 11 in.
Product Height 75-1/2 in.Product Length 33 in.
Product Weight 92.4 lb.
Product Width 2, 2 in.
Shipping Weight 95.04 lb.
Filtration 5 microns.

Based on the described history on this website the first modification was changing it to a truck filter.
Next modification was he used a 5-in hose to his downdraft. Remove the 4-in Wy fitting of 5-in to a 2, 4 inch

Next modification was he changed the impeller. Fan blade. said he used a Wen Fan Blade
Each one has a had impact on the motors capability.

More air the fan can draw through the higher the current is going to be since the fan blade was increased in size if potentially will draw more current because it can gobble up more air than what the unit originally was intended for.
Don't forget he changed the filters now the machines got to push against filters that it was not intended for.

 

How many skipped reading this statement in the first post:
"I tried running an extension cord across my garage and plugged it into another outlet and that worked fine."

 

Im curious if it hasn’t already been said if anything else is on that circuit..

 

I know once a break trips, it becomes weaker each time.

 

You are absolutely right. Let me say that again. YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!

I have the Harbor Freight "2HP" dust collector. It's actually, mathmatically, about 1.5 HP. I have a home made version of a Kill-a-watt monitoring the current. It peaks at less than 12 amps at startup and then runs consistently at less than 10 amps. It has never tripped a breaker on a 15 amp circuit.

 

@Blynx
""HF 2hp dust collector and when I turn it on after a few seconds it pops the surge protector it’s plugged into. It never did this until I put new impeller.. I tried running an extension cord across my garage and plugged it into another outlet and that worked fine. Any suggestions? Here’s a pic of my dust collector. ""

Surge protectors are for electronics not Motors in general.
Also search protectors are usually 5 or 10 amps not 20 or 15 the motor is dry the Max on current and dropping out if he is really using a surge protector.

I also ignored the sequence of wording due to he has gotten things out of sequence before and I have done so myself so I ignored the surge protector as much as he plugs into a real Outlet it does run okay.

Hopefully he will look at the surge protector strip and see what it's rated for also most surge strips that you buy at Home Depot and others are 14 gauge or 16 gauge wire you're now running a motor that's potential of needing 12 gauge wire probably why it rain on the extension cord
Most Motors draw more current turning larger fan blades moving more air that is the normal progression of Motors as I described up into the earlier post.

Hopefully he'll come back and describe or show a picture of the surge strip with model number and it will help make a decision most power cords have a wire gauge labeled on them.

 

Surge protectors are for electronics not Motors in general.

Here's the answer!
Ditch the surge protector in this circuit.
Motors "surge" on start up in the first place, so most likely to trip it,

 

Gave up as my original questions to the OP were not answered.

 

Hi Jim im Sorry I don’t see your post.