what kind of vac do you use to clean your pellet stove?

I use the PowerSmith and it works fine for my two stoves.

Shop vac with fine dust bag (usually called drywall bags - mustard yellow in color) with a washable shop vac fine to med filter.

Just vacuum when the stove has cooled off.

X2. Shop vac works great. Even if I had an ash vac, I wouldn't take the chance of vacuuming hot embers.

I have been using a Love-Less "Cougar" Ash Vac, model MU405, for several years. It works great and there seems to be very little to break on it. It is also nice to see that there are more options popping up from other manufacturers. Choice is good.

Having used a shop vac before I got the ash vac, I can tell you hands down that getting an ash vac is totally worth it. It really cuts down on the dust and an ash vac is designed not to clog with fine ash.

Shop Vac with yellow dust bag and Hepa paper cartridge filter

vgrund said:

I have been using a Love-Less "Cougar" Ash Vac, model MU405, for several years. It works great and there seems to be very little to break on it. It is also nice to see that there are more options popping up from other manufacturers. Choice is good.

Having used a shop vac before I got the ash vac, I can tell you hands down that getting an ash vac is totally worth it. It really cuts down on the dust and an ash vac is designed not to clog with fine ash.

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absolutely, I started off using shop vacs as well and its just worth it to buy the vac designed for the job.

I use the Lowes 6 gallon shop-vac. When I am done vacuuming the burn area I take the hose and put it on the exhaust port of the vac and then open the trap doors that lead to the exports of the stove and blow them out. When doing that I open the damper all the way and turn on the exhaust/combustion fan. It does a really nice job of cleaning it out.

Hoot23 said:

X2. Shop vac works great. Even if I had an ash vac, I wouldn't take the chance of vacuuming hot embers.

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X3

Shop-vac here too. If I notice a hot ember that may have gotten sucked up, I pop that puppy open as soon as I'm done and pour some water in to make sure everything is OUT. That has only happened once or twice, and not since we did our last big cleaning and switched to softwood pellets.

Shop vac with drywall bags. Hepa filter for motor. Much more suction than ash vac IMHO.

I use a 20 year old Craftsman 5 gal with the hepa filter.

I hate it, but it sucks.

It does the job, but on a regular basis I have to beat the super fine dust out of the filter.

john193 said:

Shop vac with fine dust bag (usually called drywall bags - mustard yellow in color) with a washable shop vac fine to med filter.

Just vacuum when the stove has cooled off.

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Same here, 5 gallon shop quiet vac with the blue color paper filter combined with the "mustard" dry wall fines filter.
No issues, vac when cold.

gfreek said:

Shop Vac with yellow dust bag and Hepa paper cartridge filter

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Hepa yup thats the name of the blue colored paper filter.
Same here, 5 gallon shop quiet vac with the blue color paper filter combined with the "mustard" dry wall fines filter.
No issues, vac when cold.
Spread the ashed in my garden in spring before tiller time.

gyingling said:

I use a 20 year old Craftsman 5 gal with the hepa filter.

I hate it, but it sucks.

It does the job, but on a regular basis I have to beat the super fine dust out of the filter.

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Add the Mustard color bag filter and you will not have to beat the super fine dust any more.....

I have been using the powersmith ash vac for about 1 1/2 years and still love it. Only had to replace the filter once ($10), you can't beat the value.

Old Kenmore upright with Hepa filter and Hepa bag.........works like a charm

I use the Craftsman vac with a Hepa filter and a wallboard bag every 1 ton in the PF100. Wallboard bag last the whole season.

gyingling said:

I use a 20 year old Craftsman 5 gal with the hepa filter.

I hate it, but it sucks.

It does the job, but on a regular basis I have to beat the super fine dust out of the filter.

Click to expand...

Pretty much what I use, mine's a 20+ yr. old Craftsman 5HP 4 gal. "Clean 'n Carry" model and I love mine, sucks real great but the dust does clog the filter quickly. I don't seem to be getting any dust in the room with the stock filter.

pelletizer said:

Add the Mustard color bag filter and you will not have to beat the super fine dust any more.....

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sounds interesting, please pardon my naivety but what exactly is a bag filter? I did'nt notice any on the shelve at Sears last month when I replaced my stock filter.

BGStG1aholic said:

Pretty much what I use, mine's a 20+ yr. old Craftsman 5HP 4 gal. "Clean 'n Carry" model and I love mine, sucks real great but the dust does clog the filter quickly. I don't seem to be getting any dust in the room with the stock filter.



sounds interesting, please pardon my naivety but what exactly is a bag filter? I did'nt notice any on the shelve at Sears last month when I replaced my stock filter.

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http://www.shopvac.com/shopvac-accessories/departments/drywall-dust.aspx

I also use a shop-vac with the HEPA filter, but no drywall bag. I do not use any bag at all in the canister. I bang the filter out from time to time and I hosed it off last fall. It cleans up pretty good, and it's worth doing because it costs around $40.00 new. At the time I got the stove (around 5 years ago), the ash vac costs in the 3-400 dollar range, so it seems to have dropped in price. If I was starting out now, I might splurge on that.

Can the ash vac be used on hot stuff? That would be nice - sometimes we need to wait for a break in the weather to vac the stove out, and that does not go over well when we're in the deep freeze.