Ash Vacs Expensive......So Why?

That's how I plan to do It. I'll put the vac outside and use the long hose to clean and not worry about soot in the house. I agree that the vacs they sell are a rip. It's the old story only a couple choices so they can charge anything they want. Me, I would rather sell a whole lot more at a lower price. They seem to think if they can screw everyone once they do better. Go figure !

Its the $8 replacement bag that gets you. I know, I have the Cricket. I got the vac used which was $75.

A lot of people use a shop vac or equivalent brand with sheet rock filters. A regular household vacuum will eventually clog up with the fine ash, even if it seems great at first. You can get a small 5 or 6 gallon shop vac for about $40. There are smaller, but they don't have sheet rock filters for anything smaller than 5 gallons.

my small sized shop-vac with drywall bags seems to work well. I still shovelmost ash into a pail and use the shop vac to clean the hearth and vacuum the stove itself on the outside and the general area around the hearth with the mess wood brings in with it.

Shop vac with drywall bag works perfectly for many people.

You will burn up a regular vac if you use it to clean
the fine dust of a pellet stove. I burned up two
before it finally sank in, doh! Learn from my mistakes.

I bought a DeWalt mini vacuum at Home Depot for $100 and used the HEPA filter that they sell for this unit. I get no ash/dust in my house and I did not spend a fortune to purchase it.

I think that product specific appliances usually cost more than general appliances. Perhaps there is a design specific feature that needs to be engineered or redesigned. Usually they cost more because people believe they need them, which, usually they don't. The price of EVERYTHING has been irritating me lately so I guess I am biased in my reply.

I have a 2 1/2 gal shop vac with the drywall filter and auto detailing kit works great.

I use a 5 gallon wap aero 440..awesome vac