Any recomendation on Ash Vacumes?

I read on this site that some people claim to have good luck with a shop vac with a drywall filter. I checked, and drywall filters I looked at were recommended for cold ash use. Someone also mentioned using HEPA filters. HEPA filters filter ash dust even better than the drywall filters. That is what I am planing on getting. No stove yet, but I have bought the cast iron hearth pad for the Harman Accentra that I plan on buying and installing withing the next couple of weeks.

I got the Loveless Cougar Quiet series vac. Not really that quiet but it sucks! I was using our electrolux vac, but was going through bags to quickly. I like the Loveless. Filters work great. When it needs emptied I take it outside and dump it into a garbage bag. I got it on ebay when live.com was doing the cash back. It wound up being around $150. Not cheap, but I look at it as part of the cost of owning a pellet stove. Cheaper than burning up the wifes also

The manufacture stands behind it very well. I had a problem with the hose and contacted the ebay seller. He in turn contacted the manufacture and they shipped me a new replacement hose no charge. No questions asked! Great service.

I don't even use a vac anymore..
I just turn my stove on TEST and my exhaust fan creates a constant vacuum,this way soot doesn't enter my house as I open the door and sweep the insides of the stove into my ashpan with my paintbrush...my blower fan behind the burn pot is a sealed fan so I dont worry about getting soot or ashes on it..turn off the power..clean the fan blades and then I run a dryer brush through my exhaust pipe from outside(sweeping the ESP as I go by),tap the pipe a few times and Im done..thorough cleaning in less than 10mins

I bought the Loveless Cougar ash vac, I spent a little more than some places want but I got a 10 year warranty on the motor instead of one year.

The Loveless ash vac does not use any bags. I tried using dust bags in my shop vac, and ruined the motor. I purchased another small shop vac, and I bought some expensive bags, and when I was using it I could see a very fine white powder cloud in my living room when the sun was shining in. You couldnt see this dust without the suns rays coming into the window, so I put that shop vac away and I ordered a Loeveless. I really like it, it has a fire proof hose, and the filter material is fire resistant, and thats comforting. You can vacuum warm ash is what they say, and I have used mine on some very warm ashes with no problems. The nozzle they supply you with is heavy steel, and it makes getting the ashes out of the stove a breeze.

A lot of people are buying hepa filter sleeves for their shop vacs, and the hepa cartridges will clog up fast then you have to clean it somehow. The drywall bags get expensive too, and you still get a micro fine dust in your living room. The Loveless Ash Vac puts out only clean clear air in your room, Ive run mine while the sun rays were shining into the room and there was not a speck of ash dust coming out of it. The filters on the Loveless will last for a long long time, and you dont even have to take the filter off and shake it out until you have sucked up 80 - 100 gallons of ashes. Thats impressive. The Loveless Ash Vac was meant to do one job, and thats pick up ashes.

I figure if I spent $4000 on my pellet insert , I could afford to buy a tool especially built to do the ashes. Some people are buying cheap shop vacs then they spend a lot of money on drywall bags, and they say it works but I bet none of them have looked at their shop vac's exhaust in the sunlight as I have, or they would see the micro fine dust coming out of it.


I think anyone buying the Loveless Ash vac's realize that its an investment that over time will pay for itself. I makes my job of cleaning the insert a breeze.

I bought mine here: http://www.totalvac.com/parts/MU405.html

I bought the Love-less ash Cheetah vac. It works great and I love not having to fool around with special shop-vac bags or worrying about melting the hose or destroying the motor or dusting out the whole house...

I am very happy with my decision to get the right tool for the job.

$220 very well spent.

P.S. Highly recommend ear protection while using. I can't believe how loud it is but still highly recommend it.

I use Cricket Ash Vacuum. Expensive but incredibly well built, made for the job, and looks nice sitting right next to my stove. Bought a slightly dented one off eBay but Cabelas has them at full price.

http://www.cabelas.com/prod-1/0010755613140a.shtml

The vacuum debate has been beaten to death on this site if you look around.

Check this thread for more vacuum info...

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/28320/

I have the criket and really like it. It's made for the job and get the accessory kit. It gets in all the small cracks and crevices. I have a loveless ash vac and they are also very good.

I just got back in after emptying out my Loveless. Found a couple of burn spots in the filter. I guess that explains the burning smell, but the vac worked well until I realized it was filled to the gills.

Incidentally, while looking on-line for replacement filters, I noticed that the Cricket says not for use with hot ashes.

I have a Loveless Cheetah I have not used yet, paid approx. $250 with all the extra attachments. I have been using a $19 shop vac from Lowes that has been working out great, I do wait for the P-61 to cool down before using.

I was browsing Amazon a bit based on this thread. Check out the embedded ad I received. LOL. You'd think they'd patrol their keyword advertising a bit better.

I use a $30.00 shop vacuum from Home Depot. It works great and the hose is small enough to get in the air pipes.

So far, I have used my old regular vacuum cleaner. It's a Eureka upright with both a regular and a HEPA filter. Since it's not designed for (hot) ash, I do take care to make sure that the stove has time to cool down. The regular filter does need frequent cleaning or replacement, but it seems to trap almost all the particles - the HEPA filter loks almost like new on the inside.

I've used a shop vac to vacuum drywall dust... Even with an appropriate filter I found it still blew dust out the exhaust. Very low WAF. I'm not sure I'd want to risk the wrath of my Mrs with ashes.

Shop-Vac with high efficiency bags and a HEPA cartridge filter. I don't notice any dust from the exhaust, but I really didn't look closely. HEPA filter does not appear to be getting dirty yet, but only a few cleanings on it this setup. Was using a Hoover Commercial upright with hose, but I killed it. Eventually, after I've gone though enough vacuum's I will probably get a Loveless? I've been thinking about buying some of the PVC components for a central vac system and rigging it up so my vacuum stays completely outside. Anyone already try this?
Mike -

I picked up a 39.99 6 gal. shop vac at sears, just to use for my stove,and bought a hepa filter for it.I've been using this system for years in my wood shop and never had any problems with fine dust or drywall dust.I have a 16 gal.with this filter also that I've been using for 18yrs,and the vacuum is still running great. Nothing comes out of the exhaust end of the vacuums.

I too have the shop vac hepa set up. No problems here. Works great for the money.

jay

I am almost wondering if I should go into business buying shop vacuums, slapping an ash vacuum sticker on the side of it and marking up the price about $200.00 and reselling them. Not for use with hot ashes of course!

Has anyone else run the stove in test mode like HarmanP68 while cleaning? Seems like it would help vent some of the dust outside.

Try this thread.


https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/32800/P22/

Based on this thread and my desire to save a little $$$ this year after an expensive stove purchase, I converted a small (3 gal) portable wet/dry vac I already owned to ash duty by adding a HEPA filter. $21 at Sears. It works fine, no detectable ash blowing out the exhaust so high WAF despite my earlier concerns. One does have to be sure the ash is cold though, I wish I did not need to wait for that.

One thing I'd still like to find is a 1 1/4" brush attachment with longer than usual bristles. The rakes on my heat exchanger are so long, the standard brush is not quite adequate for a through cleaning.

Use the little ladies whole house BEAM vac. NO dust no fuss and it vents outside. Bit of a chore to empty but not much worse than usual

I use a 1 gallon Shop Vac with a drywall filter... perfect. You don't need anything fancy.

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