What vacuum do you recommend for cleaning the unit?

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I use the mini Shop Vac 1 1/2 gal. Powerful and noisy. About $40, I think. Only problem - trouble finding bags. HD and Lowes don't carry them. Found them the last time on Amazon but expensive - $9.00 I think for 3 bags. Tried non-Shop Vac bags and got fine dust all over the living room - wife not happy. I wonder if Shop Vac is discontinuing this model because I don't see it for sale any longer in stores.
 
I have a PowerSmith for about a month. First couple of weeks, no problem. Then lots of ash starts blowing out of the exhaust port, really bad, and that's even after I clean the tank and filter. I need to trouble shoot. Maybe there is dust in the hose or the filter is not sitting securely. I tried a sock over the port but the vacuum blew it out of the hole..
 
I use the mini Shop Vac 1 1/2 gal. Powerful and noisy. About $40, I think. Only problem - trouble finding bags. HD and Lowes don't carry them. Found them the last time on Amazon but expensive - $9.00 I think for 3 bags. Tried non-Shop Vac bags and got fine dust all over the living room - wife not happy. I wonder if Shop Vac is discontinuing this model because I don't see it for sale any longer in stores.
get a hose clamp and put a heavy white sock on the exhaust end...works fine... No Dust.
not enough ash in a pellet stove for me to lug a 5 gallon rig around..
 

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I use a 14 gallon shop vac with both the HEPA Cartridge filter and the fine particle drywall bag. Works great. The HEPA filter cleans easily, tap it on the ground, and then I just brush it off with a clean paint brush or you can hose it off and let it dry. And the bags I just toss when they're full. I can go an entire season if need be with 1 bag never having to open up my shop vac, then it just gets a really good cleaning in the spring (the shop vac that is, lol).
 
I've been using a Hearth Country Ash-vac Model 400. It has a HEPA filter as well.
 
With the shop vac and the Hearth Country Ash vac, don't you worry about picking up a hot ember?
 
Second hand shop vac from my father in laws flooring company. They get new ones all the time since it's included in the bid. Concrete dust kills the vacs. So it's free and good sized. I run it without the filter at all outside about 8 feet from the house. I linked 3 lengths of vac hose together and run it in thru the window closest to the stove. Maximum suction for a nice clean stove. Quiet too since the vac is outside LOL. No close neighbors so the ash cloud is no big deal.
 
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I need to trouble shoot. Maybe there is dust in the hose or the filter is not sitting securely.
Make sure the top is secured according to the manual. There are two raised areas around the outer edge, the clamps need to go on the raised parts. I completely missed that point when I first got my Powersmith. Easiest thing to do is put the top on so the power switch is lined up directly over the vac hose port.
 
With the shop vac and the Hearth Country Ash vac, don't you worry about picking up a hot ember?

The Hearth country is all metal; including the flex hose. So no fear of melting or a fire escaping. There is always the possibility of an ember getting into the filter but again the filter is covered with a pre-filter sleeve that doesn't appear to very combustible. If that were to happen I would suspect I would see it start smoking while the vac is running (drawing in air to fan the flame).

I usually wait 24 hours before cleaning out the stove once I shut it down. Some folks that rely entirely on their stove for heat may not have that luxury. Once the Harmon shuts down no more pellets are fed and any in the burn pot usually burn completely. I can pick the ash up with my hand.

Either way once the stove is clean the ash is disposed in a metal can that has a secure lid located outdoors on a paver patio. The vacuum is placed on the concrete floor in an unfinished part of the basement. The area around the vac has no combustible's nearby.
 
i bought a hearth country vac when i started. it had very low suction and the motor overheated and shut down if i ran it for more than a few minutes. (these exact results were reported by another member here)
i believe their gimmick of making it quiet has led them to insulate the motor to such a degree that cooling is a real problem.

i still use the metal can as an ash bucket.
nothing personal. i just wouldn't recommend anyone spend their money on one like i did.
i just use an old shop vac now. the suction is orders of magnitude higher.
but from what i read, there are great ash vacs at very low prices available almost always.
 
Same thing as Tony said,just a small shop vac mine is a stinger from Home Depot about 30 dollars I just sit it outside on a concrete block about 20 feet from the house when I'm done.
 
Shop Vac with drywall bag works real good ..just can't suck up hot/lit pellets..
 
Same thing as Tony said,just a small shop vac mine is a stinger from Home Depot about 30 dollars I just sit it outside on a concrete block about 20 feet from the house when I'm done.
I have a metal can outside I dump the stinger ash in when I'm done...
The Home Depot Stinger is small and lightweight.
Perfect size and low price for pellet ash removal which is really not much Ash at all.
Everything else is overkill to me[like using a sledge hammer to drive a nail] but whatever floats the boat.
 
Yes Tony agreed,I too would not want to have to lug around a big shop vac,for around 30 dollars works really well and thanks for the idea on the sock,I wet mine and then cover the exhaust port its allmost dry before I'm done vaccuming was gonna see if the wife couldn't sew me up some filters out of old t shirts that way I could just wash them.
 
Yes Tony agreed,I too would not want to have to lug around a big shop vac,for around 30 dollars works really well and thanks for the idea on the sock,I wet mine and then cover the exhaust port its allmost dry before I'm done vaccuming was gonna see if the wife couldn't sew me up some filters out of old t shirts that way I could just wash them.
good Idea....you do Clamp the sock on right or just cover it?
I have sooooo many old white socks I'll be set for about 10 winters.
I don't wet mine because I don't vacuum if I see red embers.. I just brush the red ones[ if any] into the ash pan 1st with my Harman tool.
btw: below is my other Home depot fun toy for cleaning..
 

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The best vacuum....

The one that sucks the best for the least price of course.
 
WTH is Benny's? never heard of it/them.
 
I have a loveless ash vacuum which I bought 15 years ago and it works great and it cleans two stoves.
 
I was using a Shop Vac ash vacuum but the suction was horrible. My son recommended getting a regular wet/dry vac and rig it with a drywall bag and Hepa filter. I had a small Shop Vac wet/dry vac already (2 hp) and ordered the filter and bag for it. Used it yesterday for the first time and it made cleaning so much easier and reached more nooks and crannies than the "real" ash vac I had been using. As far as my stove goes, any hot ashes are in the tray which I empty rather than vacuum so I am not overly concerned about embers in the vac. Having said that, I still will leave the vac on the cement floor away from combustibles just to be sure. If I didn't already own the vac, I'd purchase one of the regular shop vacs with a metal body.
 
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I've read about problems with the Hearth Country ash vac but I have not experienced them. I've been using the same one since Dec 2010.
 
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