Any Hearth Country ash vacuum users?

[astruna]

I just picked up a Hearth Country (model# 400) ash vacuum and was wondering if anyone here has one and if you would recommend. I haven't yet opened it yet because I wanted to read what others say about it but saw nothing on this brand in the forums. This unit cost $170 so at this price point, I want to make sure it lasts. Many of you in this forum highly recommend the Love-less Ash brand. For a few more bucks, would it be worth it to spring for the Cheetah vac? Thanks in advance!

 

[Glosta]

http://www.hearthcountry.com/Home_files/400AshVacInfoPageAug09.pdf

The manufacturers sell sheet says "For Use with Cold Ash Only". Let's face it. You can buy a wet/dry shop vac with a HEPA filter for $50 that will handle "Cold Ash Only"

In my honest opinion, the whole purpose for having an ash vac is the safety factor. It's piece of mind knowing it can "tolerate" warm embers in case they get accidently sucked up. With that said, I would still NEVER vacuum a pellet stove that hasn't cooled for at least 2 hours. I would look for a used Cheetah or Cougar ash vacuum on Ebay or Craigslist, or just buy new and pay the $50.00 difference between the Hearth Country and the Cheetah MU305. Just my $0.02

 

[Cozy Old Coot]

The Hearth Country vac was available at Central Tractor in Dover Delaware for $89.00 last week, don't know if that price is still good or not this week. Also see them on e-Bay for $139.00 with free shipping from time to time.

We have a Love-Less "Cougar" Vac, we have vacuumed warm ash without any issues, NOTE: "Warm, Not Burning or Glowing HOT".

My brother had a Love-Less "Cheetah", when we went to get one the dealer recommended that we get the "Cougar" model due to it operating a lot quieter.

 

[Fsappo]

I use the Hearth County in our showroom and sell them here locally. No complaints yet. (our customers are told not to use them on hot coals) as with everything else we try to sell in our showroom, we'll stop selling these soon now that they are being whored out online for the same price we pay for them pretty much.

 

[chud]

Do you really need a vac? The guys who installed our Harman P61A said really no need for it, I let it cool down, brush all of the inside with a paint brush including the heat exchanger, then empty the pan and ignitor clean out. When I do my yearly I will use a shop vac for the entire unit.

 

[chris288]

If his Harman is anything like my Harman, yes he needs an ash Vac... I did without one for 14 seaons with the whitfield, just used a paint brush and brushed everything into the ash pan and a vert light vacuuming with a standard hepa upright. With the XXV only 50-60% of the ash winds up in the pan, the other 40-50% flys all over the bottom of the stove and needs to be vacuumed out, although I guess I could buy a lot of bags for our upright for what an ash vac costs and have one less thing to store around the house..

 

[astruna]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. After more research, I decided to go with the Couger vac instead. I picked it up for $249 at a local hardware store. Our stove has been running almost 24/7 since the end of November and I shut down for a few hours only to clean. Ash buildup with the XXV is exactly as Chris228 describes with only about 60% of the ash going into the pan. I tried cleaning the first couple of times with a small ash shovel but it was pretty much impossible to get everything out without making a huge mess. The Couger easily cleaned everything out and it was nice having the added piece of mind knowing that this vac could handle a few hidden embers.

 

[susb8383]

I did without one for 14 seaons with the whitfield, just used a paint brush and brushed everything into the ash pan and a vert light vacuuming with a standard hepa upright.

Hey Chris,

How did you get the ash out from behind the plugs? I have an Advantage Plus too and am trying to figure that out. There's so much ash there that I'm afraid I'll damage my regular upright but don't know how else to get it out.

--Susie