I need a decent ash vacuum. The one that I have is a cheap BJs piece of junk for about $50 and I have dealt with it for the past few years. Even when shoveling out ash, it does not have enough power to catch the dust that will blow into the house. Suggestions? Thanks.
Can you guys recommend an ash vacuum for me?
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OK. So they make a separate bag/filter attachment for a Home Depot Rigid vac? That would be awesome. Thanks.
SpaceBus
Minister of Fire
I ordered a Cougar+ from Amazon a few years ago and really like it. I use it three or four times a year to clean out my wood burning cookstove smoke path and every once in a while to clean out the top chamber on my Morso 2b Classic.
MongoMongoson
Feeling the Heat
I have a Craftsman shop vac, 16 gallon. When I needed to vacuum some ash, I bought this filter:
Amazon product ASIN B00JMRM2KS
and these bags:
Amazon product ASIN B014RV3Z72
It seemed to work very well. I pointed the exhaust out an open door but I couldn't see any dust coming out the tail end. Normally I don't vacuum ash, I just shovel or sweep it. In this case I didn't have much choice.
The bags are somewhat universal, so you buy them for the size of can that your vacuum has, and they sort of wrap around the center filter.
Amazon product ASIN B00JMRM2KS
and these bags:
Amazon product ASIN B014RV3Z72
It seemed to work very well. I pointed the exhaust out an open door but I couldn't see any dust coming out the tail end. Normally I don't vacuum ash, I just shovel or sweep it. In this case I didn't have much choice.
The bags are somewhat universal, so you buy them for the size of can that your vacuum has, and they sort of wrap around the center filter.
MongoMongoson
Feeling the Heat
Another suggestion, shovel ash when the flue is warm if you can, do it slowly, place it gently into the bin you are putting it in. Some people do a "shovel, dump, shovel, dump" and that really makes some dust. If you keep the receptacle close to the stove door and the flue is warm, and you are gentle, most of the dust gets sucked into the stove rather than ending up in your house.
I just bought this ash vac from US Stove Co. as they are a locally owned company. Seems pretty nice.
But looking at Google they all seem to be pretty similar is style and design. About to vacuum out the stove this weekend for the cold weather that will eventually get here. I will let you know what I think of it.
But looking at Google they all seem to be pretty similar is style and design. About to vacuum out the stove this weekend for the cold weather that will eventually get here. I will let you know what I think of it.
Locally owned? I thought their base was in Pittsburgh. But pretty much all manufacturing is over seas
Yeah their stoves are all cheap imports. Some are ok some are horrible. I am not a fan of a company that sell some of the complete junk they do.
Yes, Home Depot has a fine dust Ridgid filter. (Goes to garage.) VF5000. Good for cold ashes.
There is also HEPA VF6000 listed on a table on the back of the box. That's overkill for ashes. Catches pollen, mold spores, etc.
I also bought the foam muffler that goes on the exhaust port for the vacuum. Can't say I noticed much of a difference with it. Looks good, though.
There is also HEPA VF6000 listed on a table on the back of the box. That's overkill for ashes. Catches pollen, mold spores, etc.
I also bought the foam muffler that goes on the exhaust port for the vacuum. Can't say I noticed much of a difference with it. Looks good, though.
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Isaac Carlson
Minister of Fire
Forget the filters, get a dust deputy. I have one and love it. I use it for ash, fiberglass dust collection, and everything else. It even works for vacuuming wells.(yes, wells for water. I have done 2 now)
Bad LP
Minister of Fire
I bought a brand new ash vac when I bought my insert. What an absolute POS. Can you yell LOUD?
I take my baby 8 gal Crapsman and put it on the porch then run 2 sets of hoses thru the window for my end of season cleaning. Shovel and galvy ash can thru the heating season works just fine.
Full disclosure: I’m sort of a clean house freak.
More on the vac is the hose clogs really easy and the fireproof filter and its internal cleaning mechanism is a joke. I’d give it away if you were local.
I take my baby 8 gal Crapsman and put it on the porch then run 2 sets of hoses thru the window for my end of season cleaning. Shovel and galvy ash can thru the heating season works just fine.
Full disclosure: I’m sort of a clean house freak.
More on the vac is the hose clogs really easy and the fireproof filter and its internal cleaning mechanism is a joke. I’d give it away if you were local.
Google ash vacuums and go from there. No need to spend the high dollar for one over another.
We have a VC Defiant with lower ash pan. The pan carrier hinges at one front corner for pan removal. Ash get behind the pan and some gets on the front lip of the lower heat shield. I carefully sweep what I can into a shovel. The rest, as little as possible left, is sucked up with the ash vacuum. Works great. And now the, however part.
They are a mess to empty and knock off the filters, so I do it as seldom as possible. Sucking up piles of ash works too. But then cleaning the filter is needed before the vac canister is 1/4 full.
We have a VC Defiant with lower ash pan. The pan carrier hinges at one front corner for pan removal. Ash get behind the pan and some gets on the front lip of the lower heat shield. I carefully sweep what I can into a shovel. The rest, as little as possible left, is sucked up with the ash vacuum. Works great. And now the, however part.
They are a mess to empty and knock off the filters, so I do it as seldom as possible. Sucking up piles of ash works too. But then cleaning the filter is needed before the vac canister is 1/4 full.
MagdalenaP
Burning Hunk
Supersurvey
Feeling the Heat
I would suggest something like a Power Smith, it has a heat resistant filter for piece of mind. I only use it for cleaning up spills and keeping spilled ashes from being pulled into my insert blower.
At work we have dust collectors for sucking up dust while Jack hammering and chipping concrete. The attached to each piece of equipment with different adapters. They have what we call a thumper and every so many seconds, I thumps a few times knocking the dust out of the filter. We have run them 8 hrs a day and they never clog the filter. We just keep an eye on the bag and replace it when it's fool. Ours are hilti's. I'm sure they are expensive but there may be cheaper similar machines out there.
I have used hilti vacs before they are nice. We are still. Using old soot master vacuums. I like them better than most of the newer ones I have tried. And as long as I can get parts for them I am not changing. The pro grade vacs aren't cheap though. I pay almost $400 just for a new motor about once a year
They are for sure not cheap. We have all our hilti equipment on a lease program. With doing demolition work, when we break them, we send them in to get fixed and they send them back to us. We have 3 dust collectors, 2 jack hammer, 10 or 12 chipping hammers, 6 grinders and about 40 sawzalls and a gas and electric demo saw. Lol. We are rough on equipment. I didn't know if another brand of dust collector would be cheaper. Would never have to worry about the filter clogging up
Well....I am reviving this thread because I am looking to upgrade my Vacmaster unit. I see a lot of people like the Powersmith vac that is on Amazon. Any other recommendations? It is kind of hard to find the Cheetah model and I don't see much info about it, other than it costs about $250.
Any thoughts or recommendations? Thanks.
Any thoughts or recommendations? Thanks.
get your self a shop vac works much better. I had a cheep shop vac and it worked great with bags only down fall of the bags is they catch on fire. Did not let my store cool long enough and the bag caught fire and killed the vac. I purchased the above and personally i think its a pc of junk, not even close to the suction of the small shop vac i used, when i put my cleaning tools on it will over heat and shut down. Was a big waste of money next time ill just get another shop vac and order the internal fireproof filter from one of these.
I don't like the shop vacuum idea. I have to vacuum warm ash at times and don't want melted plastic. I think the metal hose and cannister is smart for my personal use. Thanks.
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