NEW ASH VAC

[Boorus]

GOOD MORNING. LOOKING TO REPLACE MY ASH VAC WITH EITHER A POWER SMITH PAVC 102 OR A PELLETHEAD. THERE ARE A LOT OF COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE POWER SMITHS MOTOR OVERHEATING AND NOT LASTING VERY LONG. THE PELLETHEAD SEEMS TO HAVE FEWER ISSUES AND A MUCH LONGER WARRANTY AND IS RATED SLIGHTLY HIGHER. I PLANNED ON BUYING THE POWER SMITH BUT NOT SURE NOW. HOPING TO GET SOME ADVICE. THANKS

 

[Tonyray]

GOOD MORNING. LOOKING TO REPLACE MY ASH VAC WITH EITHER A POWER SMITH PAVC 102 OR A PELLETHEAD. THERE ARE A LOT OF COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE POWER SMITHS MOTOR OVERHEATING AND NOT LASTING VERY LONG. THE PELLETHEAD SEEMS TO HAVE FEWER ISSUES AND A MUCH LONGER WARRANTY AND IS RATED SLIGHTLY HIGHER. I PLANNED ON BUYING THE POWER SMITH BUT NOT SURE NOW. HOPING TO GET SOME ADVICE. THANKS

For the small amount of ash from a pellet stove the powersmith for me works fine. Cant see buying a big horsepower unit for that. Maybe a woodstove. It did ovverheat once in me when i used the small plastic tube attatchment for getting in a small area like the ignitor compartment. It shut off but after 20 minutes it was working again. Prob too much coming thru the small diameter of the plastic tube. Think i bought that tube as an accesory. Bad design. Using 3 yrs now and never conked out again.

 

[ABusWrench]

I too have a PowerSmith ash vac. It's 3 or 4 years old. Works fine. Use it for my fireplace too. Would buy it again. Menards has one also for about the same price. Can't vouch for it though.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

My power smith is more than adequate for the pellet stove.

 

[SpaceBus]

I have a Cheetah 2 that works very well for my cookstove and wood stoves.

 

[Don2222]

The Power Smith is great! If you keep all the filters clean then it will last a long time, that is key.
Parts are easy to get and easy to fix!
I like the easy to clean bag filter and when you get a hole, just pop in a new bag and it sucks like new!
Pics of mine

Low suction on 10 Amp Power Smith PAVC 102 Ash Vac?

Hello To properly analyze the issue I needed to get a baseline on a brand new ash vac and I used the same commercial hose. Central vacuum installers use a vacuum guage that measures suction power in inches of water lift. A good central vacuum measures 90 on the Guage. So I took out a new...

www.hearth.com

The On-Off switch finally died and I popped in a better one from Home Depot. $5 !!
See pics

On-Off switch on Power Smith ash vac broke?

Hello We have a Power Smith PAVC-102 ash vac. After replacing the bag filter and the motor filter the on-off switch broke and the factory does not have any switches at this time either! I just happened to find this heavier 120 VAC SPST rocker at Home Depot for $4.97 and with a little cutting it...

www.hearth.com

 

[zrock]

I just use a small vacuum from my local canadian tire with a stainless can and bag... Been working great all year with no issue.. Picked it up on sale for about $30 so for me that was a much better alternative instead of spending $200 on a ash vac..

 

[Tonyray]

Powersmith is around $70. Lot of good attachments

 

[zrock]

not in canada

 

[Tonyray]

not in canada

I get meds from canada. Way cheaper.

 

[johneh]

I get meds from canada. Way cheaper.

Yes we have GOOD drugs and legal

 

[mtnbiker727]

I went to my local hardware store and bought a 5 gallon Shopvac with a bag and a HEPA filter. The filter cost as much as the Shopvac itself.... but I haven't had any issues. And if I feel like it I can put the original filter on and use my Shopvac to do other Shopvac things...

Initially I didn't have a bag, which was a mistake. I'm not sure if I need the HEPA filter now that I have the bag, but I can't return the filter, so....

 

[johneh]

All I ever used is a Shopvac with a fine dust bag(drywall dust)
on both my pellet stove and my wood furnace. never had a problem