Shop Vac?

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61snowrider

Member
Hearth Supporter
Jan 11, 2010
39
Central Pa.
Ok folks, it time for another pellet season. What does everyone use for cleanup? In the past 6 years I have used my house sweeper to collect the dust when I am cleaning my pellet stove. ( yes I have ruined 1 sweeper so far ) But now would like to buy a good shop vac that does not blow dust into the room. This is #1 priority!!
Is the metal cans worth the money or will a regular shop vac do just as well? I know it is all in the filters,,,,,so which one is best in your experience's? Thanks
 
I use a 5 gallon shopvac. You need to use drywall bags (yellow) if you want to use a shop vac. Any other bag and you will be blowing dust everywhere. I also purchased a fine particle filter. From there, vacuum only when the stove is cold. You don't want to start a fire inside the shop vac.
 
If you are going to use a shop vac, you need to be absolutely certain that your stove and all the ashes have cooled down. One random ember can ruin your day.

I use an ash vac for safety reasons and it allows me to do a real quick superficial vacuuming of the stove and ash pan while it's still running.
 
Cheetah 2 made in the USA .don't want to risk burning or smoking my basement like a friend did when he thought all the pellets were cold.cheetah is heat resistant so I wanted the piece of mind that after being done I can put it in the basment and not worry.Ifyour patient and don't mind waiting for pellets to be fully dead.try out a plastic shop vac.
 
I use a Ridgid Shop vac from HD and drywall filter bag. One habit I do habitually is to take the the vac outside afterwards and set it on the stone patio. Even after cleaning a "cold stove" I still found a few black burn marks on the inside, which reinforced my theory of just to be safe.
 
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I use a Cleva brand Ash Vac, which I purchased from Home Depot for under $85, and don't have any dust issues - I purchased this after trying a Shop Vac, which left my house in a dust cloud. Of course, opinions vary....
 
justsumchik said:
I use a Cleva brand Ash Vac, which I purchased from Home Depot for under $85, and don't have any dust issues - I purchased this after trying a Shop Vac, which left my house in a dust cloud. Of course, opinions vary....
Click to expand...

I actually went to the shop vac AFTER my dedicated ash vac blew ash all over the place! The suction on it was horrible, cover the place in #%^+, motor ran hot, and cost an arm and a leg. It went in the trash, saving the bucket portion for scooping out my wood stove ash, and for the price of it I bought a shop vac with more suction, more capacity, greater flexibility, and when it dies in 5 6 or 7 years I buy myself a fresh new one. I haven't seen a whiff of dust come out of this thing once! But then again, your mileage may vary.
 
I just bought the newest, smaller model shop vac ash vac. I'll be testing it out this weekend. I'll let you know how it works out for me. As long as Amazon delivers it on time which they usually do!
 
I use a craftsman shop vac with a washable filter. I don't know what it's called because I bought
it so long ago, but I remember getting it because it was the highest level filtration and washable.

My house stays warm long so I'll shut it down and wait till it's cooled. I then dump the ashes into
a metal ash can and use the vacuum for cleaning the rest.
 
Anyone use an ash vac for sheet rock dust?
 
I've tried a couple ash vacs and was never impressed with the suction power. Plain old shop vac w/drywall filter for me.
 
I use a shop vac and I have an extra hose that I put on the exhaust of the shop vac. Then I put the extra hose out a window. I use what ever filter is cheap and I don't get dust in my house.
 
61snowrider said:
Thanks I looked at all the reviews on this powersmith and they were all great. I placed my order. Great price, it was even on sale till oct. 12. Thanks
Click to expand...

Go to Blains or elsewhere and buy a couple of filters now before it goes out of production when you're not looking
 
johnny1720 said:
I use a shop vac and I have an extra hose that I put on the exhaust of the shop vac. Then I put the extra hose out a window. I use what ever filter is cheap and I don't get dust in my house.
Click to expand...

;lol;lol

Used to do that myself. I would put the Shop Vac outside the door on the deck. 15 years ago I set it up and I had my head in the stove vac'in away. Backed out of the stove and couldn't see five feet across the room through the soot cloud. Tugging on the hose had turned the vac around and the exhaust hose had popped out and was blowing it all into the house.

The lady was not pleased and it took me weeks to get all of that stuff cleaned.
 
RhodyPelletRook said:
Go to Blains or elsewhere and buy a couple of filters now before it goes out of production when you're not looking
Click to expand...

Already did that. Ordered the extra filter from HD for $9.99. They sent it packed inside a whole new vac. Sent three emails asking where to send it back but I was keeping the filter. Never heard from them.
 
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BrotherBart said:
Already did that. Ordered the extra filter from HD for $9.99. They sent it packed inside a whole new vac. Sent three emails asking where to send it back but I was keeping the filter. Never heard from them.
Click to expand...
The box stores are brilliant sometimes! You know that was intentional, "well we have to send him the vacuum Filter so.... I suppose, so write off the vac as a loss and send him the whole thing..."
 
It was actually drop shipped from the vendor in Dallas. I can hear the call center agent now. "I ain't dealing with #%$^.".
 
So I tried out the shop vac ash vac tonight since I received it yesterday. I don't recommend ordering from Amazon if you can pick it up close by. It had a couple dings from shipping, nothing that stopped it from working.

Overall construction I like. To change the HEPA filter the motor and filter pick up right out of the top so the top stays on and the ash doesn't come out if you need to clean the filter. There's a rubber gasket around the edge of the metal top that gets clamped down on the body which provides a good seal.

The only part of the design I don't like is the hose and how it connects to the vacuum. For as well thought out the rest of the vacuum is you'd think the locking system for the tube would be better. If you're not paying attention you could easily get it to unlock and fall out while doing regular cleaning. If I need to get into a corner I just spin the head of the vacuum instead of trying to move the hose around, very annoying.

Overall, no issue cleaning the stove. (Only 4 bags through it) The filter didn't clog or anything and none of the ash made it out of the vacuum.

Yes, the vacuum is loud, but I don't ever see myself using it at 3am so I don't think it's a big deal.

For the cost I think it's going to end up being a pretty good deal overall. Cost me $87.00 all together if I remember correctly. I'll post a link to the model I bought it wasn't the one that's been reviewed a ton of times on Amazon. I think mine is a little smaller than that model, but it's cheaper too.

Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00JDU453G
 
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