What do you think about this wet/dry vac to clean my stove?

[geek]

it is a wet/dry vac but wondering if good affordable choice to clean ash out of the stove, it is a Ridgid for $29.97 at the HD store, see link, their website says a higher price but it is $29.97 at the store:

(broken link removed)

 

[chrisasst]

Should be fine, just make sure you get a fine ash filter.

 

[Czech]

That's exactly what I use. Just make sure the stove is cold (I empty the vac each time too, call me paranoid) and buy a sheet rock sock for the filter.

 

[rayttt]

thats the one I use also..
I bought a sheetrock filter for it for an additional 20 bucks.

My stoves off for hours b4 I vacuum so I know the coals are out.

 

[geek]

hmmmm, but when you shut off the stove for a couple hours or more to do the cleaning then do you turn the other heat on in the meantime, does the house get too chilly in the meantime?

 

[cncpro]

hmmmm, but when you shut off the stove for a couple hours or more to do the cleaning then do you turn the other heat on in the meantime, does the house get too chilly in the meantime?

Exactly... Pay now or pay later...

By that I mean that you're prolly going to burn up at least $219 in oil while waiting 2 hours at a time to clean over the course of the year so...

Why not just buy the Cheetah II and never worry about it again ? I expect to be able to shut down, clean, and re-fire in about 10 or 15 minutes...

 

[geek]

can this cheetah vac be used even if stove is in the shut down mode, which takes about 20 minutes I think.......
flames will be going out in the shutdown mode until pellets in the burn pot are burned, wondering if vac process can still be done in this cycle....

thanks....

 

[natnyer]

Same vac I use except I put a bag in it which lets the filters last longer. I have the same stove also, put it in shutdown cycle wait till the fire goes out then use metal spoon to shovel out hot embers into metal pail then vacuum ash and restart. put vac outside in case it burns up. works for me and vac hasnt burned up yet lol Takes 10 mins.

 

[geek]

ok, thanks, was also looking at the cheetah vac which is about $200 on ebay, supposed to handle hot ash .

 

[natnyer]

wow could almost buy another ton of pellets for that much. Wont work any different.

 

[Shortstuff]

geek, I also have a Love-Less Ash Vac - Cougar "Quiet" model. It is not designed to vacuum any hot ashes, to my knowledge NO vacuum is.

There are 3 items among many that are listed on page 2 of the owners manual that warn of the following:

1. Do not allow this unit to be used for anything other than ash removal.

2. Do not vacuum burning/live materials ie. PELLETS.

3. WARNING - Fire hazard - Intended for vacuuming cold to warm ashes only.

There are some who think that these ash vacs are designed to vacuum warm/hot ashes/embers which they are not. I simply wait until a heating cycle has ended and the convection and combustion motors have stopped. By then I don't see any hot embers and can put my fingers into the ash/debris at the bottom of the firepot and do not get burned. Then I pull the lever which empties the contents of the firepot into the ash tray. Only then do I vacuum all the remaining ash/fly ash that remains inside the stove. This whole procedure has yet to take me more than one minute on a daily basis. On the weekends is when I will actually turn the thermostat off and spend more time removing the inside panels in my stove and do a much more thorough cleaning.

Steve

 

[Jabberwocky]

I tend to just save the vacuuming days for the little breaks in the super cold weather. If the temp in your house drops off that much in two hours then you may have insulation issues.

 

[MainePellethead]

it is a wet/dry vac but wondering if good affordable choice to clean ash out of the stove, it is a Ridgid for $29.97 at the HD store, see link, their website says a higher price but it is $29.97 at the store:

(broken link removed to http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId;=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100592175&N=10000003+90401)

Good Vac....I have a 20 dollar shop vac mini hang up model I keep in my cellar stairway. I dont use a bag....I just use the vac and empty it in my compost every week(I vacuum it once a week)....I do not wait much time to vacuum mine out....simply because I dump my hot ash etc into the ash pan and use a small paint brush to brush the remaining into the ash pan and empty the ash pan in compost. When I am done dumping into ash pan I have very little vacuuming to do Works for me.... I refuse to spend 200 bucks or so on a Cheetah or other stove vac

 

[strangemainer]

i just ordered a cheetah. I plan on running my stove for a long time and want to keep it running in tip top shape.
It doesnt make much sense to me to spend thousands of coin on a stove, then cheap out on a vac.
Just my 2cents

 

[MainePellethead]

i just ordered a cheetah. I plan on running my stove for a long time and want to keep it running in tip top shape.
It doesnt make much sense to me to spend thousands of coin on a stove, then cheap out on a vac.
Just my 2cents

I just had this convo with a man at work that has an early model Harman that he bought new in 1993. He has always used a shop vac....stove is still running strong I think the vacuum and cleaning process is only as good as the operator in my opinion. To me its not the vacuum its the vacuumer Mine does an awesome job and I am real anal about the vacuuming and the yearly take apart to clean etc.

 

[strangemainer]

Mainepellethead..nice pumpkin!

 

[MainePellethead]

Mainepellethead..nice pumpkin!

LOL...thanks. I tried to get it to come in clearer for here. My son carved that the year the Sox won it in 04