Good Portable Shop Vacuum at reasonable cost?

[ultrarunner]

I inherited a great old shop vac from my dad... it is dry only with a huge bag that captures the exhaust in addition to the steel canister base... the bag traps all the dust and fine particals.

It is loud and heavy with a very heavy hose... built like a tank... circa 1960

On occasion, I could use something more portable to take with me for on the job cleanup...

Tried a few from sears and home depot that friends have and they are fine for large stuff... don't work well for cement and drywall dust at all... plug up in no time and they tend to be loud and hoses are cheap.

Any recomendations for a good all around portable shop vac... does not have to wet/dry although wet/dry would be fine too.

 

[Bird]

Tried a few from sears and home depot that friends have and they are fine for large stuff... don't work well for cement and drywall dust at all... plug up in no time and they tend to be loud and hoses are cheap.

Is it safe to assume that you do know there are different filters available? Seems odd to me that the manual for my 12 gallon Craftsman only mentions one filter (red stripe) but I learned in the store, and you can find on the Sears website that there are filters that fit and filter out even smaller particles. When I cleaned old ashes out of the fireplace, I used the more expensive filter.

You can see at http://www.sears.com/craftsman-wet-...W318534110001P?prdNo=5&blockNo=5&blockType=G5 drywall and concrete dust are specifically mentioned, along with the ashes.

 

[JimRB]

Like Bird I have retrofitted a HEPA filter on my loud Craftsman vacuum cleaner. The HEPA is slightly easier to clean than a paper filter and is rated in much finer microns. Any time I was using my vacuum in home construction, I would empty the vacuum cleaner and remove the filter for tap and clean. It might get a more vigorous blow from the inside out if I am at home where I have an air compressor.

For drywall cleanup some use a water prefilter. You set up a 5 gallon bucket or bigger with a special lid. All vacuumed air goes in to the 5 gallon bucket which holds 3-4 gallons of water. The air dumps in under water where most of the particles are captured in the water. The actual vacuum cleaner is sucking in prefiltered dry air from the 5 gallon bucket.

I am striking out searching with Bing. In days of old you could watch Cheech and Chong pothead movies. I gather a popular item is a device called bong. You suck the smoke from a bowl through water and I guess it cools the fire of the tobacco. I think that is the theory but it has been decades since I saw a Cheech and Chong movie and they did not go in to details of why a bong is good. Anyway that bong design works for vacuum cleaners except it knocks down the excess dust so the vacuum filter does not see a lot of dust so it does not clog up.

NASS TROCKENSAUGER KAMIN ASCHESAUGER FÜR STAUBSAUGER: Amazon.de: Drogerie & Körperpflege
The Aqua Jumbo company - English
Cheap DIY water pre-filter for workshop dust - RC Groups

 

[ultrarunner]

Never thought of a water prefilter...

Dad's old 1960 cleaner has no filters... just a large steel tank and an equally large cloth bag... can use it all day and never have to empty either...

Only draw back is too heavy to be portable and not made for wet.



TBN has a pop-up for a Stihl Vacuum that got me thinking...

 

[Bird]

Doesn't the air flow through the cloth bag, making it the filter that protects the motor and fan?

 

[ultrarunner]

No... it is the exhaust air along with the dust that flows through the bag... incredible suction and dust and a couple of hours of sawdust doesn't evan phase it...

No filters inside... when turned on, the bag inflates.

Very common when I was a child at the detail shops for cars... way back when.

 

[deepNdirt]

On any shop-vac you find today you can get extra lengths of hoses, or do as i have done rob them from other retired vacuums, I actually have a hose that is used in a central house vac system, It retracts from about 25 ft down to 5 ft. much like the old style telephone cord does, on the suction end I have a 2" x 6ft PVC pipe, I have section 1" x 10" sections cut out of the PVC pipe, I lay this pipe along the base of the wall I'm sanding, as the dust drops it is sucked into the pipe and on into the vac, anything the vac can't hold will send on out the discharge hose,
when I'm sanding drywall in houses I'll have another section of houses that I'll stick out a window/door. provides me about 35 ft total from any window/door, sure beets the heck out of stirring up the dust,
Could this be an option for you?

 

[Bird]

On any shop-vac you find today you can get extra lengths of hoses

My 12 gallon Craftsman came with a 7' long, two and a half inch diameter, hose and attachments. But then I bought their car cleaning kit, which is an inch and a half diameter, 12' long hose (16' with the solid extensions), and assorted attachments. In fact, I never use the large diameter stuff anymore.

I've got a son-in-law who has a Ridgid shop vac from Home Depot and it, too, works pretty well for sheet rock dust. At least it's been used a lot for that.

 

[ultrarunner]

So far I've come across this model for $300

Dustless Technologies, Dustless Wet Dry Vacuum, Drywall Dust Vacuum

 

[timswi]

My 12 gallon Craftsman came with a 7' long, two and a half inch diameter, hose and attachments. But then I bought their car cleaning kit, which is an inch and a half diameter, 12' long hose (16' with the solid extensions), and assorted attachments. In fact, I never use the large diameter stuff anymore.

I've got a son-in-law who has a Ridgid shop vac from Home Depot and it, too, works pretty well for sheet rock dust. At least it's been used a lot for that.

That's why I bought my Rigid..Bought the blue (tighter) filter and you can easily clean up a mess load of drywall
dust with no blow by. Filter goes a long time before absolutely needing cleaned. The Rigid that I have is better than the numerous Craftsman's that I have fried over the years.

Ditto on hanging on to the hoses from casualty shop-vacs...I use them to run old cars for short durations in the garage during the winter..Just slip them under a 3" garage opening..They have millions of uses.