Good Portable Shop Vacuum at reasonable cost?

[OKnewguy]

Being in remodeling trades, pretty much all of the contractors I work with (and myself) have various models of Ridgid vacuum shop vacs. You can get different filters to btw. I also work on some jobs where we have to use Hepa vacs that are certified for lead. These things are highly overrated and not near as robust as the Ridgids. Food for thought, and good luck in finding one that works for you.
Dave

 

[ultrarunner]

Are the lower priced Home Depot Rigid Vacs the good ones or are there other Rigids more robust?

 

[EddieWalker]

I have a 5hp Rigid shop vac that I like. I've had a few others that all did the job, but where a pain in the but to haul around. I like the Rigid because it is square and everything fits into it like a tool box. I can stack other tool boxes on it and there isn't anything laying around. Space and a clean job site are a huge thing for me, and my clients all comment on how nice it is. The filter is the drawback to it as it clogs up pretty quick with drywall dust. I usually take it outside and clean it over a bucket a few times during the job, then buy another new filter for the next job. I build the cost of a filter into my jobs so it's just part of doing business. 5 hp is plenty powerful enough to clean out the grout lines in tile, get all the dust out of a hole drilled into concrete and clean up every corner of dust. It's kinds of small compared to the others, but since I clean it out every day, smaller is better because it takes up less room.

Eddie

 

[caver]

I bought a pleated filter and when dirty I just throw it across the yard bowling style to sling out the dirt. One thing that was a big improvment beside the pleated filter was a fancier hose. Now I don't cuss the thing when I use it. Lowes shop vac hose I was hesitant to spend to spend 31$ for just a hose but it's a much better product than the supplied POS hose.

 

[forgeblast]

Dust Right® Separator - Rockler Woodworking Tools has a dust separator, there are also diy plans online, you can use a garbage can to make it easier to dump. For me the next one will have to have an exhaust port, its easy to then hook it up to a coal forge to act like a blower.