Anyone have a Shop Vac?

SilverLexus

SilverLexus

Super Enthusiast
I'm not very happy with the noise or cleaning ability of my Ridgid garage vac and I am thinking of trying another brand...



Any thoughts on garage vacs?



It seems to me that the filters clog quickly with any use and they can be loud even with the Ridgid silebcer...any thoughts on the various brands?



How much horsepower should I look for?



I'd like to keep to under $100.



Thanks in advance for any advice. :)
 
SilverLexus said:
I'm not very happy with the noise or cleaning ability of my Ridgid garage vac and I am thinking of trying another brand...



Any thoughts on garage vacs?



It seems to me that the filters clog quickly with any use and they can be loud even with the Ridgid silebcer...any thoughts on the various brands?



How much horsepower should I look for?



I'd like to keep to under $100.



Thanks in advance for any advice. :)
Click to expand...

Which rigid do you have? I have a 6.5 pro and would not trade it for the world
 
how long is your hose? try removing the filter completely and suck about 3 gallons of bleach water up, this will make the water the filter, completely safe in my book, I know people that have ran a vac 2+yrs this way, I have had mine running like this for 6 months and it is fine
 
I have a 4.5 at my house good for drywall dust and household cleaning, doesn't cut it on interiors though, before I purchased my rigid, I had a Shop Vac Hang up commercial and 10 plus feet of hose would cut the suction and half, piece of doo doo. I have 25 feet of hose on my 6.5 and the lift is so good that it will leave carpets almost as dry as my extractor and it has 105 inches of lift, the rigid only advertises around 65 I think
 
I have a 5 gallon Craftsman that has never given me any trouble. Plus it has the hose connection for continuously pumping...this option has saved my friends basement twice now. I would highly recommend it for the money.
 
I have the 6.5hp Craftsman and dont care for it. The hose is too big, the tank is too big.



I took the filters off because they keep getting clogged.
 
I have about 15 foot of 2 1/2 inch hose like you se at self serves with the rigid pro orange hose at the working end so the bulkier hose never makes it into the vehicle, the vac is of to the side in the corner of my shop so the size isnt a problem, but I understand the hose, that is why I have mine set up as I do.
 
In the past i had 2 Shop Vacs. One for dry and one for wet. They were 6hp peak, i think. The dry was 2 1/2" hose and was used less and less, only reserved for the dirtiest or broken glass pick-up. The wet was 1 1/2" and i started using it for everything.



After about a year of use the wet still sounded better that the dry, even though it got used 10 times as much. The dry vac began to have a "dry no lube sound" to it.



All i use today is a Shop Vac and make sure i wet the foam filter. It does need to be emptied quite often, otherwise it smells, but the suction is top notch.
 
Shop Vac is claiming they are quieter than the competition (I guess this is directed to Ridgid)...any thoughts about that?
 
My Ridgid has a scroll-type blower that is much quieter than previous wet/dry vacs I've owned. I got the 14 gal 6HP unit. It has the larger hose which is more difficult to handle around the vehicle. I bought a larger vac because I will also use it around the house so it reasonably meets my needs. Keep in mind that I will only use it to maintain my personal vehicles and for use around the house so the larger hose is a minor inconvenience compared to having to buy more than one vac. If your needs are more specialized, you might consider a smaller or larger vac depending . . .



I've seen the same scroll-type blower advertised on Craftsman vacs as well so look for one of these on the other brands if noise is an issue and you don't want a Ridgid.



RG
 
imageautodetail said:
how long is your hose? try removing the filter completely and suck about 3 gallons of bleach water up, this will make the water the filter, completely safe in my book, I know people that have ran a vac 2+yrs this way, I have had mine running like this for 6 months and it is fine
Click to expand...





Is this to just clean out the hoses and filter? What kind of concentation is the bleach in?



Cheers,
 
I got this Vac n' Vac last fall from ShopVac (bought it at Lowe's). This thing is AWESOME! You can use the smaller Vac to detail because it is light, has it's own set of narrower tools (producing more suction), and loses no hp when removed from the larger Vac because it houses the power components. If you want to use the larger Vac around the house, you attach the larger tools (for larger areas) and you're ready to go! I think it's a great product and VERY user friendly. It has a handy blower feature too that I use to dry wheels and the engine only since I'm paranoid about blowing the dust I just sucked up back onto the car.



Shop-Vac® :: Vacs



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Greg Nichols said:
Is this to just clean out the hoses and filter? What kind of concentation is the bleach in?



Cheers,
Click to expand...

Get rid of the filter, the water acts as the filter, it matters how big your vac is, I think mine is around 15gallon, I fill a 5 gallon bucket a little more than half(about 3gal) about a cup of bleach, suck it all up with your attachment on the hose, and you are done, it keeps the smell down and never a clog or resistance because of the filter, I think it runs better also. I do this once a week. Be prepared when you empty it though, because it smells like holy hell.
 
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