Cman shop vac filters

[NUTTSGT]

Been working on some drywall at home and using the old Craftsman shop vac to collect drywall sanding dust. When it stops not being effective, I take the filter and knock it outside. I spotted the filter was getting to a point of needing replaced. The rubber on the ends was cracking and the filter paper ripped down a pleat.

I began the hunt for a replacement filter. First problem, Sears is done and not around. Secondly, the vac is old, like 18 years old. Third, there is no part number anywhere on this vac. Atleast not that I can find.


I take a measure of the width of the filter to fit inside the vac about 4.25". I figured a replacement would be easy to find. I stop at Lowes, they're carrying a bunch of Cman stuff. I find a Shop-Vac brand filter but I know it's too tall. SO I pass and make a trip up the road to Menard's.

At Menard's I see some of the same Shop-Vac brand filters. Al told there are a few HEPA filters, don't need them nor am I going to spend 30+ dollars on one. I spot a Performax brand filter, take a measurement, it looks good. I buy it head home. I stick it in the vac and find it's too tall by 3/4".

So what next, I scroll the internet looking for pics of my Cman shop vac maybe I can find a part number this way. I search, nothing till I try a different method. My vac has the lift off blower that can be used as a leaf blower and I spot it as a typical Emerson Tool product and a recall on them, great. Now, I find a few varibles of the part number it could be.

So what does all this rambling mean, I found it at Home Depot under the Multi-Fit brand. It fits several models of Cman shop vacs. So if you are looking for a filter for yours, hopefully you don't have to search forever trying to find one.

One side of the package lists a ton of part numbers to cross reference.

 

[4xdog]

Sears filters go waaay back -- I got a couple a year or two ago for a Craftsman vac bought by my dad in the 1980s.

Most of the time they have a stripe on them, possibly blue or red. That's the size ID.

I'd be *very* surprised if sears didn't have them online. And likely in stock someplace not too far from you. Try a True Value Hardware. Edit: ..or should that be Ace Hardware?

I've never found a Shop-Vac equivalent for my Craftsman filters. Good to know someone else is doing it, though.or

 

[finn]

KoPach filter manufacturers filters for some Craftsman vacs. Best I can tell it’s a small specialty filter outfit started after Emerson move vacuum production from Michigan to Mexico about ten years ago.

They sell on eBay and Amazon.

Not sure the cover all models, though.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Sears filters go waaay back -- I got a couple a year or two ago for a Craftsman vac bought by my dad in the 1980s.

Most of the time they have a stripe on them, possibly blue or red. That's the size ID.

I'd be *very* surprised if sears didn't have them online. And likely in stock someplace not too far from you. Try a True Value Hardware.

I've never found a Shop-Vac equivalent for my Craftsman filters. Good to know someone else is doing it, though.or

Looking at the package, it states it replaces the red stripe filters. I wasn't aware of sizing by the color of a stripe till yesterday.

I looked at Sears parts and it seemed everything was no longer sold. I've pretty much given up on Sears and anything about them.

The trip to HD, Lowe's & Menard's is about 20 minutes. To town and the local True Value is about 12 minutes going through town. It seems the store never has what I need and I have to go back the other way to one of the big box stores. That round trip is like the one way time to the big box store but almost a guarantee that one of them will have it or whatever I need.

 

[NUTTSGT]

KoPach filter manufacturers filters for some Craftsman vacs. Best I can tell it’s a small specialty filter outfit started after Emerson move vacuum production from Michigan to Mexico about ten years ago.

They sell on eBay and Amazon.

Not sure the cover all models, though.

I found that name while searching yesterday. However the package attached above appears that the filter is now marketed by Emerson Tool under the MultiFit name.

 

[dnschmidt]

The hot setup is Cleanstream filters by W. L. Gore. They are made from Gortex. I use these in all of my Shop-Vacs. Water washable and last forever.

 

[4xdog]

Looking at the package, it states it replaces the red stripe filters. I wasn't aware of sizing by the color of a stripe till yesterday.

I looked at Sears parts and it seemed everything was no longer sold. I've pretty much given up on Sears and anything about them...

This one seems to be available online and at one of the Sears Hometown stores near me.
https://www.sears.com/craftsman-general-purpose-red-stripe-vac-filter/p-00917816000P

But I hear ya -- I've pretty much given up on Sears, too.

 

[bcschief]

Newer filters have done away with the plastic end cap for the bottom of the filter

 

[driftpin]

I've had three different Craftsman shop-vacs, two bought new, one acquired used. I also have the one like yours, w/the removable motor/blower. The conical narrow nozzle attachment always pops-off it if I use it in that fashion. However, I usually don't need it like that for very-long, and it's like using a 1-3/4" fire hose w/a fog nozzle at a window opening, to exhaust smoke and fire gases, when I'm trying to rid the garage of wood dust or whatever-else I'm trying to exhaust in airborne-fashion. You easily-see the airborne material swirling-about, as the blower w/the conical attachment evacuates the garage space.

I visited the Ft. Lauderdale FL east-side Sears store, one soon to stop-business, to see if there were any good tool sales. I passed-up the shop vac filters, and spent a half-hour trying to find something I could use. I had just been unsuccessful in getting warrantied, two Craftsman pop rivet tools, instead I was given points on my Shop Your Way account (SYW) and I finally decided on a set of large-sized metric Craftsman combination wrenches, 20, 21, 22, 23, and 24 MM sizes. Normally $99, out-the-door, $36.

I've found that the shop vac filters will last if you empty them frequently, I usually knock-off the stuff which will part-company, and then blow them out. I rarely use them wet, but if I do, I leave the filter out of the case until it dries. Have you ever-used the 'sock' they sell for fine particulate material? It's supposed to be for things like drywall joint compound dust. It fits-over the stock filter.

It was sad to-see the store so-empty. I've shopped at that store for over 45 years, and gotten some great values there. My current garage has a lot of Craftsman and Gladiator cabinets and an 8 ft workbench frame (1-1/2" wood top I made and 3/16" cold-rolled steel plate on-top), all of-which I bought at this very store.

 

[mikegt4]

I have a 70's Craftsman dual motor shop vac that even Sears didn't have a replacement for (this was 10 years ago). Took my filter dimensions to a couple of big box stores until I found an exact size replacement under another brand.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Never tried the sock on this shop vac. Mostly masonry dust in the basement or sawdust in the garage. When the remodeling begins, its drywall dust. Usually they get knocked off out by the road. Rarely do they get hig with compressed air.

 

[M6erfan]

You should use a bag, not a filter, for drywall dust.

 

[MoonRise]

The hot setup is Cleanstream filters by W. L. Gore. They are made from Gortex. I use these in all of my Shop-Vacs. Water washable and last forever.

+8,463,997.

Can use dry or wet.

Rinse with a (gentle) hose, gently blow it off with some air, lasts a really - really - really long time.

And it filters dust really well too.

 

[driftpin]

Didn't WL Gore have a fire at the factory, and he continued to pay the employees for months, while the factory was rebuilt? Another good reason to buy their products.

No, it was the guy who made Polartec material, sorry!

https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/.premium-1995-malden-mills-burns-down-1.5435757

On December 11, 1995, the core buildings of the Malden Mills textile plant, in Lawrence, Massachusetts, burned to the ground, in what has been described as the worst fire in the 20th-century history of that state. At the time, Malden, which patented and produced the synthetic fleece Polartec, among other products, employed some 3,000 people. It was one of the largest employers in this town, once a center of the American textile industry, some 25 miles (40 kms) north of Boston.

Malden Mills owner Aaron Feuerstein, who, as it happened, turned 70 on the day of the fire, was fully covered for the loss by insurance. Conventional business logic would have supported him had he decided to shutter the plant. But, as a colleague in the plant’s management recalled, "He said, I'm not throwing 3,000 people out of work two weeks before Christmas."

Feuerstein, an Orthodox Jew whose grandfather had started Malden Mills in 1906, not only to decided to rebuild. He also resolved to continue paying the 1,400 workers left idle during the construction works their salaries for the next three months, and to cover their health insurance for 180 days.

Asked to explain his decision, he attributed it to the ethics he had learned from studying the Talmud.


Regardless to-whom you pray, or which-way you face, to do-it, that's a great thing to have-done. A lot of businesspeople probably would have used it as an excuse to move production off-shore, and have-done the minimum they had-to, to close the domestic plant, and fire the workers.

 

[4xdog]

Didn't WL Gore have a fire at the factory, and he continued to pay the employees for months, while the factory was rebuilt? Another good reason to buy their products.

You may be thinking of Malden Mills, maker of Polartec fabrics.

 

[driftpin]

Yes, thanks, I looked it up before I read your post.

 

[MrSurly]

You should use a bag, not a filter, for drywall dust.

THIS^^^ is accurate for drywall.


My 20Gal Cman is from 2009 and used the "RedLine" filter seen below.

the replacement design changed a few times to include a metal-topped on for a while, but these days I use one found at HD which has a thick rubbery cap with a snug fitting hole to press over the stud. The old nut is not used.

 

[driftpin]

I have a 12 gallon unit of the same vintage, it looks more-pink than red. It works OK though. I went to two different Sears stores looking for the hose fixtures, but they didn't have the ones I wanted. I may have to try online.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Craftsman sold 3 different filters for that vintage shop vac. Standard, fine (good for drywall dust) and HEPA. The HEPA filters clog quickly (as they should).

Use a leaf blower from the inside of the filter and it will make it almost as good as new !

WARNING ! If you have been vacuuming drywall dust, when you go to blow it out, make sure you are not near any buildings. Check the wind direction. Anything down wind will get covered.

 

[theoldwizard1]

From Craftsman.com

General Purpose Replacement Filter - CMXZVBE38749
Fine Dust Filter - CMXZVBE38751
Wet Application Filter - CMXZVBE38773
HEPA Filter - CMXZVBE38753

Google those part numbers

 

[M6erfan]

Craftsman sold 3 different filters for that vintage shop vac. Standard, fine (good for drywall dust) and HEPA. The HEPA filters clog quickly (as they should).

Use a leaf blower from the inside of the filter and it will make it almost as good as new !

WARNING ! If you have been vacuuming drywall dust, when you go to blow it out, make sure you are not near any buildings. Check the wind direction. Anything down wind will get covered.

Several years ago I burned out a C'man W/D vac with one of their "fine" filters. Didn't take long either, smoked the motor in short order. To finish the job I ended up going to HD and picking up a Rigid W/D vac and some bags. I still have that Rigid.