Shop Vac suggestions

[rktinc]

After using my ancient and nearly worn out 4.5 gal Ridged Shop vac as well as a very handy Ryobi 18v, I have reached the stage of my renovation that I need a large capacity shop vac to start really deep cleaning and de-dusting things on a large scale as I move across the large room of my building renovation.

I have considered just buying another cheap one but I thought maybe someone with job site experience could steer me to a high capacity model that can serve as my workhorse going forward.

Need to clean up the plaster walls, paint scrappings, concrete dust in the floor cracks prior to patching, and a fair amount of sawdust still to make/cleanup. Might also need a wet function after most of the building is super clean to mop of the last layer of scum.

I am thinking about a large capacity Ridge at the HD. Any suggestions?

Ideally, large capacity on wheels, with a large (cheap) filter option.

Thanks,

RKT

 

[Tdbo]

"Large capacity Ridge at the HD" = best bang for the buck.
I have a several of them. Three are Ridgids. The other is a Craftsman, which at the time was made by Emerson Electric as well.
Although they are noisy, they are true workhorses.
See what they have on sale over the holiday.
This might have some potential:

RIDGID 16 Gallon 6.5 Peak HP NXT Wet/Dry Shop Vacuum with Detachable Blower, Filter, Locking Hose and Accessories HD1600 - The Home Depot

The RIDGID 16 Gal. 6.5 Peak Horsepower Wet Dry Shop Vacuum with Detachable Blower is a 2-in-1 tool that combines pickup performance and the blower in one product. This powerful, heavy-duty shop vac can

www.homedepot.com

 

[dogdog]

I just use a large ridgid and a dust deputy setup. Will vacuum up about 3x 5gallon buckets before the fine dust clogs up the vacuum filter. Broom to sweep up large debris first.

 

[Theronswanson]

Rigid is the gold standard when it comes to Shop vacs IMO.

 

[mike93lx]

I recently got a Dewalt stealthsonic 12 gallon at Lowes and have been beating on it pretty good in a remodel project. Working great and it's really quiet. Highly recommend it

https://www.lowes.com/pd/DEWALT-12Gal-5-5-PHP-Quiet-Vac/5013026391

I use a Ridgid hose on my other vac (the orange one, about $50) and would recommend it as an upgrade. The basic black hoses that come with vacs aren't great, but the Dewalt's isn't the worst I have used

 

[cgrutt]

I have a few Rigids wind up using the 16 gal the most. I have a "hepa" bag and filter in it. Don't think it is true Hepa but seems to work really well and has held up for several projects (sawdust, drywall dust and general construction debris). I also have a Festool and it's a much better VAC for really fine dust but the bags and filters are super expensive so I wind up using the Rigid most of the time. I've had Shop Vac and Craftsman as well put them pretty much same as Rigid really can't go wrong with any of them. Oh, second the optional orange hose with the Ridgid it works great.

 

[Sluggo0018]

Take a look at this review of shop vacs. For my money, I would go with the Rigid.

Shop Vac Reviews

 

[BTL-A4]

+1 more for Ridgid. I think they have a lifetime guarantee. I have an HD1200 (12 Ga) with a Dust Stopper and it works really well. I have them on a wheeled cart and have been very happy with it.

I have the 18v Ryobi one too and love it, so I'd suggest getting another one. I use mine all the time for the little stuff.

 

[LopezBart]

+1 on the big stainless Ridgid. Powerful, and quiet for the power level.

 

[Skellyii]

+1 On the Rigid, I have one that I bought 6 or 7 remodels ago (15+ years) and still going strong

 

[rktinc]

Great news. My old small Ridgid just won't die so I guess there is a reason. I will probably grab a larger Ridged for more capacity and dust control.

Thanks for he info!

 

[908Jim]

+1 for rigid shop vacs. I've got a small 3 gallon and a larger wheeled model and they have both been excellent to me.

 

[phred]

My big craftsman shop vac from the 1990’s finally died. I just bought one from harbor freight. It is surprising quiet and powerful. Doubt it will last 30 years like the last one but for the money I like it. It also has the opinion to use bags which I like especially when cleaning up hazardous particles that I don’t want to rescatter when dumping the canister.

 

[Fav Onefour]

I just use a large ridgid and a dust deputy setup. Will vacuum up about 3x 5gallon buckets before the fine dust clogs up the vacuum filter. Broom to sweep up large debris first.

I have a couple of Ridgid vacs running with dust deputy. Those things help a lot. I have one site running a smaller 4 gallon vac and it does surprisingly well with the dust deputy. That site is an ongoing project with a considerable amount of tuck pointing debris. I didn't want to burn through a good vac with that material so I brought the 4 gallon that already had a lot of hours. I added the dust deputy after the first day on that project. I bet I've already dumped that pail over forty times. The vac is still humming along.
One disadvantage to the setup is pulling it along as you move. I like to pull the vac along with the hose as I work. I would need a cart with the dust deputy setup.
My other setup is in a workshop area and the vac doesn't move. I'm using a Ridgid 16 gallon to pull off some of my machines. I use a long hose connected to the machine outlet. The dust deputy works quite well with that setup. I like being able to easily see when it's getting full. With the setup I'm able to put the vac out of the way under a bench. That helps cut down some of the noise.
That workshop also has a dust collection system with four inch lines. I run the vac more often than the dust collector. The vac is easy and effective for a large portion of the work. The cyclone setup makes it better.

I'm not trying to sell dust cyclones but they help extend run times. The Ridgid vacs seem pretty decent. I needed another vac recently and chose another Ridgid. The new 4 gallon has some improvements such as latch assemblies. It uses the same filter as the older models. That little detail helps keep life simple. I keep spare filters around and swap in new when I'm switching over to finishing cleanup.

 

[NUTTSGT]

A have a Cman that is probably 20 years old and still going strong.

If I had to replace it, it'd probably be a Rigid.

 

[Mandres]

From the research I've done, the top 3 are Craftsman, Ridgid, and Bauer (harbor freight). Id go with whichever is available and on sale.

 

[matthe]

Renovation projects always seem to create more dust and debris than expected. One thing that has worked well for me is doing a rough cleanup first and removing larger materials before using the shop vac. It keeps filters from clogging as quickly and makes the final cleanup much easier.

For those who have completed major shop or garage renovations, did you find a standard shop vac sufficient, or was a dust separator/cyclone setup worth the extra cost?

 

[Fav Onefour]

Renovation projects always seem to create more dust and debris than expected. One thing that has worked well for me is doing a rough cleanup first and removing larger materials before using the shop vac. It keeps filters from clogging as quickly and makes the final cleanup much easier.

For those who have completed major shop or garage renovations, did you find a standard shop vac sufficient, or was a dust separator/cyclone setup worth the extra cost?

I love those small cyclones on a pail.
I've used a shop vacuum and cyclone in my shop for quite a few years. It cuts down time considerably because I simply empty the bucket and don't need to clean the filter very often. I recently put a cyclone on my larger collector and it helps keep high flow much longer.
The small vac and cyclone get used for smaller tools and cleanup. The big dust collector runs with dedicated tools most of time. I also have floor sweep locations tied to that piping. My filters on the big collector plugged pretty quickly from floor cleanup and big dust projects before I added the cyclone.

I do quite a bit of project stuff outside my shop and I use cyclones with a smaller shop vacs when there's enough room. The biggest disadvantage of cyclone setups is the extra hose and footprint. The setups can be cumbersome and hard to work around in tight spaces. One of my project setups has the vac and cyclone on a cart with castors. I can pull the cart around with the hose while working. It keeps me running longer without needing so many cleanout cycles but the cart is much larger than a plain ol shop vacuum.
Initial suction is a little less on cyclone setups compared to the vac alone and a nice clean filter. I overcome the difference pretty quickly with high debris volume. The cyclones hold suction while a plain vac plugs pretty quick.

 

[matthe]

That's really helpful feedback.

The reduced filter maintenance is probably the biggest advantage from what I've seen. During renovation or cleanup projects, it doesn't take long for a standard shop vac filter to start losing performance.

I hadn't really considered the extra footprint as a downside, but that makes sense, especially when working in tighter spaces. Sounds like the cyclone setup becomes more valuable as the amount of dust and debris increases.

 

[tncatadjuster]

Cyclone is the way to go, once I started using one it was a game changer. I went to a big collector and it works great

 

[Silver Lexus]

After messing around with a bunch of mainstream brands, I moved upmarket to a Festool. Been absolutely bulletproof for five years and has class leading suction.

 

[matthe]

That's good to know. The more feedback I hear, the more it seems that a cyclone setup pays for itself just by reducing filter cleaning and maintaining suction.

Did you notice the biggest improvement during general cleanup work, or when collecting fine dust from tools and sanding operations?

 

[Sturgeon]

I have a Rigid and the hose from day one has been a pain. Try to find one on sale and shop for a quality hose. Never have found a inexpensive filter, maybe one that you can wash?

 

[Hank11]

Buy a good hose. The ones they come with kinda **** compared to a good one.