Shop Vac

[SteveCh]

I don't have one. I rarely need one, but now and then it would really save the day. For example, I just got finished sweeping and soaking up a half-inch of water in a sunroom. I mean, the entire room was under a half inch on Mexican floor tiles. A shop vac would have really been nice. I borrowed one once to used for a couple things, and it picked water up nicely.

So, any recommendations of a brand? I won't use it much, but I don't want a junker that will break down after 20 hours of use, either. Who likes what?

 

[Chaznsc]

Check craigslist where you are for a shop-vac brand or craftsman, I've had good success with both. I would say 10 gallon is a min size, but that's ME.

 

[Timido]

I was given a 12ish gallon Craftsman Shop vac for Christmas one year. I use that thing all the time. One of the best tools ever.

 

[Burl]

Theres a reason most all vacs are called shop vacs. Don't waste your money on a Craftsman.

 

[Winmon]

I have had no problems with my Home Depot shop vac.. I did upgrade the filter to a better dust filter so it would not blow dust out the exhaust though...

 

[bigbubba]

Mine is a Rigid 12 gallon(I think) that i got for free from work.A prong broke off the plug and they were gonna toss it so i grabbed it and recorded it with an old 50' extension cord i had gotten at a yard sale for $5.Now i have a nice nearly new vac for $5!!

 

[TerryH]

I've had very good service from my Ridgid vac. Hard to beat in my book.

 

[dlenkewich]

I got mine from HD, its a ridgid, I paid $89.

I love it and the vaccum detached so you can use it as a leaf blower.

 

[ilovevocs]

Rigid all the way. I purchase the upgraded hose and wand for mine, it makes them a really nice unit.

 

[deter]

i have a shop vac brand that was a gift, and a rigid brand that I picked up on black friday a few years back. I work the **** out of both of them

 

[Davefr]

Get one that's 12-16 gallon, 2.5" Hose, cartridge filter.

Brand doesn't matter. I've had Ridgid, CM, Kobalt, and Shop Vac and they're all about the same and I've never had one fail on me.

Buy whatever's on sale.

 

[fury9]

I have a ridgid blower vac, thing kicks ***.

 

[Zelatore]

I've had a couple shop-vac brand units over the years and never really had any problems with them, though given the popular opinion on this forum I'd look at a Ridged for my next unit.

I've usually gone with 'bigger is better' and have a 10 gallon currently. But other than the occasional 'big' job I find it's just too much of a PITA to drag it out and would rather have a smaller unit under 5 gallons. For example, if you use it to **** up water you're not going to have a good time lifting/moving a 10+ gallon unit that's full - you're talking 70-100 lbs there of sloshing weight. That's just too much to deal with unless you're on a totally flat area so you can roll it.

At work I've gone through at least half a dozen smaller units. We use them to **** water out of bilges and things like that, and given that we're on salt water the life expectancy isn't great. Again, we stick to the smaller units that can be carried when full since you have to wrestle them up/down stairs to get in and out of the boats.

 

[fury9]

This is what you need- http://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-4-5-Gal-Wet-Dry-Vac-WD4522/100638389#.UXyLEIKhS3o everything stores right inside of it

 

[Cryptic1911]

I've had very good service from my Ridgid vac. Hard to beat in my book.

same here.. picked up two of the wall hanging units from HD when they had a blowout sale for $19.50 each

 

[Cobra6]

Home Depot always runs a super great deal on a Ridgid wet-dry vac on black Friday (1/2 price or so) - if you can't wait until then they usually run some deals on Memorial day weekend or around the 4th of July.

I got this one for about $50 (regular $119)
http://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-16-Gal-Wet-Dry-Vac-with-Blower-WD1680/202554974#.UXyPr7Yo7IU

 

[#1SomeGuy]

http://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-6-Gal-Wet-Dry-Vac-WD0670/202198493#.UXyWh7Wfi58

I got this one a couple years back when it was on for $40 (Canadian!) and came with a free car wand. It's been great, would definitely buy ridgid again.

 

[91FE]

I've had Ridgid, CM, Kobalt, and Shop Vac and they're all about the same and I've never had one fail on me...

Come again???

 

[Engineer61]

My only piece of advice is to make sure you can get HEPA filters for it. They are great for picking up dust (saw dust, drywall dust, even just dust) and NOT just blowing it into the air. You do have to be careful not to let them clog, which they do easily, or you will burn out the motor on your shop-vac.

 

[waggie]

how can you live without a shop vac?
cut something on the mill/lathe... chips clean up... shop vac
bandsaw (vert and horizontal)... shaving everywhere... shop vac
bringing anything made of wood to shop... saw dust... shop vac
grinding/belt sander... steel dust... shop vac
spill coffee/soda/water/beer/scotch... say some curse words... shop vac

granted, all this could be done with some kind of brush/air blower and get it all over the floor, then swept up, but shop vac is so quick.

 

[rharman]

I have two Craftsmans.

One is a newer model with the lift-off power unit so you can use it as a blower. Comes in pretty handy.

The other was a present from my wife for our first Christmas together - 32 years ago. Still works great - used it today in fact. They don't build them like that anymore.

I've been very happy with the Craftsman but I did buy a Fein Turbo III for woodworking.

 

[poolville02]

I have two Craftsmans.

One is a newer model with the lift-off power unit so you can use it as a blower. Comes in pretty handy.

I have this same model (#17066) and it has taken a beating and still works great. I use the blower more than anything so it kills two tools in one. The only thing I hate about it, and almost any shopvac, is that its huge and a PITA to store. I have been using the filter bags lately on really dusty jobs...makes cleanup easy and keeps the main filter clean.

 

[NUTTSGT]

I have a Cman unit for the garage, I'm happy with it. I also have two smaller 1-2 gallon units, one one on blast cabinet to pull the dust out.

If the large one fails, it'll get replaced with either another CMan or Rigid from HD, whatever is on sale, open/closed, or convenient.

 

[Jinks]

I've got a little 2.5 gal Shop-Vac I picked up so long ago I don't even remember where or how much. I've used it for everything, water, saw dust, concrete, cars, floor sweepings, anything that needs to be picked up. I'm sure it was cheap (I didn't have any money back then) but I can't seem to kill it. The biggest problems are cleaning it every few months, & givin' the brush a haircut when it gets so furry it won't let anything into the vac.

 

[James Aiello]

I've had two Craftsmen and still have one.
I heard a long time ago they made them loud for a reason. The louder = consumer thought they were more powerful! Now people want quite ones.

1. Keep eye on the filters.. you can blow them out to clean, but they can get nasty when wet.
2. Buy enough solid extension tubes so you don't have to crawl on the ground to use it.
3. Dog hair gets stuck in casters on my latest one, makes it hard to move.
4. Make sure the hose swivels and is attached in a way they don't just pull out.
5. Craftsman, Ridgit or what ever brand .. just make sure it will be around a long time and you get a filter close to your house.

I could not live without one... can't believe anyone here could either...

 

[Craptain]

I have a Ridgid 9 gall bought new and also a Craftsman 16 gall bought for $5 at a yard sale. Both use (exactly) the same hoses so I ended up with more than enough hose and other parts. I don't yet have a dust extractor so the big one serves that purpose for me. And for me it serves very well. I could not live without at least one vac.

 

[ilovevocs]

I use a bad in my rigid. It helps the filter last longer and keeps the inside generally cleaner. I like to just throw the bag out and put in a new one, it makes it easy to clean. Removing the bag and filter when using it as a wet vac is simple as well. Since removing the bag removes all the debris theirs nothing left behind to turn into concrete after the wet session is over. I buy two or three filters and bags at a time and try to keep spares on hand to prevent trips to HD that are dedicated to buying filters. I go often enough that when I use a bag or filter I buy a replacement when I get in the store.

 

[SteveCh]

Ok, thanks for the responses. I shall begin the watch for deals. My wife says she saw one the other day at Costco, didn't catch which brand or price. But I'll get right on it. Some good advice given and received.

 

[mrodgers]

Home Depot always runs a super great deal on a Ridgid wet-dry vac on black Friday (1/2 price or so) - if you can't wait until then they usually run some deals on Memorial day weekend or around the 4th of July.

I got this one for about $50 (regular $119)
http://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-16-Gal-Wet-Dry-Vac-with-Blower-WD1680/202554974#.UXyPr7Yo7IU

This is the replacement product for the one I have. They redesigned what I liked about the old one and made it like what I don't like about all other vacs.

There was a thread a while back about shop vacs.

At work we are pretty heavy users of shop vacs. I work in foam plastic bead manufacturing (expanded polypropylene and polyethylene.) We have a shop vac running constantly on each of our extrusion lines. I am using a shop vac to clean out beads from large storage bags during product changes. I may be running the shop vac for 1.5 hours at a time.

We went through just about every brand of vacuum imaginable. Craftsman, Shop Vac, Lowes, we burned them up within a matter of months. Ran to Home Depot one day and grabbed the 6.5 hp 16 gallon Rigid and it ran forever. All other departments started replacing their vacs with the Rigid. We buy a lot less shop vacs now.

Other shop vacs would burn up the motors. The weak link in the Rigid is the plug and switch. They get hot and melt. We have the electricians cut the plug off and replace as well as replace the switches and they run a long time for us.

Favorite feature of the Rigid compared to others was the canister. The mouth was wide where the lid attaches and the sides were straight. We are sucking up small plastic beads, small plastic pellets, and a lot of carbon dust. The beads have a lot of static. When full and you remove the lid, the filter hanging off the lid slides right out. Some of the plastic beads fly out with the static charge and you have to clean up the floor. When lifting up over your head to dump in a dumpster, you just flip it upside down and everything slides out. The replacement as in the link in the quote above, you can see the canister sides are no longer straight and the mouth of the canister where the lid attaches is no longer the widest part. It is now an oval shaped canister. Now, a lot of material flies out of the canister when removing the lid and to dump, it all doesn't empty without a lot of shaking around because it collects around the lip of the mouth.

 

[jethrodawg]

I hope people realize that the Rigid and Craftsman shop vacs are made in the same factory.

Mine is the large 20 gallon Craftsman that has tons of attachments and also can use the bag for dust collection. Thing is awesome in the garage.

I still have a smaller Craftsman I bought in 1995 that I keep in the shed for sucking up the dust in the shed a couple times a year. Still works like a champ.

 

[F-117HWK]

Rigid.

I went with this one Rigid Wet/Dry Vac

I love having a vac with a wide hose as my old Shop Vac used to get clogged all the time with odd shaped debris.

 

[Quijote]

I understand that this post is about sucking a lot of water, but my input is that big shop vacs get VERY heavy when they are full. If you ever use it in a basement that is not a walk-out, good luck emptying it.

Trouble is, smaller ones tend to be weak. Years ago I bought this one:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-4-Gal-Wet-Dry-Vac-WD4070/202077241?N=c2f8Z18g#.UX_QXbVJP5g

As much/almost as much power as the larger ones, but very portable. I used it in my attic to **** out **** from my roof being re done, etc. Easy to pick up even when full. In my opinion, if you have so much water you can't make do with emptying a 4-gallon vac a few times, then you need a sump pump, not a shop vac. But that's just me. I didn't research this one, just bought what Home Depot had cause I need it, but it has been great.

 

[Jaguar Fan]

I picked up a small one for $20 or maybe $30 at Costco. Works like a charm, and it is small which makes it very handy. Large ones have their place, of course - you need the right tool for the job - but this small one is great.

 

[SMKS]

To the OP-

If you do a search you'll find quite a few threads on this topic. Generally, people here seem to prefer the wet/dry vacs made by Emerson. Emerson makes the Craftsman vacs and the Ridgid vacs. They're mostly made in Mexico.

Some people like Vacmaster. They're all Chinese, or at least every one I've seen was made in China.

Some Shop-Vac brand vacs are "assembled in the USA of foreign components" or something like that. The Shop-Vac branded ones seem to have more negative reviews, but that's just my perception.

I recently went with a Stihl (pics/info in this thread), which is made in Hungary by Nilfisk-Also. I've been pretty happy with it, except it's not great for picking up water, since it's only 5 gallons.

The only thing I'll add is that if picking up water is one of your main uses, you should probably go bigger. I thought I would never need to pickup water, but our newly purchased house gets significant water in the basement, so now I need to be able to **** it up, and the small 5 gallon vac needs to be emptied a lot and isn't great for wet pickup. Even though it's 5 gallons, it will shut off when only 2 or 3 gallons are in the tank.

I'll probably try to get a cheap used 16 gal or so just for picking up water. I have a drain in my basement, so the weight of 5+ gallons of water isn't really a concern.

Just for kicks, here's the Stihl I bought:

 

[Kev442]

Instead of stating my favorite, I will say that a Shop Vac is the only one I've ever bought that burned up the motor way too soon. $65 up in smoke in less than two years.

 

[G_P]

I have shop vac brand vacs. Some are so old they have thick metal canisters. No issues. They just keep running like champs.

Ridgid makes good reliable vacs too. Use to sell thousands at home depot after major storms that caused flooding.

Sent from my C5120 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Dennis93]

Yea, I bought mine (Ridgid) 12 gallon or so for $28 two black fridays ago. My advice since you don't seem to be needing it so much is to get the Stinger vac from HD its usually like 20 or so. And this way you won't have to worry about storage. I'm always running into mine or moving it to get some room.

 

[kngelv]

I have the Kobalt that hangs on the wall. Made by Vacmaster. It has turned out to be the biggest piece of junk. I sold my Craftsman to a friend and still regret it. In the next few weeks I'm going to check out the Rigid line.

James

 

[Tre900]

The least expensive one you can find. This thread is proof that no single brand stands out- it depends on your need.

I have the large Craftsman with the removable blower - its FANTASTIC. I also found a Target deal on a mid size Vacmaster for $20!! Its been GREAT. I use it in my DIY sand blaster to such media out of the air for visablity.

I would say go cheap on a new one and you should be fine.