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New Shop vac

bp71k5

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Any recommendations? The motor in mine just died and I miss it a lot. Are the wallmounted versions worth the hassle of extra long hoses?
 
I kinda prefer the ones on wheels. I also use them in the yard and the basement though. Mines a Ridgid, had good luck with that brand

In terms of the hoses, maybe see what it takes to be able to couple and unhook them together. Car wash hoses work that way and the union threads in. Might be a good go between
 
Like Bent, I have three Ridgid's and like them all.

I have this little guy. We use it a lot for small bathrooms and backsplash areas. It's nice and small and can be pulled around for some cleaning. This one has a smaller hose on it than the bigger guys.
https://www.ridgid.com/us/en/4-gallon-portable-wet-dry-vac

Also one like this with the detachable blower motor for cleaning up an exterior work area when we're done. Not sure they even make the one that I have anymore.
https://www.ridgid.com/us/en/12-gallon-high-performance-wet-dry-vac

And this one. We use the hell out of this big guy on remodels. The upper handle is so nice to move it around vs the old way of just yanking on the hose. With the ease of the handle comes a bitch to empty though. You need to empty all of the accessories out of the bag, then remove the top. But given the choice of a pain in the ass vac to empty or the ease of actually moving it around, I'd buy this guy 100 times over vs one without the handle.
https://www.ridgid.com/us/en/16-gallon-high-performance-vac-with-cart
 
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got forced into a rigid out of convenience some 6, 7 yr's ago... think it's the 12 gal. i had to return the first one after a couple days and a burned up motor, but the replacement has been a beast...

it lives a HARD life, a good portion being for my blast cab.. eventually the switch cr@pped out a couple months ago.. i didn't even replace it, just hard wired it.. plug in and go, still sucks like a $2 ho...
 
I have a huge 4 HP "Shop-Vac" we bought back around 1992 when the ground floor of our house got flooded by a 3 day monsoon,we had to use it to suck all the water up out of the carpeting...been using it since out in the garage for various chores,one of which I never should have attempted ,using it to pick up some ashes from my wood stove I spilled while emptying it one day..

The vacuum shot ash out of the exhaust vent on it ,even after I cleaned it thoroughly and replaced the foam filter,I let it run a good ten minutes outside until the ash cloud stopped,thought that was the end of it,but it still shoots out a small cloud of ash dust every time I turn it on ,even after using it as a wet-vac..

I have a smaller one a neighbor gave me when she cleaned out her shed,that still works good--had a missing caster wheel,but I found one off a junked office chair that was almost a perfect fit..I like that one better than lugging that 16 gallon beast around..and I dont use that one in the house any more due to the ash problem...if I buy another vacuum it'll be the special type made for ash removal,since I have wood stoves..
 
My Rigid has treated me well for 8-10 years. I also have a little shop vac brand that I use for cleaning out the smokers and other greasey jobs like engines.

FYI some of those wall mounted units are easily removed for other jobs.
 
can ya tell I own a dog??? :dunno: :whistle: :dunno: :haha:





full
 
I found MICE living in my 16 gallon Shop-Vac in the garage!..one day I thought I saw something scoot across the floor,and sure enough,it ran right up the hose into the tank!..they had a nice fluffy condo in there,full of sawdust I had vacuumed up,along with some shredded cloth..I hadn't used it in quite a while..

I dumped it out outside and set them free,there was at least 3 or 4 mice in it..I think one of my barn cats took care of them in a hurry..
 
the blast cab is the worst... the stuff that runs thru the vac is like the ultimate fine talcum powdery stuff... you should see when i blow the filter out out in the street.. :yikes: you'd think a house was on fire... :haha:

gotta wait for the proper wind direction day...:whistle:
 
Hesitated on the rigid back in 04. It’s been a workhorse ever since.

Buy yourself a few extra filters while you are there. They won’t be needed for a while, but when you do need them, you are always stuck in the middle of a job, and you’ll be glad you have them.

Only way to make the filters last longer is to clean them with a shop vac, which requires redundant shop vacs:rotfl:

So I just replace mine when they get too creepy.


Hell, I even sucked mine full of water 3-4 times cleaning out a hot tub. Died momentarily, and came back to life once it dried, and kept on working.
 
I just replaced my filter for the first time a couple months ago. Occasionally I'd blow it out like @ryoken mentioned sending a dust cloud down the street.
 
i'd be broke if i had to replace em... i've replaced it once in 7 yr's cuz an idji, ummm, friend sucked some water thru it... it's done at that point...but other than that, i just blow it out whenever i empty the vac...... depends on what your using it for i suppose....
 
i'd be broke if i had to replace em... i've replaced it once in 7 yr's cuz an idji, ummm, friend sucked some water thru it... it's done at that point...but other than that, i just blow it out whenever i empty the vac...... depends on what your using it for i suppose....

I’m on my 3rd in 14 yrs. just good to have one around when you do something stupid and kill it
 
I’m on my 3rd in 14 yrs. just good to have one around when you do something stupid and kill it


mine gets cleaned at least a couple times a year.. being a marine guy, I've seen soooooo many destroyed cuz people were lazy or stooopid with water..

couple yr's ago we needed a vac at work, so i made my boss buy 2 and I sharpied huge on em "wet" and "dry"... :haha:
 
mine gets cleaned at least a couple times a year.. being a marine guy, I've seen soooooo many destroyed cuz people were lazy or stooopid with water..

couple yr's ago we needed a vac at work, so i made my boss buy 2 and I sharpied huge on em "wet" and "dry"... :haha:
Nice.

I really try to limit wet use. But there are times where a second would be sweet
 
oh, I'm anal at the house about it... :haha: I'd never forget to yank the filter out first after seeing so many destroyed at work..

i should really get another at some point and make this a dedicated one for the blaster.. that way, having a switch doesn't matter.. turn the blaster on and it comes on too...
 
I have a 16 year old version of this Rigid vac.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-12-Gal-5-0-Peak-HP-Wet-Dry-Vac-WD1270/202554972
Used it when I remodeled my last house and it's been used for dust collection in my wood shop for the past 10 years. I just used the hell out of it again remodeling the new house. It's been a very good machine and I will definitely get another when this one dies.

Once the Rigid got relegated to the wood shop, I wanted another one for the garage, mostly light duty stuff like vacuuming out the truck or cleaning up some grinder/ band saw grit. I got the Lowes Kobalt version of this wall mounted vac.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Shop-Vac-4-Gallon-6-5-Peak-HP-Shop-Vacuum/3692790

It's a nice system. All the attachments have places in the wall mount and the long hose wraps around it while not in use. Very compact and out of the way. The hose is long enough for a single car garage space and you don't have to haul the vac around to clean. It's also easy to unclip it from the wall mount to use out around the truck and again, the long hose means I don't have to drag the vac w/ me when you go from driver to passenger side.

The smaller vac definitely has less suction than the bigger one due to a smaller motor and hose diameter. But, it's more than adequate for it's intended use.
 
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