Ash Vac or Shop Vac

[krooser]

My dealer has a Lennox burning in his store right next to the front door. Last fall I was watching one of the employees do a daily cleaning... she used an ash-vac and as soon as the flame died down she opened the door she vac'd out the ash, and fired it up again.... maybe a total of 60 seconds.

Of course I'd never do that with a shop vac but I did se where an ash-vac would come in handy to use like that.

I have a $10.00 one gallon Shop-Vac that I use...

 

[blaster668]

I am currently using a shop vac, but if you suck up an ember, its almost a guarantee that you just ruined a filter and get a house full of smoke. I've had embers even after the stove was off for over a day. This year, I'm going to try to rig up a firefighters nomex hood over the filter to provide better flame resistance. Military surplus ones can be bought fairly cheaply. Here is the one I bought, I think it was around $6 total shipped. (broken link removed to http://cgi.ebay.com/Nomex-PBI-ANTIFLASH-FLAME-FIRE-RESISTANT-HOOD-NEW-/290480649801?pt=BI_Security_Fire_Protection&hash=item43a1fef649)

Here is one with a lower buy it now price: (broken link removed to http://cgi.ebay.com/MILITARY-ARMY-SURPLUS-BALACLAVA-HOOD-ANTIFLASH-NEW-/220621117073?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item335e0b1691)

 

[vgrund]

I used a small shop vac with HEPA filter for the first couple of years. I found the ash was still making a mess (low wife acceptance factor). The filter clogged quickly, which necessitated opening the shop vac outside, removing the filter and knocking the ash off of it. That made a mess so I had to trudge out pretty far from the house (I utilized a rock wall in the yard). For this season I purchased a Cheetah II ash vacuum. The ability to vacuum warm ash is nice, but I like even more the ability to clean the ash off the filter without opening the unit. I'll have a more informed opinion after I use it a while this season.

 

[Major91]

I used the shop vac in the beginning with the filter. Worked for a while but all in all was rather dirty and had fine ash in the house. That being said with the chance of using a shop vac and having any embers burning still i went with the ash vac and it was money well spent. Cleaner and no chance of burning down the house. This subjest has been brought up before. ;-)

 

[amick780]

I have used a shop vac for a few years with a drywall bag and it worked well, but I always waited a long time for the stove to cool down before vacuuming the stove for fear of burning the house down. So I broke down and bought a Cougar Ash Vac (Love-Less) yesterday, it was on sale from Amazon.com for $208.00 figured it was time to get one. Thinking that its worth having the right tool, and peace of mind that it wont catch on fire!

 

[tjnamtiw]

Rather than deal with the 'boss' about fine ash around the house even if it didn't come from the shop vac, I bought the ash vac. It works great and one added advantage is that I can't hear a word the 'boss' is saying over the scream of the vacuum. That alone was worth the money! Too bad I can't keep it running.

 

[amick780]

Rather than deal with the 'boss' about fine ash around the house even if it didn't come from the shop vac, I bought the ash vac. It works great and one added advantage is that I can't hear a word the 'boss' is saying over the scream of the vacuum. That alone was worth the money! Too bad I can't keep it running.

Haha, the 'boss' thinks there will be way less ash as well....She's the one who told me to buy it!
"Happy Wife Happy Life"