mass_burner
Minister of Fire
the PS must have a drywall type filter in it. if so, that's what's making it work well. you can put a drywall filter on any shop vac for 15 bucks. still not seeing
Ash vacuum great price just bought one
- Thread starter domenick
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mass_burner
Minister of Fire
Polar Bear
Feeling the Heat
wsar10
Burning Hunk
An ash vac is specifically designed for ashes. It is made of metal, has a metal hose, and a fire resistant washable reusable filter. A shop vac does not and a paper drywall filter could very easily catch fire in the off chance an ember is mistakenly sucked in. In the fine print of most shop vacs they tell you not to use them on ashes......to me worth every penny of $60.
mass_burner
Minister of Fire
Enigma869
Feeling the Heat
I suspect it wouldn't be an issue. Aren't ash vacs designed to vacuum hot ash? I always assumed they were, given they're all made out of metal and usually have no plastic.
wsar10
Burning Hunk
Back when I had the plumbing and heating business I would service boiler's and furnaces all the time while hot some of them being coal boilers. I used a Sid Harvey 5gal sweeper (the thing weighed a ton and helped fore arm tone after carrying it down basement steps all winter
) but never an issue or a confirmed "hot coal".
wsar10
Burning Hunk
I got the vacuum today and used it tonight.
The thing works great, I am impressed that $90 vacuum works this well, and as said before the brush/crevis tool is a must have !
Thanks guys for providing info that helped me to make a good purchase.
The thing works great, I am impressed that $90 vacuum works this well, and as said before the brush/crevis tool is a must have !
Thanks guys for providing info that helped me to make a good purchase.
SmokeEater
Feeling the Heat
Yup, the PowerSmith is well worth the money and I too use it often. More than once a week. I do a good clean on the PB105 every Saturday and the little vacuum works flawlessly pumping NO dust into the cellar keeping the wife happy. My shop vac did the opposite. Dust in -- more dust out!!
mass_burner
Minister of Fire
don't they warn against sucking up hot ashes? so if you can't suck up hot ash and you could use a shop vac for 1/4 the cost with a drywall filter and do the same job, what value is here?
They can warn you all they want but it happens. The PowerSmith has a washable burn resistant filter and if the thing gets too hot, as in when you suck up embers, the motor shuts down. To each their own but at the price and with extra filters costing just ten bucks if you ever need one, I love this thing.
For me I always let my pellet stove cool down a while anyway, so I can get behind the baffle for cleaning. Hot ashes are rarely a concern, though I am a safety freak. Keeping the dust down is bigger a concern.
St_Earl
Minister of Fire
these days i remove the greatest bulk of the ash manually with a thin flat piece of sheet metal as a dust pan and place it in the metal bucket from the crappy ash vac i bought at tsc.
this speeds the cooling process to effectively zero time and allows me to be able to visually examine the remaining (very) small pile of ash for any embers.
i just use my ancient shop vac. i cobbled together an extended hose so i can set the vac out on the enclosed front porch to keep the dust out of the house.
it works out since the front door is right there near the stove.
the vac is so old they don't make a hepa filter to fit it. but even w/ just a paper filter over the foam filter, the dust escaping is very minimal.
ps- never ever buy this (absolute piece of shite) ash vac -
![[Hearth.com] Ash vacuum great price just bought one](/talk/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi.ebayimg.com%2F00%2Fs%2FODkwWDExMjg%3D%2F%24%28KGrHqV%2C%21rYE88g6%28LOVBPf1buRSLw%7E%7E60_35.JPG%3Fset_id%3D880000500F&hash=8144448fce4267209bde63c5be1bb4e4 "[Hearth.com] Ash vacuum great price just bought one")
it's not only anemically weak, but the motor overheats and shuts down if you run it more than a few minutes at a time. this is confirmed by at least one other board member who bought the same vac as me.
this speeds the cooling process to effectively zero time and allows me to be able to visually examine the remaining (very) small pile of ash for any embers.
i just use my ancient shop vac. i cobbled together an extended hose so i can set the vac out on the enclosed front porch to keep the dust out of the house.
it works out since the front door is right there near the stove.
the vac is so old they don't make a hepa filter to fit it. but even w/ just a paper filter over the foam filter, the dust escaping is very minimal.
ps- never ever buy this (absolute piece of shite) ash vac -
it's not only anemically weak, but the motor overheats and shuts down if you run it more than a few minutes at a time. this is confirmed by at least one other board member who bought the same vac as me.
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Tonyray
Minister of Fire
This cheapie from HD works just as good.....
30.00 vrs 79.00..
I prefer it due to small 2 gallon size.
don't like haulin a 5 gallon from the basement for the small
amount of pellet stove ash..
sock catches any and all dust..
and yes, I do wait till embers have died out.
30.00 vrs 79.00..
I prefer it due to small 2 gallon size.
don't like haulin a 5 gallon from the basement for the small
amount of pellet stove ash..
sock catches any and all dust..
and yes, I do wait till embers have died out.
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TimfromMA
Minister of Fire
I will use my ash vac about every 10 bags or so to do a very quick cleanout of the ashes around the burnpot and vacuum out the ash pan too all without shutting the stove down. I've been doing this ever since the stove was installed with zero problems.
Hubby built a water filter, for between the shop vac, and stove for our daughter.
She is stilled told to wait until the stove is "cold"....but the shop vac filter, still looks like new.
He has one on his sandblasting cabinet - that used to be notorious, for eating a shop vac a year.
She is stilled told to wait until the stove is "cold"....but the shop vac filter, still looks like new.
He has one on his sandblasting cabinet - that used to be notorious, for eating a shop vac a year.
bogieb
Minister of Fire
Just ordered one. I have hated using my little shop vac for the stoves, but couldn't see paying 100 for an ash vac. 60 with free shipping though is up my ally. Thanks ion for bringing this back up and letting us know they are back on sale!
Bioburner
Moderator
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