Ash Vacuumes

[roadking88]

i have a cheetah 2 and ended going back to my sears 5 gals with a hepa filter...twice the suction ...also has the blower so i can blow out the vent pipe...no ash in the house at all

 

[jackiec]

Check out the Cricket ash vac . Have had it 4 years and works great..

 

[jjk454ss]

Mills Fleet Farm has the Powersmith for $80 shipped so I just ordered one. Figured if I just kept thinking about it I'd end up spending too much and buying the most expensive one out there, this seemed like a good price.

 

[Harvey Schneider]

This is the cheapest way if you have the shop vac. (broken link removed)

I have the Cleva. It gets the job done, but is a little light on suction. It will pick up the stray pellet or two in the ash pan and gets all of the fly ash in the fire box, but I feel that a more powerful vac would make the job easier. If I had it to do over again, I would have bought something with a little more suction.
There are other threads on the forum with lots of good buying advice.

 

[BSH1F]

I also use a regular home depot shop vacation with the hepa filter. I can get about 2 cleanings per filter before it's too clogged to suck anymore. It's amazing how great they do filter.

 

[mass_burner]

I also use a regular home depot shop vacation with the hepa filter. I can get about 2 cleanings per filter before it's too clogged to suck anymore. It's amazing how great they do filter.

2 cleanings? I used a shop vac with a fine dust filter to vac up a drywall dust until the 3 gal vac was almost full with no issues.

 

[BSH1F]

2 cleanings? I used a shop vac with a fine dust filter to vac up a drywall dust until the 3 gal vac was almost full with no issues.

I can fill my shop vac up twice before the filter is too clogged to suck anything small up in it, sorry ment two shop vacs full. Not two times of cleaning, that would be a walk in stove lol.

 

[Ctcarl]

Nice looking, but 230 bucks.......

I agree that was a big bite lol.again I do a lot of research and for the extra money like the fact that when I'm done for what ever reason(didn't wait long enough ) I can put it away in the basement.with out Having to worry that it can burn through a cheap plastic vac and have smokey or worse basment.when I was a newb I did it right after and the only thing that I f--Ed up was the filter holder on the top melted.the cheetah can stand some hot pellets lol

 

[RhodyPelletRook]

Ok, ive always used a shop vac, one everything was DEAD cold and out. Really think I want a ash vac now to keep from breathing in the crud.

Don't want to spend a ton of $$, but something decent, even if its small. Ive seen small Shop Vac brand, cheetahs, etc...

What does everybody here use ?

If you have Benny's near you, they sell the PowerSmith for 69.99, if not order from Blain Fleet Farm.

 

[St_Earl]

i bought a hearth country for $99 when i first got my stove.

what a piece of ****

doesn't have good suction and overheats to the point of the motor shutting down if you run it more that just a few minutes.
another member here had the same exact issues, so i know it's not just me.
i think it may be because of the sound insulation they use around the motor.
but it makes it unusable. and the suction is so bad to begin with it's a moot point anyway.

i would avoid this at all costs.
the can from it is now my ash bucket for when i scoop the ash from the firebox.
i have shifted from vacuuming every time i clear the fire box to doing it much less often.
i just have a flat piece of sheet metal i use to lift the ash out. that way i don't have to wait for the stove to cool.
this makes a big difference when it gets to below zero.

and my shop vac has so much more suction than the hearth country, i am more than happy to use it.

 

[richkorn]

In my signature...

Powersmith.

 

[RAVinMetrowest]

I'm new to this stuff but have the PowerSmith PAVC101 - under $100 from Amazon.

I've burned about 6 bags of pellets and cleaned my insert a few times.

I was curious how much ash was accumulating so I cleaned it out. Got about 12 oz of ash when I cleaned it out.

I contacted the mfg about the unit getting hot (when cleaning out a cold insert) and they reminded me that the unit has a thermal shut off and it has never gotten to that level. This fact and the 2 year warranty will keep me protected from any failure of the system.

Vac works great!

I have a permanently connected compressor running air throughout my house. For some reason the manual discourages you from cleaning the filter with compressed air - I suspect people can use too much pressure. I gently cleaned my filter the other day - outside in the yard with the air - and all seems well.

Comes with some well thought out accessories as well.

I'm happy - - YMMV

 

[dlehneman]

As an update to my Powersmith vs. Cleva post (just got a Cleva free with second stove, but have been using a Powersmith for 2 years): I always thought the Powersmith was loud (more so after 2 years of abuse), but the Cleva makes me want to put in earplugs...this thing screams terribly! Suction seems slightly less the Powersmith and I think I like the casters better then the lack of them on the Cleva.
Lot's of people have mentioned using a shop vac, and I do think that my 5 gal / 5.5hp contractor shop vac would easily do a better job with more suction then either of the ash vacs. It's also significantly quieter. I just prefer the metal canister and nozzle end so that I can vacuum a bit sooner without worry of melting something or having a fire in the vacuum.

 

[709GADE]

I sue a Bad Ash 2, cost $149.99 but got it on sale for $49.99. Works good thus far.
(broken image removed)

 

[Augmister]

EX-shop vac NOW Powersmith...they go on sale and I got mine last year with free shipping for $59.00. Get one!

 

[mass_burner]

gonna get my powersmith tonight at Benny's, $69.

 

[Dustin]

Not to hijack, but I have been kicking around getting an ash vac.

How cool does the stove need to be to run one of these? I'm thinking it can do double duty, the pellet stove and the wood stove..

Can there be active embers?

 

[dlehneman]

Depends on the unit, Powersmith is rated for 140 degrees, Cleva only 100 degrees and the Loveless vacs I believe are 400 degrees, but it's a bit hard to decipher the actual rating. They claim the filter is rated for 1200 degrees, but also list a "fail-safe" temp of 400 degrees. That may be the motor protection, but not sure. I have done some glowing embers with the Powersmith (by accident) without any problems, but I wouldn't want to make a habit of it. I'm sure the filter would develop holes pretty quickly.
So basically some have to be totally cool, while others may be still warm or somewhat hot.

 

[mipellet1]

hey i search for this i have been wanting an ash vac since i got my stove last year just could not afford it. I knew i wanted the powersmith i see it has lost of good reviews on it, well yesterday i was picking up materials for work and i walked into a local store they had two on the shelf right when i walked into the store so with my tire rebate i just got in the mail i snag one up. i used it for the first time tonight and i can see were this is going to be easier to clean and faster. dlehneman answered my question pretty good i was wondering how hot i could vac up. what is the time most of you guys wait after shutting down 30 min. to an hour or do you start right after it shuts off?

 

[JRA]

Power Smith works perfect for me. 2yr warranty and I paid 79.99 also spent extra 10 for additional backup filter.

 

[alternativeheat]

Actually, the Hearth Country 400 sells for about $120.00
I bought mine from Woodland Direct.

All I can say is so far so good, the Hearth Country 400 is working fine for me and it was part of my dealers promo on certain Harman stoves last year. So with that in mind my total purchase savings was $220 when I bought the new stove last year.

 

[kniffin50]

Cheetah II $20 tag sale find runs great and does a good job.

 

[Jack Morrissey]

Powersmith. Ocean state job lot has them for $69.00 Got mine at Benny's a year ago for 59.0

 

[caseman]

Ok, ive always used a shop vac, one everything was DEAD cold and out. Really think I want a ash vac now to keep from breathing in the crud.

Don't want to spend a ton of $$, but something decent, even if its small. Ive seen small Shop Vac brand, cheetahs, etc...

What does everybody here use ?

I used a shop vac, with the fine (dry wall dust) bag and cloth filter for 4-5 years. Then I had the bright idea that a Cougar brand ash vacuum was the way to go, ie: metal canister, contains all the air borne fly ash etc. I used it for 2 seasons and switched back to the shop vac. I found that this small vacuum had very little suction, and constantly needed to be cleaned (filter system) during a routine cleaning of the stove. I also found that the hose and other parts were a poor fitting design as things would constantly detach from the canister. For a price currently of $230. on Amazon, it is way over priced and has a very poor performance in my opinion. I purchase a two filter bag for the shop vac and I will get one whole season (195 bags of pellets) out of one bag, leaving the second bag for next year. The shop vac will suck up all the ash (cold of course!) from my bin while inside the stove etc. Before, I would have to carry the full bucket outside and dump it into another bag for the garbage, with the ash flying every where in the process. The bag of the two filter bags cost around $18. Doing the math on this, I can get 24 seasons of vacuuming with the filter bags which would add up to the purchase price of the $230. ash vacuum. The plus to all of what I just described it that the shop vac method is 5 times quicker to use(not to mention, 20 times better suction) than ash vacuum.

 

[tiger]

Best post I've seen in this topic; real comparative input between two brands.

As an update to my Powersmith vs. Cleva post (just got a Cleva free with second stove, but have been using a Powersmith for 2 years): I always thought the Powersmith was loud (more so after 2 years of abuse), but the Cleva makes me want to put in earplugs...this thing screams terribly! Suction seems slightly less the Powersmith and I think I like the casters better then the lack of them on the Cleva.
Lot's of people have mentioned using a shop vac, and I do think that my 5 gal / 5.5hp contractor shop vac would easily do a better job with more suction then either of the ash vacs. It's also significantly quieter. I just prefer the metal canister and nozzle end so that I can vacuum a bit sooner without worry of melting something or having a fire in the vacuum.