Scantlings

Literally.

So our old dirt devil is finally retired. I can easily say we've gone through at least one roll of duct tape keeping that thing alive for the last 20 years. Looked around for a new vac. We just need one that sucks and sucks HARD. We have hardwood floors, so we don't need all that fancy carpet cleaning stuff.

Decided to spring for a $39.95 6 gallon shop vac to use for the house. When I brought it home, my wife eyed it suspiciously. "Go ahead, be skeptical. But wait until you use it!"

So she finally used it today.

There's no going back now. Shop vac is a success. Sure, it's kind of ugly. But it sucks mucho and it's actually lighter than our crappy dirt devil. Not to mention the dirt devil's measly dust container.

Shop vac's rock. That's all there is too it.

Wait until she discovers it'll suck up wet stuff too...

What did you get, Rick? Sounds like you're happy with your $39.95 purchase.

I am going to be shop vac shopping soon. Someone stole mine from the shop.

I hate it when that happens.

I got the 6 gal Ridgid from Home Depot. It has a handle on the top that makes it easy to take up and down stairs (our house has 3 floors). I bought a bunch of accessories including a smaller hose and a bags. Even then, still cheaper than those whimpy 'home' vacuums.

Soñadora wrote:I got the 6 gal Ridgid from Home Depot. It has a handle on the top that makes it easy to take up and down stairs (our house has 3 floors). I bought a bunch of accessories including a smaller hose and a bags. Even then, still cheaper than those whimpy 'home' vacuums.

Thanks Rick.

I went smaller; got this one at Lowe's today.

Still 2.5 hp motor, so it should be plenty sucky, but for what I'm wanting to do I liked the smaller size -- and it being only 30 bucks

While I don't use a shop-vac at home (we use a Dysan that can pull up mountains of dog hair) I use one when working on S'agapo and a 12-v version as a quick-n-dirty bilge pump. It is far better at getting the bits of water that come down the hatch off the floor than anything else I've found.

BV

GerryH wrote:

Soñadora wrote:I got the 6 gal Ridgid from Home Depot. It has a handle on the top that makes it easy to take up and down stairs (our house has 3 floors). I bought a bunch of accessories including a smaller hose and a bags. Even then, still cheaper than those whimpy 'home' vacuums.

Thanks Rick.

I went smaller; got this one at Lowe's today.

Still 2.5 hp motor, so it should be plenty sucky, but for what I'm wanting to do I liked the smaller size -- and it being only 30 bucks

I have had the earlier version of that one Gerry. for many years and it's a great little sucker for its size, and convenient particularly on boat cleanup.

GerryH wrote:

Soñadora wrote:I got the 6 gal Ridgid from Home Depot. It has a handle on the top that makes it easy to take up and down stairs (our house has 3 floors). I bought a bunch of accessories including a smaller hose and a bags. Even then, still cheaper than those whimpy 'home' vacuums.

Thanks Rick.

I went smaller; got this one at Lowe's today.

Still 2.5 hp motor, so it should be plenty sucky, but for what I'm wanting to do I liked the smaller size -- and it being only 30 bucks

That's a good little vac. I have 2 stingers that I use on the boat. Not sure why I have two. I have a big mutha shop vac in the garage that I have used on the boat to clean water out of the bilge sump as well as attached to the Fein when sanding. That thing could suck the chrome off a trailer hitch. A small, 1 hp jobber in the basement and now this one. Our new vac has wheels and it will only live in the house in order to stay clean.

Soñadora wrote:...it will only live in the house in order to stay clean.

Keeping a vacuum clean -- that reminds me of a funny story. I hate throwing things away, and would rather fix something than buy a new one, so when the motor in the upright at the restaurant quit (choked to death on straws and hunks of food from the floor that should have been picked up or swept up instead of sucked up), I bought a new motor to replace it. The innards of that vacuum were one of the nasty dirtiest places I think I've ever worked -- the closest thing I can compare what was inside of it to is probably toner powder from a printer cartridge. Except greasier.

I took apart the vacuum, pulled the old motor and put the new one in an hooked up the wires, all the while with my kids climbing all over me "helping" and distracting and slowing the process down to the point that I was running out of time, and kinda rushing to get it finished. Plugged in the cord, turned it on and it burst into a cloud of smoke and spark and flame in my lap (sitting cross-legged on the floor of the basement). Aaack! Turned it off, unplugged it, put the wires right, and it ran fine. Until it died again a few months later, like they all did anyway.

The really stupid part is, it was $72 motor that I was putting into a $79 plastic vacuum. I just couldn't stand throwing another one into the landfill. Now I have commercial units -- they don't choke so easily, and are (mostly) all metal -- made to be re-built. I like them better.