Thread: Shop Vac quest

Originally Posted by Philadelph

Supposedly you can get a muffler to dampen the sound on at least Craftsman vacs (I assume all are compatible). I've just lived with the sound, I don't mind it that much especially since I have other, louder tools lol.

I'm with you on this one. My Delta dust collector sounds like an F16 taking off and like you said in your previous post it's mostly going to be just used for sucking up dirt and cleaning the shop during or after a days work. It's not that I'm going to be vacuuming for hours either.

Apparantely some of the craftsman are rebranded ridgid vacs. The Feistol is more aimed at dust collecting while the Fein a shop vac. Most of the money paid for those higher priced brands is the noise level they produce and the dust filtration. I guess those blow less dust out than comes in compared to the cheaper brands. Add to that all the Hepa and other expensive accessories which you're pretty much forced to buy cause they Fein doesn't really come with anything but the shop vac. Will look into the Ridgid and Crafsman and see who's got what in stock. I have a local Sears and Home Depot 10 minutes drive away.

+1 on Rigid

You might want to consider something like this as a pre-collector for your shop-vac. I have not used one but have been planning on getting one this summer when I'm going to be doing a lot more woodworking.

Here is a cheaper option from Woodcraft. I doubt if it works as well, but it would still improve the performance of your shop-vac.

I continued my quest and research and finally decided on the Ridgid WD1851. My wife still had a $25.00 home depot gift certificate laying around.

I decided on WD1851 model as this was the only one with the highest CFM. The wider the hose the better too. The Miele vacuum we have at home was being used the last few months and it did an OK job at sucking the remaining dust and debris from my power tools and shop. It has a Hepa filter and all that jazz but with a CFM of 140 I was looking for something more powerful plus the tiny bags those vacuum cleaners use make it pretty useless.

The Ridgid I got has a CFM of 203 which is nearly 50% more of my Miele. And it shows. That shop vac is amazing. I have sucked dust away from the shop I didn't even know existed. I even used the vac in my office and the sucking power is truly a revelation. Now I'm screwed as with my enthusiasm I showed the wife and now I got instructed to clean the whole house. Should have better kept my mouth shut.

What I like so far

. It's rock solid. I was afraid it was going to be to big and cumbersome. it's not. It's like a mini Hummer. It has 2 small and 2 large wheels. It's extremely maneuverable, has no issues when pulled over cables laying on the floor and even in my small shop it's not a bother at all. It does have a 16 gallon tank so plenty of room to collect dust. It's also not heavy and can easily be lifted if needed.

. Sucking power rocks. I mean that thing can suck the fillings from your teeth. No complaints.

. 2 1/2 inch hose fits on several power tools if needed and there's enough accessories and adaptors on the market.

. Easy to dismantle too. So easy, even a caveman can do it.

What I don't like so far

. It's loud. I pretty much knew that and it's not a real issue as I mostly use ear plugs when working with some of my tools. It came standard with the muffler but it's not a silent killer accessory either.
If that's worth paying $400.00 more to get a silent Feisol. I guess it would be for some.

. Like most tools it comes with cheap hose. The supplied hose will do the job but the upgraded $36.00 hose is better. If the original supplied hose ever breaks I'll get the upgraded one.

. The vac can be used without a bag. It uses an air filter. Mine came with a upgraded 3 ply air filter. There's even a 5 ply Hepa air filter available. What the manual doesn't mention is that one can buy and use a high filtered bag for the vac. They could at least have added a bag in the box. I had to find out myself that such bags existed and purchased a set. I think it was $17.00. Worth every dime if you are going to use the vac for dry pick up.
Without the bag the dirt gets sucked in the big container passing through the air filter. When it's time to clear the container you dismantle the vac by removing the top part. Now you need to toss all the crap. But what sense does it make when all the dust and dirt just lays in the open container. I mean, duh... you need to empty the container with all the dust and dirt flying back into space. Unless you have a big dumpster 100 yards away from your home, wear a dust mask there's no way you're going to be emptying that container without spilling one micron of dust particle back into the air. And you are going to be spending some time cleaning the air filter which will get clogged at intervals and will need to be eventually replaced. Again, they could at least have added a bag with your initial purchase.

Basically that's it so far. It does come with a good standard of accessories. I only added the dust and carpet accessory + the vac bags.

It comes with a lifetime guarantee but in general when it's time to make use of such guarantee there's always the fine print. Guarantee is probably on the engine only. Least of my problems at this point. By the time it's time to change there will be an ever stronger and more powerful one on the market.

A quick update as I now have used the Ridgid shopvac intensively the past 10 days.


This thing rocks! period.

This is one of the best investments I have done from all my power tools or appliances. Can't believe I waited this long.

My workshop has never been kept so clean. Except for the noise this shopvac is extremely powerful and efficient. Two thumbs up.

Would we steer you wrong? LOL

Glad you like it.