I recently bought my first big shop vac. For years I've had a little
12-gallon vac with the small diameter hose. It's been a workhorse, but
it's always been annoying in the shop. Every dust port is rigged for big
hoses, chips and shavings clog it very easily, etc.
So this year I got one of those $99 18-gallon "6.5 peak HP" combination
blower/vac jobs from Lowe's. The blower on this thing is indeed mighty
powerful. It took the town forever to get around to cleaning up the gravel
left on the road from winter, so when we got out the bikes I went up the
street around my house and blew as much of the gravel into the ditch as I
could. (As luck would have it, the damn sweeper truck came by the very
next day. I'll bet they were watching me out there the day before, and
laughing their asses off.)
So anyway, the motor spins, and it moves a lot of air, but the thing doesn't
seem to have much suction as a vac. I've never used a vac that had big
pipe before, so I have no idea if this is normal or expected. It seems it
could be that the size of the bore means effectively high volume, low
suction. It does seem capable of sucking up sawdust, chips, and filings,
but the thing won't pick up small finishing nails or tiny sheet metal
screws. It so reliably refuses to pick up anything the slightest bit
heavy, that I can suck dust out of my bins full of small nuts and bolts
without any fear that I'll loose things down the pipe (which is sort of a
feature, I guess, though I'm actually too paranoid to feel quite
comfortable doing that.)
There's a conical accessory that stops the bore down to about 1". If I fit
that, it will suck up nails, and then it becomes a cyclone. At the end of
the session, I can dump the nails out the business end of the hose. They
never go up the pipe at all.
I'm learning how to use this thing to do what it can do, but it seems I
won't be getting rid of my trusty old small bore shop vac at this rate.
I'd just like to know if this behavior is typical of the breed, or perhaps
the side effect of some compromise from making the blower detachable. I
debated on that point, figuring it was a stupid gimmick, but this one was
the second or third beefiest vac they had, and the next one up had a blower
thingie too.
Did I get hosed, or do big vacs suck at sucking? :)
--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan <[email protected]>
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
Confirmed post number: 16485 Approximate word count: 494550
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
John DeBoo wrote:
> the area where the filter goes too, maybe its not seated correctly.
> If those don't help, take that puppy back and ask them or exchange
> it for another. The unit itself is an awesome.
I've had it for a few months now, I'm afraid, so I can't take it back. I
should have thought to ask about it sooner, but I hadn't actually done much
with it until I did the huge shop cleanup. I expected it to suck bowling
balls, and it won't even pick up a 7/16" nut.
Sounds like I got a lemon indeed. I guess I'll have to go through channels
and see what I can do about it.
Or sell it on Ebay for twice the retail price and go buy another one... :)
--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan <[email protected]>
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
Confirmed post number: 16522 Approximate word count: 495660
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
Figure 743 watts = 1 horse power. A 6.5 peak horse power will take
4829.5 watts usually ehr turned onat the max. This means it would need
43.9 amps to operate when turned on. Of course that would requre at
least a 220 volt line or a huge breaker and you and I know that this
isn't needed. So ehat do you have. A shop vac which is not rated like
DC motors so at you buy the bigger unit, maybe a 1/2 horse unit.
--
Woody
Check out my Web Page at:
http://community-1.webtv.net/WoodworkerJoe/WoodworkerJoesInfo
Where you will find:
******** How My Shop Works ******** 5-21-03
* * * Build a $20 DC Separator Can Lid. 1-14-03
* * * DC Relay Box Building Plans. 1-14-03
* * * The Bad Air Your Breath Everyday.1-14-03
* * * What is a Real Woodworker? 2-8-03
* * * Murphy's Woodworking Definitions. 2-8-03
* * * Murphy's Woodworking Laws. 4-6-03
* * * What is the true meaning of life? 1-14-03
* * * Woodworker Shop Signs. 2-8-03
I tried several makes until I settled on one. I would take a clear hose and
seal it into the vac hose of the vac and drop the end of the clear hose into
a bucket of water to see how high it would pull it straight up above the
surface of the water. I found that the lift varied from 18 inches to over
70 inches depending on different makes and models. Most of the manufactures
have the info on their machines if you dig deep enough. The CFM (cubic feet
per minute) is what the try and sell the machine on. The lift will be in
sealed hose. I don't know the exact wording. HP doesn't always mean high
lift. It is more related to CFM.
Silvan <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I recently bought my first big shop vac. For years I've had a little
> 12-gallon vac with the small diameter hose. It's been a workhorse, but
> it's always been annoying in the shop. Every dust port is rigged for big
> hoses, chips and shavings clog it very easily, etc.
>
> So this year I got one of those $99 18-gallon "6.5 peak HP" combination
> blower/vac jobs from Lowe's. The blower on this thing is indeed mighty
> powerful. It took the town forever to get around to cleaning up the
gravel
> left on the road from winter, so when we got out the bikes I went up the
> street around my house and blew as much of the gravel into the ditch as I
> could. (As luck would have it, the damn sweeper truck came by the very
> next day. I'll bet they were watching me out there the day before, and
> laughing their asses off.)
>
> So anyway, the motor spins, and it moves a lot of air, but the thing
doesn't
> seem to have much suction as a vac. I've never used a vac that had big
> pipe before, so I have no idea if this is normal or expected. It seems it
> could be that the size of the bore means effectively high volume, low
> suction. It does seem capable of sucking up sawdust, chips, and filings,
> but the thing won't pick up small finishing nails or tiny sheet metal
> screws. It so reliably refuses to pick up anything the slightest bit
> heavy, that I can suck dust out of my bins full of small nuts and bolts
> without any fear that I'll loose things down the pipe (which is sort of a
> feature, I guess, though I'm actually too paranoid to feel quite
> comfortable doing that.)
>
> There's a conical accessory that stops the bore down to about 1". If I
fit
> that, it will suck up nails, and then it becomes a cyclone. At the end of
> the session, I can dump the nails out the business end of the hose. They
> never go up the pipe at all.
>
> I'm learning how to use this thing to do what it can do, but it seems I
> won't be getting rid of my trusty old small bore shop vac at this rate.
> I'd just like to know if this behavior is typical of the breed, or perhaps
> the side effect of some compromise from making the blower detachable. I
> debated on that point, figuring it was a stupid gimmick, but this one was
> the second or third beefiest vac they had, and the next one up had a
blower
> thingie too.
>
> Did I get hosed, or do big vacs suck at sucking? :)
>
> --
> Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan <[email protected]>
> Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
> Confirmed post number: 16485 Approximate word count: 494550
> http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
>
Silvan wrote:
> I recently bought my first big shop vac. For years I've had a little
> 12-gallon vac with the small diameter hose. It's been a workhorse, but
> it's always been annoying in the shop. Every dust port is rigged for big
> hoses, chips and shavings clog it very easily, etc.
>
> So this year I got one of those $99 18-gallon "6.5 peak HP" combination
> blower/vac jobs from Lowe's.
I have the same one from Lowes and mine works great. Hell, I could
suck the kids off the sidewalk with it<G>. It sounds like a serious
restriction to me. Theres a drain at the bottom of the tank for
getting all the crud out, maybe its not closed all the way, or maybe
you don't have it fully connected where the hose fits to the tank
causing a 'vacuum' leak on the inlet. I think theres a ball inside
the area where the filter goes too, maybe its not seated correctly.
If those don't help, take that puppy back and ask them or exchange
it for another. The unit itself is an awesome.
spearfox wrote:
> check for leaks, like the lid, hose or drain. Maybe the filter element is
> clogged or just to thick for it.
Did all that, and it seems fine. I took the filter out and brushed it
clean, but it didn't make the slightest difference. (Nor did leaving it
off.)
I guess it just doesn't suck.
--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan <[email protected]>
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
Confirmed post number: 16505 Approximate word count: 495150
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
John DeBoo wrote:
> ShopVac has a web site where you can ask questions etc.
> http://www.shopvac.com. I contacted them right after getting mine
> inquiring about the cost of a certain pre-filter but it was wayyyyy
> too expensive for me. They were quick to respond to my customer
> service query though.
Good idea.
Of course, when I went to show SWMBO how it doesn't suck (so she'd let me
buy the diesel-powered model with the intercooled, dual turbo V16 and
18-speed tranmission) it sucked up a number of rocks, screws, and whatnot
using just the straight hose.
Threw some finishing nails on the floor, and fitted one of the... Um...
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thingies, and it wouldn't pick them up.
--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan <[email protected]>
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
Confirmed post number: 16545 Approximate word count: 496350
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/