Several times on this list, someone has brought up the notion of
making the shop vac quieter. I always chime in with my carpeted
plywood box story, how the box makes it so much quieter, and the first
shop vac was a screaming thirty-dollar bigbox Genie that burned out
after over two years of hard work, and the second one is still going
strong after over a year, so the box isn't causing it to overheat.
Sunday night I hooked the shop vac to my ROS, sanded parts for about
an hour while the wife puttered around the yard. Then we chat a while
and go inside for the evening. And the shop vac is so quiet that while
I'm talking to her as I leave, glance over the garashop to make sure I
didn't forget anything and flick out the lights, I don't notice that
I've just left the vac running, all night and all the next day. I also
should have emptied it after that last project.
So, you folks who told me that a carpeted muffler box would be bad for
my shop vac may now feel vindicated. I had to go out and get a new
shop vac yesterday.
I've GOT to put some sort of indicator light on that box.
(And yes, I'll empty it more often too.)
On May 6, 10:26 am, "Lee Michaels" <[email protected]> wrote:
> <[email protected]> wrote in message
>
> news:0e231b62-6da3-4345-b983-61b4dd8914fc@d77g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
>
>
>
> > Several times on this list, someone has brought up the notion of
> > making the shop vac quieter. I always chime in with my carpeted
> > plywood box story, how the box makes it so much quieter, and the first
> > shop vac was a screaming thirty-dollar bigbox Genie that burned out
> > after over two years of hard work, and the second one is still going
> > strong after over a year, so the box isn't causing it to overheat.
>
> > Sunday night I hooked the shop vac to my ROS, sanded parts for about
> > an hour while the wife puttered around the yard. Then we chat a while
> > and go inside for the evening. And the shop vac is so quiet that while
> > I'm talking to her as I leave, glance over the garashop to make sure I
> > didn't forget anything and flick out the lights, I don't notice that
> > I've just left the vac running, all night and all the next day. I also
> > should have emptied it after that last project.
>
> > So, you folks who told me that a carpeted muffler box would be bad for
> > my shop vac may now feel vindicated. I had to go out and get a new
> > shop vac yesterday.
>
> > I've GOT to put some sort of indicator light on that box.
>
> > (And yes, I'll empty it more often too.)
>
> Which is why a lot of folks put the whole shop on a subpanel and shut down
> the whole shop when they leave. Can't leave anything on if there is no
> electrical power available.
>
> It a good thing that your old vacuum did not spark up and cause a fire
> inside of that box.
>
> One potential fix would be to just install a spring wound timer switch and
> run your power cord to that. That way it turns off automatically. They are
> cheap and can be installed easily. I have done this a number of times.
>
> You can install an outlet box with the switch controlling it. Or just cut a
> heavy duty extension cord in half, install the outlet box with the timer
> switch in line and plug your vac into the other end.
It was a year old Shop Vac brand so I think chances of fire from the
motor running too long are pretty slim. Still possible of course and
I'm thankful.
The only thing to keep running is the heater but except for that, now
that I think about it, killing the subpanel at the end of the day
wouldn't be a bad idea. I won't be needing the heater much longer.
But I'm still going to put an indicator light on that thing. Or a
timer.
On May 6, 3:06 pm, "Upscale" <[email protected]> wrote:
> I haven't got around to building it yet, but awhile ago I drew up plans for
> a similar box for the air compressor I use in my apartment. Generally, I use
> it for less than 10 minutes once a week, but I have to guess that even those
> 10 minutes would be irritating to neighbours.
Oh yeah, I built one of those too. :-) That one's got a window fan
running constantly at one end, and it DOES have an indicator light on
the switch. The motor and output tube get hot enough that even though
it only kicks in once every twenty minutes or so, I wanted constant
cooling on it.
It's not as quiet as the shop vac but it's a lot quieter than without
it. The wife says it's fine unless I want to use it after 9 pm. :-)
A lot of the noise is vibration. If you're in an apartment, I think
you'd benefit from cushioning underneath as much as you would from the
baffling.
<[email protected]> wrote in message
> Several times on this list, someone has brought up the notion of
> making the shop vac quieter. I always chime in with my carpeted
> plywood box story
I haven't got around to building it yet, but awhile ago I drew up plans for
a similar box for the air compressor I use in my apartment. Generally, I use
it for less than 10 minutes once a week, but I have to guess that even those
10 minutes would be irritating to neighbours.
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:0e231b62-6da3-4345-b983-61b4dd8914fc@d77g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
> Several times on this list, someone has brought up the notion of
> making the shop vac quieter. I always chime in with my carpeted
> plywood box story, how the box makes it so much quieter, and the first
> shop vac was a screaming thirty-dollar bigbox Genie that burned out
> after over two years of hard work, and the second one is still going
> strong after over a year, so the box isn't causing it to overheat.
>
> Sunday night I hooked the shop vac to my ROS, sanded parts for about
> an hour while the wife puttered around the yard. Then we chat a while
> and go inside for the evening. And the shop vac is so quiet that while
> I'm talking to her as I leave, glance over the garashop to make sure I
> didn't forget anything and flick out the lights, I don't notice that
> I've just left the vac running, all night and all the next day. I also
> should have emptied it after that last project.
>
> So, you folks who told me that a carpeted muffler box would be bad for
> my shop vac may now feel vindicated. I had to go out and get a new
> shop vac yesterday.
>
> I've GOT to put some sort of indicator light on that box.
>
> (And yes, I'll empty it more often too.)
Which is why a lot of folks put the whole shop on a subpanel and shut down
the whole shop when they leave. Can't leave anything on if there is no
electrical power available.
It a good thing that your old vacuum did not spark up and cause a fire
inside of that box.
One potential fix would be to just install a spring wound timer switch and
run your power cord to that. That way it turns off automatically. They are
cheap and can be installed easily. I have done this a number of times.
You can install an outlet box with the switch controlling it. Or just cut a
heavy duty extension cord in half, install the outlet box with the timer
switch in line and plug your vac into the other end.