The other day, we talked a bit about Dewalt’s new wet/dry shop vacuums, including a new stainless steel drum model.
There were some questions, basically asking why someone would buy a stainless steel shop vacuum in place of one with a plastic collection bin.
Um… uh… *shrug*. Stainless models seem to be more aimed at industrial settings, but I don’t recall why. Maybe it’s a perception thing?
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Shop Vac has a “how to choose your perfect wet/dry vac” guide. There, they say:
Plastic vs. Stainless Tank
This one is simple – there are benefits to both. Our plastic tanks are lighter and won’t dent. Our stainless steel tanks are more durable and easier to clean. Whichever is more important to you will be your perfect fit.
So, there you have it. Shop Vac says that their stainless steel vacuum tanks are more durable and easier to clean.
Could there be other reasons? Maybe. But it seems that durability and ease of cleaning are the 2 official reasons.
Shown above is a 12 gallon 5.5 gallon model, which as of the time of this posting sells for $122 via Amazon.
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In the other post, someone mentioned ash cleanup. While ash vacuums do have metal tanks, but they are generally a lot smaller than this and other stainless wet/dry vacuums, and have different filtration systems. Here are some examples of ash vacs.
JeffD
Just because “Shop Vac says that their stainless steel vacuum tanks are more durable and easier to clean.” doesn’t mean diddly-squat. Way back in the day their vacuums were the go to vac’s of many shops. Not so today.
For stainless I prefer VacMaster, for plastic tubs the Craftsman’s are still viable today.
Stuart
So let me ask you this – why buy a stainless VacMaster instead of a plastic tub vac?
JeffD
Personal preference of the wife. And, get this, she thought it looked like R2D2. In my shop I have a 12 gal. plastic tub vac from Craftsman that can also be hooked up to the power tools and bench.
Jerry
My brothers with a metal tank seems louder than mine with plastic. It has kind of a metallic droning echo when running mine doesn’t have. It may not actually be louder if measured by a decibel meter but is more grating on my nerves. That said he backed into it once and it has a dent we sort of hammered out. A plastic tank would have either bounced back of broke
Jerry
Oh and I think more often than not the stainless is bought because of the industrial look more than any actual advantage.
Hang Fire
The real question is why are Shop Vacs insanely noisy, when there is absolutely no need for them to be that way?
Also nothing on the unbelievably fake HP ratings.
“12 gallon 5.5 gallon” I think that is supposed to be “12 gallon 5-fake-HP”
Jason
I’m surprised they haven’t been sued yet the whole vacuum industry the small engine companies got a class action deal with fake HP ratings. This comment isn’t about the the ethics of class action lawsuits just that one hasn’t happened with this care.
Stuart
Someone once said it’s partly for perception, because louder vacuums are automatically considered to be more powerful. Makes sense. That, and quieting a vac might come with too much of a cost premium to justify on $50-150 vacs.
Hang Fire
Everyone in my family despises loud vacuums. Others I talk to hate them as well. There is an untapped market there.
At one time I bought a Shop Vac QSP but after a few years it was as loud as the rest (then it died). It was never that quiet to begin with, but I guess slightly quieter than a standard Shop Vac.
Next time a Shop Vac dies I’m ordering a quiet German vac, even if it is several hundred dollars. I’m tired of donning ear protection just to run a vac for a few moments.
Jim Felt
You’ll never regret the move to a real low dB vac. We long ago dumped all our Craftsman sounding shop vacs. Good riddance.
fred
Once I went over to Fein – I relegated the bigger Craftsman to the garage for outdoor use. My first Feins were a 90-20-25 (9gal. Dalek looking thing) and a Fein 90-11-20 (6gal. mini). I bought a newer boxier looking Fein 5.8 gal. one for our place in Florida. I like them all – for how quiet they are – but the newest one may have better alternatives for shop use.
Stuart posted about the newer Fein:
https://14cyiuhvcgv.com/fein-turbo-vacuum-review/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
TonyT
May 20, 2018
I wonder what compressed air vac’s sound like…and with a cordless air compressor, they’re portable! (Sort of, assuming it can run off compressed air).
Note: I have no clue about how they work in practice, just have seen ads for Exair http://www.exair.com/products/industrial-housekeeping.html
Stuart
You’ll need a very large airline. No way a cordless air compressor is sufficient for something like that, at least not if you want it to meet or exceed traditional vacuum performance.
Ken
In a word: LOUD!
Compressed air vacuums require factory sized air compressors of at least 20 cfm @ 80psi continuously. Most work on the venturi principal. That is from the exair.com website. Portable air compressors won’t produce that!
They really aren’t apparently loud when used in a huge open space as a factory or warehouse, but in a garage type setting one would need ear plugs and ear mufflers.
TonyT
Thanks Ken.
Not that we need one, but I wonder if even my company’s Atlas-Copco compressor could handle that….
Hmmm, just looked it up, and yes, it would, but it would take about half the capacity of our compressor, which has a 15 HP motor.
Paul in Leyden Ma.
A shop type vac is indispensable for regular cleaning maintenance of pellet stoves and there are specialized vacuums designed to minimize accidental burning and melting caused by hot embers. SS would be more resistant to such outcomes. That said, I use a plastic vac to clean my pellet stove after waiting the recommended period of time for any hot “embers” (mainly just fly ash in a pellet stove) to cool and then I put the vac outside for a few hours just to be on the safe side.
Jon
Paul, do not assume your Shop Vac is safe for this application because it is metal. If you were to have a fire, it would be when an ember lodged against the filter and the airflow past it caused the filter to ignite. If you manage to get a hot ember in the tank, you already dodged the bullet. The specialty ash vacuums you describe use heat-resistant filters. Shop Vac filters burn very readily.
I use my Shop Vac for the same purpose, but as a firefighter I’ve gotten pretty sensitive to the “user error” ways people manage to start house fires. This is a popular one. The waiting period you’re observing is what is keeping you safe, the metal tank has no bearing on this.
Paul in Leyden Ma.
Good point. I mentioned the specialized ash vac but shouldn’t have implied that a s/s shop-vac is safe for sucking up burning embers. I wonder how a shop-vac would burn with and without a s/s canister. There is a limited amount of oxygen inside a canister and it would be used up pretty quickly if a filter started burning. A hot ember from a fireplace would be much more serious than a speck of burning fly ash from a pellet stove. Such a hot ember could burn through a plastic canister allowing oxygen to feed the fire and the plastic could start burning too. Are there any studies on vacuum cleaner fires? (I would think burning motors would be another major contributing factor to house fires caused by vacuums).
Garrick
Could the vacuum not draw oxygen in from the inlet or outlet ports anyway? They would be larger than an ember made hole.
Alan
I am an idiot and HAVE started my shop vac on fire doing just that. It was a plastic tank craftsman (loud, 95db) and I’m still using it today, all it needed was a new filter. Lots of smoke shot out of the exhaust, took the motor part off and threw it in the yard, and smothered the 4′ tall flames coming out of the canister with a piece of OSB. Try and avoid also being an idiot
ktash
Shape. I have Ridgid plastic tank vacs but they have a wider footprint and are sort of squat, probably less tippy. I bought one with the same capacity that was more cylindrical and taller with a smaller footprint since I wanted to build a stacked cyclone rolling cart (Jay Bates design) and it made the cart take up less space on the floor. I also took off the plastic base and embedded it in the cart base.
If there was a plastic one with the same shape and removable base on sale I’d have bought that one. I don’t notice a difference in sound. I use a Ridgid sound diffuser on it. I like the Ridgid vacs but don’t like the footprint in general. They are clunky and awkward.
ktash
The most cylindrical ones all seem to be stainless, like the one I bought.
Brian
Try using a Shop Vac, you’ll forget how not-clunky and awkward Ridgid vacs are in comparison.
I wish they’d make plastic tubs with that same shape you describe, my only guess is that they don’t because of the light weight tub might be prone to tipping over.
Adam
Makita makes a dust extractor with a tall cylindrical shape, but it’s probably overkill for general shop cleanup.
https://www.makitatools.com/products/details/VC4710
fred
For industrial use there are systems (vacuum, dust extraction, fume hoods, downdraft tables etc.) for dealing with hot (not burning) swarf, metal chips, explosion prone dusts, and chemicals. These are not pieces of equipment most of us would need or want to pay for to stash in our garage. I don’t have any pellet or wood burning stoves – but do vacuum out my two fireplaces – usually a few days or a week after the fire has died out. I use a Fein dust extractor – then clean it out. Years ago. I tried a regular Craftsman shop vacuum and I believe that some of the fine ash particles became airborne – probably because the filter was not meant to trap such fine particles. In Florida, my seldom-used “fireplace” gets its “fuel” from the Lee County Electric Cooperative – so not much cleanup other than dusting out cobwebs.
On the question of clean ability, I’ve found that seamless (usually plastic) vacuum tubs are a bit easier to clean than metal ones. If the metal ones have seams they tend to collect debris.
Paul in Leyden Ma.
I use a the Shop-Vac 9067100 high efficiency collection filter bags to prevent sheet rock dust and fine ash particles from escaping into air and lungs.
Jeremy
Metal ones are loud, and as soon as they get the slightest dent they make a loud noise every time the pressure changes(turning on and off). I will not buy another. The motor seems louder too.
Garrick
My wife is not allowed in my shop.
I have several plastic vaccums of various sizes (most hooked up to one or two machines. )
She has her own (which she rarely uses).
firefly
I also think that the stainless steel in a consumer grade shop vac is for look more than anything else. I think in most case a plastic tanks is durable and easier to clean.
Joe
Nice shops have nice looking and functional tools, ..why wouldn’t you want the shop to look great if the function is the same. Same for cabinets, tool storage etc.
Garrick
Rainy here today.
I’m a believer that function begets beauty. A plastic vacuum reflects less light, and therefore is less distracting, making easier to concentrate on my task at hand… whether it be woodworking, repairing something, or watching a football game. So, my preference regardless of cost, would be a plastic container… without any aggressive markings.. ie no large 5HP signs or the like. Just a nice shape, with a flexible hose makes me happy.
fred
Point well taken. I understand why manufacturers want to emblazon their name on their tools for advertising purposes – but that doesn’t mean we have to like it. I think my Fein vacuums – have the Fein logo on them – but in a rather modest way that I appreciate.
Tim
I think the metal vacs are akin to “tacticool” advertising.
And anyone who says the metal vacs are better has never received an absolutely massive static shock from one.
Nathan
Since I posed the question at in the other thread – as I mentioned according to the plumber that lives down the street from me. He uses SS wet/dry vacs for his business mostly for the cleanability of the item. IE – he cleans them thoroughly for his business so when he goes to a clients house and has to use one – it’s clean and professional. According to him they clean better and don’t discolor over time.
His was a vacmaster also and was clearly a more professional style device.
Billy Mills
All you guys are too young…Shop wet/dry vacuums were originally made out of metal since the plastic industry was not as advanced as now… Original metal vacs were painted steel and would rust out after prolonged “wet” usage. Stainless steel canisters lasted much longer in prolonged “wet” usage. Wet/dry vacs were a professional or industrial item due to cost. It was only when they started making them from plastic did the price drop low enough for the average Joe to purchase for casual use.
Stuart
My father had one, and it lasted him forever. I remember it being ugly and rusted, but the motor kept on going and going.
Keith
In my experience, not all stainless is created equal. About 7 years ago I bought the top 16gallon Ridgid vac at HD, paying the upcharge for the stainless drum thinking that extra durability should last me a lifetime at about 20 uses per year (and the warranty would cover any eventual motor wear). A year or so later a rust spot on the bottom of the drum developed into a pin hole clear through.
Faced a lot of resistance from their warranty department, first claiming that rust was to be expected if exposed to water and outside normal use (for a wet/dry vac) and thus not warranty eligible. After we talked our way past that bit of ridiculousness, they said I would need to ship them the whole 16gallon vac package at my expense for inspection to validate a claim. Eventually they agreed to process it with just my pictures as proof of the material defect. 3 months after accepting the claim I received a replacement that I use strictly for dry/dust and have a different, plastic bodied vac for wet use.