What Is a Good Vacuum to Use for Coal Ash

Hi everyone,

I blew out my shop vac, think it was due to the fine coal ash even though I have a pleated filter instaled. What is a good vac\method to clean up the coal ash

I have a Ridgid vacuum & use the dust bags they sell for it. Made for fine particles like drywall dust. Home Depot has them.

There is a vacuum made just for pellet stoves. if you ever seem Pellet stove ash you know it is very fine. Almost like powder. Not sure where to find one but I'm sure any stove shop that sells pellet stoves will most likely have one. I do know they are kinda pricey though.

ktm rider wrote:There is a vacuum made just for pellet stoves. if you ever seem Pellet stove ash you know it is very fine. Almost like powder. Not sure where to find one but I'm sure any stove shop that sells pellet stoves will most likely have one. I do know they are kinda pricey though.

I have seen vacuums for use in cleaning out woodstoves/coal stoves etc. at the local stove store, they are all metal shop vac type units. The prices are high. A commercial all metal shop vac type would also work, these are pricy as well.

I use my 5 gal. Shop Vac, I have the filter in the motor that resembles A/C filter media, covered with the fine dust cloth filter as well as a filter that fits into the top of the drum that was optional. Kind of like a cloth filter bag that separates the top (motor) from the drum. After vacuuming out the stove I do empty it and blow the filters off with compressed air (outside...of course). Since the vacuum is plastic, I have to make sure the stove is out completely first!

Pretty much the key is to get a vac that can accommodate a drywall dust type filter.

I have a Mastercraft industrial grade vac with a 3 stage, 2-1/4 horse Ametek motor. It's about a $1200 vacuum, obtained for free as a engineering sample we had at a previous job during a 'housecleaning' event in the proto shop. It takes 20 gallon disposable bags, plus it has a cloth disc filter that sits between the vacuum head and the tank. I'm currently using single wall bags, but will go back to the triple wall bags when I run out of these as they are far superior in handling the fine dusts. It will out-suck by 3 times any normal shop vac I've ever used, plus it is QUIET.

Nevertheless, it's not essential to have something like that, just a good vac (Ridgid, etc.) with a drywall filter and you're set.

Quite a high end vacuum, euro!

I will have to agree with the drywall dust filters for the shop vac. They are a bit pricey but well worth it by not blowing the fine ash out of the vac exhaust.

Wood'nCoal wrote:Quite a high end vacuum, euro!

Yeah, no doubt. I'd never have actually purchased one that expensive if I'd not fallen into this one. My 'other' vac is a 70's vintage "Shop-Vac" brand that looks like a 5 gallon metal paint pail with a lid. It's a little 6 amp, single stage flow-thru motor (no wet at all). I had to replace the impeller-end ball bearing as it dried out and got noisy, but the brushes and the brush-end bushing were like new yet. I use it for vacuuming out cars, etc. in the garage. The Mastercraft stays in the basement shop (and with the stove).

I got hooked on 'good' vacuums at our last home where I installed a Vacu-Flo central vacuum system. That thing was 'da bomb'! It would suck up small pets if you weren't careful, and all the fine dust got blown outside through the exhaust port.

In our present home, there was no easy way to install a central system, so I purchased a Sebo cannister vacuum setup. Very nice, but I hate it compared to the central vac. Not nearly the suction power and more work to drag around. But, it has triple HEPA filtration, so it's doing a great job keeping the junk IN the vac.

Chris

europachris wrote:

Wood'nCoal wrote:Quite a high end vacuum, euro!

Yeah, no doubt. I'd never have actually purchased one that expensive if I'd not fallen into this one. My 'other' vac is a 70's vintage "Shop-Vac" brand that looks like a 5 gallon metal paint pail with a lid. It's a little 6 amp, single stage flow-thru motor (no wet at all). I had to replace the impeller-end ball bearing as it dried out and got noisy, but the brushes and the brush-end bushing were like new yet. I use it for vacuuming out cars, etc. in the garage. The Mastercraft stays in the basement shop (and with the stove).

I got hooked on 'good' vacuums at our last home where I installed a Vacu-Flo central vacuum system. That thing was 'da bomb'! It would suck up small pets if you weren't careful, and all the fine dust got blown outside through the exhaust port.

In our present home, there was no easy way to install a central system, so I purchased a Sebo cannister vacuum setup. Very nice, but I hate it compared to the central vac. Not nearly the suction power and more work to drag around. But, it has triple HEPA filtration, so it's doing a great job keeping the junk IN the vac.

Chris

I installed a central vac a few years ago & love it. (It's an Electrolux with a metal canister & I mountded the motor/cannister in an attached shed so there is practicaly no noise, no vacuum smell & the fine dust gets blown outside. (When I do the coal stove I use a cheap plastic swimming pool vac hose, instead of the good one that it came with) If you somewhat handy & have a ranch or raised ranch it is pretty easy to install yourself. I have less than $1,000.00 invested total)

Devil5052 wrote:I installed a central vac a few years ago & love it. (It's an Electrolux with a metal canister & I mountded the motor/cannister in an attached shed so there is practicaly no noise, no vacuum smell & the fine dust gets blown outside. (When I do the coal stove I use a cheap plastic swimming pool vac hose, instead of the good one that it came with) If you somewhat handy & have a ranch or raised ranch it is pretty easy to install yourself. I have less than $1,000.00 invested total)

I installed our Vacu-Flo setup myself and it was really quite easy, but it was a 3 bedroom, single story ranch with unfinished basement. Can't get any easier.

Now we're in a 2 story with completely finished basement, and there is just no easy or good way to run all the piping unless you run the unit in the garage and snake up into the attic and then all the way back down to the first floor. By the time you're done, you have lost all the suction advantage of a central vac due to the miles of extra pipe needed.

Chris

europachris wrote:

Wood'nCoal wrote:Quite a high end vacuum, euro!

Yeah, no doubt. I'd never have actually purchased one that expensive if I'd not fallen into this one. My 'other' vac is a 70's vintage "Shop-Vac" brand that looks like a 5 gallon metal paint pail with a lid. It's a little 6 amp, single stage flow-thru motor (no wet at all). I had to replace the impeller-end ball bearing as it dried out and got noisy, but the brushes and the brush-end bushing were like new yet. I use it for vacuuming out cars, etc. in the garage. The Mastercraft stays in the basement shop (and with the stove).

I got hooked on 'good' vacuums at our last home where I installed a Vacu-Flo central vacuum system. That thing was 'da bomb'! It would suck up small pets if you weren't careful, and all the fine dust got blown outside through the exhaust port.

In our present home, there was no easy way to install a central system, so I purchased a Sebo cannister vacuum setup. Very nice, but I hate it compared to the central vac. Not nearly the suction power and more work to drag around. But, it has triple HEPA filtration, so it's doing a great job keeping the junk IN the vac.

Chris

I had an early Shop Vac in the late 70's as well, it was wet/dry, but the body wasn't stainless, just painted and it eventually rotten out. The motor was on it's way out as well, it got so loud that everyone around knew when I was vacuuming out the car. Then it started producing these odd burning odors...

I inherited a early 1970's Craftsman shop vac from my uncle, it's the green permatex material, like the garbage cans they sold then, about the same size as well. I use it in the cellar. It survived the "Great Flood" last April, it kind of just floated around on it's side.

I also have an Oreck Commercial (very good, and it really does weigh 8 pounds when the bag is empty) that my wife uses constantly, a Clarke Combi-Vac (commercial unit) and a Numatic Cannister (made in the UK, very durable, about 20 years old) lots of suction, very powerful, and it wasn't cheap (don't remember what it cost). The only drawback is that I have to get the bags from an authorized dealer, they can be expensive, and the attachments are all in metric sizes, so generic attachments won't fit on the hose or wand. But it's almost indestructible.