# Hepa Shop Vac



## Tug (Sep 25, 2011)

I'm in the process of cleaning out the crawl space and to the point where all I need to do is purchase a shop vac to finish the job but I am allergic to everything under the sun so it's important that whether it's a Ridgid or a Shop Vac it has to be hepa filter friendly. I can't take the chance of blowing anything into the air that could throw any dust into the living quarters so a hepa filter is a must. I'm not to concerned about noise and don't need anything larger than 12 gallon tank capacity and like most want to get the most bang for my buck without breaking the bank. Thanks


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## Maintenance 6 (Feb 26, 2008)

Have a ball. Was there a question in there someplace? You do realize that most of the homeowner shop vacs fail as HEPA vacs, right? The filters are rated as HEPAS, but the rest of the vac is so junky that they fail to meet HEPA standards.


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## Bud Cline (Mar 12, 2006)

So buy either of the vacs and use the filters that come with it and in addition add a bag inside the canister. The bags make a huge difference.


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## Tug (Sep 25, 2011)

Bud Cline said:


> So buy either of the vacs and use the filters that come with it and in addition add a bag inside the canister. The bags make a huge difference.


Thanks Bud, I bought the Ridgid 9 gal along with the hepa filter and bag you mentioned but have yet to install either. Im caulking around the some of the windows and used the Ridgid to pick up the old caulk. Made more noise than I thought it would and didn't do that good of a job and I wasn't that impressed. Tomorrow I'm going go suck the last 6" of water out of the sump pump well. If it passes the test I'll keep it of not back to HD it goes.


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## Bud Cline (Mar 12, 2006)

Okay HOLD ON!

When you add the extra bag you have to expect the suction to suffer some. Same with a HEPA filter. No big deal.

If you are using the vacuum to suck water you do know all of the filters must be removed from the vacuum first - Right?

I've always had good luck with the Shop-Vac brand. I use the 12 gallon version and go through about three of them a year. I have a larger Rigid but in all honesty I don't think it works as well as the smaller Shop-Vac's.


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## Tug (Sep 25, 2011)

Funny I thought Ridgid was the better of the two. Guess I'll be exchanging the Rdgid for a shop vac. Thanks again


Bud Cline said:


> Okay HOLD ON!
> 
> When you add the extra bag you have to expect the suction to suffer some. Same with a HEPA filter. No big deal.
> 
> ...


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## Bud Cline (Mar 12, 2006)

Don't do it on my say-so!!!

In the past few years Rigid has knocked-off a lot of tools they were never into before. Some of them have been dismal failures. The name doesn't appear to be what it once was.


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## Tug (Sep 25, 2011)

Lol I'm not. I caulked the window in the master bedroom and when I was using the Ridgid I wasnt to impressed by the amount of old caulking it was picking up, I had to keep going over and over the same spot to get one small piece of caulking up. I tried cleaning the expansion lines in the garage concrete slabs and once again it left allot to be desired for. 


Bud Cline said:


> Don't do it on my say-so!!!
> 
> In the past few years Rigid has knocked-off a lot of tools they were never into before. Some of them have been dismal failures. The name doesn't appear to be what it once was.


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## AlKapone (Sep 11, 2011)

I got the qsp pro shop vac. 12 gal. Never had an issue with it. I'm sure it would pick up some dried up caulk pieces.


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