# Best Shopvac for working/cleaning interior!



## jaros bros. (Jan 16, 2009)

You can buy filter bags for most shop vacs that will take pretty much everything out. Check out a Fein shop vac...excellent static lift and quiet.

Josh Jaros


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## Maintenance 6 (Feb 26, 2008)

For small jobs, get one with a HEPA filter, and make sure the filter is properly installed.


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## Chemist1961 (Dec 13, 2008)

Home Depot had a yellow and black _*Stinger*_ handheld no wheels,1 gal? now labellled Husky? red and grey. You can buy decent filters. It's great as a tote along for SMALL jobs , cleaning the car and emergencies for small wet spills etc. Was on sale for $19.99


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## Bob Mariani (Dec 1, 2008)

Chemist1961 said:


> Home Depot had a yellow and black _*Stinger*_ hand held no wheels,1 gal? now labellled Husky? red and gray. You can buy decent filters. It's great as a tote along for SMALL jobs , cleaning the car and emergencies for small wet spills etc. Was on sale for $19.99


He asked for the best one. Already answered -- FEIN. Stinger for 20.... now we are talking the worse one.


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## 7echo (Aug 24, 2008)

Yep, Fein. We have about 20 spread around in different shops. Turbo II and III models, and one mini vac for the RP machines. Like other posters mentioned, these are quiet. A HEPA filter will cost more, but are a good option. And, they have an auto setting and receptacle. Plug in a tool and when you turn the tool on the vac comes on. Runs a few seconds after the tool shuts off to clear the line. Works great with random orbit sanders.


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## Nestor_Kelebay (Jun 17, 2008)

The reason why I like my full size Sears Shop Vac is because Sears makes a CLOTH dust filter for it specifically for vaccuuming up joint compound dust. This cloth filter is made from a very strong fabric, and you can wash out these filters to clean them instead of chucking them like paper filters.

I bought two Sears cloth filters about 15 years ago, and have never bought a paper filter since. I've gone through 3 or 4 Sears Shop Vacs during that time.

But, the vaccuum cleaner is neither small nor quiet. You might try buying a Sears cloth filter and seeing if you can adapt it to the Fein vaccuum everyone else likes.


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## Chemist1961 (Dec 13, 2008)

Ok BOB a bit about vacuums, he did say small and I use this one continually as a small ,handy one for drywall and sawdust. 

So after 29 years rebuilding vac motors, selling vacuums and cutting drywall for central vac retro fits......IMHO if you want heavy duty and quality I don`t know industrial by current brands in your area but I can tell you about filtration and fine dust.
Nestor hit the nail on the head. We used to test them with 5 lb bags of flour. A standard paper filter will clog fast since the filter is limited to it`s surface area and paper just clings. A hanging auxilary filter had at least 4 times the surface area to begin with, hence prolonged suction. The same principle of surface area is found in todays extra thick furnace filters and a Toyota oil filter... more surface area provides more filtering ability. Just cut one of these open and lay all the filter media flat versus a standard one and you`ll see what makes them work
We used to take an industrial and equip it with a dacron filter, reusable and washable which would hang down inside the tank. Being a slippery surface it would shed the dust and continue to suck more than 4 times the capacity of a standard paper filter unit and maintain enough air flow to still pick up 4 x 1 inch steel balls bearings. When your paper filter clogs you loose air flow. 
Today we are seeing more synthetics in filtarion so look for something that can be equipped with a secondary elastisized filter or has a slippery internal filter and you`ll get longer motor life and better continual air flow which most people call ``suction``. Look at the hose for flex and the tools for lock on grip and universal fit where possible...And find a solid tank lock device and good wheels:thumbsup:


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## Nestor_Kelebay (Jun 17, 2008)

In the case of the Sears Wet/Dry Shop Vac, the filter cloth will come with a threaded adapter and a plug.

With a paper filter installed, the Sears Shop Vac will draw air in through a port in the motor housing (the removable top portion of the machine). You install the cloth filter over the bottom portion of the machine, plug the port in the top portion of the machine, remove the water drain plug in the bottom portion of the machine and install the treaded adapter into that drain hole. The air flow then goes into the drain hole, through the filter cloth, through the vaccuum motor and out the exhaust port (and through the electric motor for cooling).

The reason why the filter lasts so long is that the dusty air goes UP through the filter cloth. So, when you shut the vaccuum off, most of the dirt falls out of it into the bottom of the vaccuum cleaner.

Maybe you could contact the Fein company and see if they make a cloth filter for their vaccuum cleaner that works much the same way.

(I'm figuring that my cloth filters have paid for themselves many times over by now. The paper filters for the Sears Shop Vac cost about $12 each, and I'd go through one a month on average. The cloth filters cost about $35 each and last over 15 years and still going strong. I'm figuring I've saved over $2000 on paper filters so far. And, of course, there's the aspect of cleaning the filters. The paper ones area a chore cuz you have to brush out the dirt between each pair of pleats. The cloth one is a snap. You just take the top part off the vaccuum cleaner and take the bottom of the vaccuum cleaner outside. Take the cloth filter off the bottom of the vaccuum cleaner and turn it inside out. There's a handle on the bottom for cleaning it with. Then you just clean it like a carpet, by whacking it with a stick to shake the dirt out of it, and the breeze carries that dust into the neighbor's yard where it becomes an S.E.P. (Someone Else's Problem). Then, just empty the contents of the bottom portion of the vaccuum cleaner into a plastic bag, wait until it gets dark and throw it in the river.)


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