For those using shop vacs for dust collection what have you been using that has lasted for more than a year?

Last night, while sanding the last bit of a decorative birdhouse, my Shop Vac slowly vacuumed it's final breath.

I pulled up the receipt and found that it was one year to the day from buying it.
This is the second Shop Vac brand unit I have laid to rest in as many years using them for dust collection with a vortex separator. Hopefully, Shop Vac will honor their 5-year warranty but meanwhile I need a new machine to keep working and making stuff for this season's markets and fairs.

While I would dearly love to have a proper dust collection system, it is just not in the budget this season.

If your separating before the vac any size should work.  I have had a ridged one for many years but no longer use it for dust collection.  Not sure what your budget is but if your in a situation where you can easily vent outside the little harbor freight dust collector works well and would pull more dust out of the air then a shopvac.  Its not to much more expensive then a shopvac.

I use a Shop Vac brand for minor dust collection. Also have a larger 3hp dust collector. My Shop Vac is at least fifteen years old. Maybe six or seven years ago the motor died. I looked at new, other brands, and ended up paying Shop Vac for a new head. Been running good ever since.

Ed Weber wrote on Mar 26^th, 2021 at 6:48pm:


I've been using a less expensive dust separator from the Depot. It actually does a pretty good job of keeping the shop vac clean for significantly less than the Dust Deputy and snaps on top of a 5-gal bucket, with 2-1/2" hoses, ready to go out of the box.
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I attached the shop vac and bucket with separator onto an inexpensive moving dolly so they can be moved around the shop as a unit.

Several months back I came across a YouTube video comparing the Dust Deputy and the Home Depot separators. The conclusion in the vid was that the DD was a more efficient unit, especially when the bucket approached full. However, even though slightly more dust gets into the vac with the less expensive unit, it is a small amount. I use the same dust bag in the vac for probably 6 months before changing.

The orange unit does clog up pretty easily with long curls of wood. I learned pretty quick that it's not good for sucking up big piles of chips and curls off the floor. Sweep up the big stuff and (edited out) up the small stuff after. When it clogs it kills the vortex and stuff passes through into the vac. Smaller chips and dust are no problem. Even after six months or so, the vac bag had only a small amount of dust and chips in it. I changed the bag anyway just to try and keep the cfm as good as possible for a shop vac.

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Thanks, I didn't see that one.
Size wise it seems a better unit for the garage shop. Definitely worth a second look when it's time to put a new system together.

Forrest Forschmiedt wrote on Mar 30^th, 2021 at 10:14am:


They've been bought
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Now all they need to do is improve the quality.
Many years ago, I purchased two identical units. both of them failed in about two years within a month of each other. It kind of seemed like a strategy of "planned obsolescence".
I stopped buying them and moved to Stanley, which are still working fine well beyond the lifespan of the shop-vacs.
JMO, YMMV