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Sears Portable Shop Vac (wet/dry vac) is enough power for all around house work
QUESTION: I was looking at this Sears Portable Shop Vac (wet/dry vac). Is this enough power
for all around house work, outside and in? I was looking at the bigger
ones.. But they seem like they might be a tad big for lugging around
the house and up and down the stairs.. Any suggestions?
ANSWER: Keep in mind that Utility Vacs (Shop-Vac, etc.) are designed primarily
for picking up large, bulky objects or water but really don't have the
power needed to be used for normal household cleaning. The horsepower
ratings are actually Peak Horse Power which measured by loading down
the motor as far as possible without burning it out and measuring the
torque at that point. As such, these ratings are only good when
comparing one vac against another but you must be sure both have the
same number of fans. A 2-fan motor often created about 1/3 more
suction compared to a 1-fan motor with the same peak horse power
rating. To clean carpet well, you really need something with a
revolving brush roll.
Utility Vacs are often quite noisy and rather poorly filtered. While
these factors are often quite acceptable for basement or shop usage,
they are quite a pain if used for normal household cleaning.
For more about motor ratings and filtration, see articles on our web
site.
In fact, if it's meant to be connected to a 15amp circuit, it cannot have an
honest 3hp rating. 2hp would be stretching it, assuming power-factor of 1.0
and 100% efficiency. So you wonder what else they've fudged.
ShopVacs are really good only for the stuff that's too small to be picked up
by rake/shovel/whatever. The fine stuff. And, for that, they normally have
lousy filters. You can get replacement filters of GoreTex that really
filter, even drywall-sanding dust. I've got one.
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