Dusty wet / dry vacuum

Perhaps you reassembled it incorrectly? There are gasket surfaces at the ends of the filter that need to seal reasonably well, to the vacuum and to the blank-off plate that gets screwed on with the wingnut at the bottom.

Are you sure you are supposed to use all those filters at the same time? My first thought is that's what's causing the air leak in the filter area which is probably what's causing your leak.

GWE

The poor old vacuum cleaner is hard pushed to even suck through all the filters you are using, and small leaks at the sealing surfaces are under extra strain. The filters may even be collapsing under load.

As you have allergies, and the dust is causing you problems, I would suggest you invest in a vacuum system that sends the waste air and crap outside your house (or flat).

This could be a purpose built system, or simply a couple of extra hoses so you can keep the vacuum cleaner outside. I use my homebuilt system like this in my workshop cleanups, and the fresh air is wonderful.

Hope this helps, Peter

-snip-

I've studied & studied it w/ the same idea in mind & can not see how or where it is bypassing any gaskets. There is only one gasket between the dirt chamber & the upper vacuum chamber that the seal is broken when emptying it. Even if it leaked, the air has three more levels of filtration to go through. This particular model does not have a wing nut @ the bottom of the filter. It has a broad bowl shaped thing that captures 2 small tabs on the filter frame & is rotated CW to tighten it down. So far as I know I have always tightened it down after assembly.

It is possible I have somehow or other reassembled it improperly. I will restudy it & the manual w/ that in mind.

Thanks much, John

Have you thought about using a "water trap"on the intake side of your vacuum? I started doing that after destroying a shop vac with drywall dust.

Yep! What Peter said. I, too, have a system that discharges outside. Only the very finest of dust gets past the cyclonic separator, which is discharged. The balance of the crud accumulates in the large collection portion of the vacuum cleaner bottom portion and is easily emptied. I went far out of my way to avoid a system that uses filters of any kind----they're clearly a PITA, and discharging the spent air outside gets rid of the dead flesh smell that comes from the typical filter type vacuum cleaner. I'm totally satisfied with the system we have, and no, I'm not affiliated with them. Ours is a Vacuflow 960 and is plumbed in the shop, with an extension and multiple outlets in the house. I'd buy it again in a heart beat.

Harold

Hi John, I work in a place that uses many HEPA filters. Do'nt remove any of the prefilters. They are there to protect the HEPA as these are expensive and easily blocked. I'm in UK so don't know the vac you quote and I can't see it on a Google search. However, HEPA filters normally fail because they are either damaged or wrongly installed. A HEPA is easily damaged and cannot be repaired. Any visible dent is likely to be a failure. Now I deal with units individually validated in situ. Your requirements are less onerous. The most likey cause of your problem is the filter isn't sealed properly. Remove all the filters and check ALL the gaskets around them. Every filter should be seated on it's own seal which should be continuous and undamaged. If you can install a sytem that exhausts externally so much the better. Then all you get in the room is outside make up air. This too will be contaminated but probably to an acceptable level. If it's not, you have a big problem. Even with this, there are things to watch out for. Try to do your vacuuming when it's raining. Rain keeps the dust down. Likewise do it on a calm day so that outside dust isn't stirred up. Open a window of your choice to supply fresh air. This is best away from whatever you don't want like pollen plants and at high level. If possible, open one in the lee of your house. Hope this helps.

John

On 25 Nov 2006 21:05:23 -0800, with neither quill nor qualm, "john" quickly quoth:

...and next time, buy a real poncho, not a Searz poncho, eh?

----- = Dain Bramaged...but having lots of fun! =

Comprehensive Website Development

Love Frank Zappa!

cheers T.Alan

On Sun, 26 Nov 2006 10:56:38 -0800, with neither quill nor qualm, "T.Alan Kraus" quickly quoth:

I was wondering how many would catch that.

----- = Dain Bramaged...but having lots of fun! =

Comprehensive Website Development

On my wet dry vacuum when I am picking up fine dust from graphite milling I fill the bottom of the tank with water. I put a hose that fits into the side hole where the vacuum line is attached. This hose goes inside the vacuum line for a foot or two. The other end of the hose goes to the bottom of the tank in the water. Just don't fill the tank too full or the water will be sucked up by the motor. The water traps just about all the dust.

John

Dear Bushy Pete & Harold

I will keep in mind the idea of running the exhaust to the outside, as a last resort. It would mean buying a new vac as mine is designed to exhaust out the handles & other non-round openings in the lid.

Your thoughts are interesting. I don't think any of the 3 last filters could have collapse due to the cage they fit around. Also I suspect that the main paper filter would remain collapsed after it was turned off. But your idea of all the filtration causing a seal leak sounds plausible.

When I used it with the 4 filters mentioned in the original post, it ran fairly easily. By that I mean that it didn't seem to be straining like it would if I covered the intake hose. It also had a god-awful amount of suction. (I.E. I don't dare put the intake near anything I don't want to be sucked into it) When I installed the CLEANSTREAM HEPA filter in lieu of the CRAFSTMAN folded paper filter, along w/ the 3 other filters I have used since the beginning, it was suddenly running under more stress, & quieter. The problem is that it's still putting out as much dust as ever even w/ the new HEPA filter. When I examine the new HEPA, & it's surrounding pink foam filter, they show no signs of having trapped much dirt. This leads me to 2 possible scenarios. One, the dirt is by passing the filters. I don't see how, I've looked & looked w/ a flashlight & do not see any telltale signs of dust left behind as it was sucked past the seal area. Two. The dust has, somehow or other, in the past, made it into the motor & is continuing to exhaust even w/ the new HEPA filter. Perhaps if I let it run long enough the dust would all be drawn out? I've also thought of putting rubbing alcohol into it w/o any filtration, & do one of the non-recommended things in the Owners Manual to cause it to mist.

Perhaps enough of that would clean it out or ruin it.

Thank you both so much for your thoughts, John

No, how did you go about that?

Thanks, John

An acquaintance had a problem with the "shop vac" she was using to collect the dust from soap stone carving using a rotary tool. She produced so much dust that the cooling air drawn through the motor carried enough dust into it to totally seize the brushes in their holders as well as the motor bearings. What a mess! She just could not grasp the concept of keeping the vac some distance away and using the hose as a pickup near the work area. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

Heh! Or burn down the house. Rubbing alcohol burns quite well, so running it past a motor with brushes isn't my idea of a good thing to do. I'd be very careful about making that decision. Considering your vacuum is a filtered type, it probably uses the discharged air to cool the motor, so it is routed though it. Bypass type use a different source for cooling.

I don't think you're pumping residual dust-----it is-----somehow-----getting past your filters as it's collected. Hard to say how, I agree.

Welcome. Hope something good comes from tossing them out.

Harold

There are 2 methods that I'm aware of.

1) As menttioned in a prior posting, you could add some water to your shop-vac, along with a section of pipe directing the incoming air into the water. You don't need much, a few inches of water will do fine, just make sure the filters aren't sitting in the water.

2) Get a 5 gallon pail with a tight fitting lid. Cut 2 holes in the lid, just large enough to pass a 1-1/2" ABS Pipe. I've found that using a short piece of the pipe, along with a coupling on each side of lid makes it easier to assemble & seal the holes. One pipe extends about 4 inches into the bucket, this is the intake pipe. The other pipe stops about 6 to 8 inches from the bottom, this pipe connects to the shop-vac.

I came up with the second option after making the mistake of using a shop-vac to clean up after a drywal job. Ended up totallu destroying the shop-vac.

Wouldn't matter if she had it in another building. Most of the shop vac units use the air from the suction hose for cooling the motoron it's way out of the vac. Soapstone dust is like drywall dust, it gets everywhere.

She'd be better using a furnace blower as an exhaust fan and hosing it out every few days.

Cheers Trevor Jones

A cyclone separator ? Does it remove the fine particles?

ED

I'm thinking that 4 filter elements are too many. I don't own a sears vac, just a small, old ShopVac that uses a paper and a foam filter combination. This vac is from the 1970s, and has never emitted any visible amount of dust.

I suppose it's possible that the manufacturer's design may include a filter bypass gizmo, to prevent the motor from burning out when the filters become clogged. This type of feature should include a warning device to stop use and change the filters, but sears would probably want that extra part eliminated (guessing).

I'm fairly certain that since the dirt has leaked into areas that it shouldn't have, that a complete disassembly would be required to get all the dirt out. I don't believe that attempts to flush the dirt out would be safe or effective.

You might try search engine or Goog Groups searches for your model number, such as the home or repair groups. Using a + sign in place of the - in the model number would possibly be more effective at finding pertinent info. Searching "vacuum repair"+model number, might be worthwhile. The newsgroup sci.electronics.repair has a FAQ site (an excellent source of repair info), that includes some home appliances, but I'm not certain that vacs are included.

Someone else has probably had the same problems with this particular model, and it's likely that you might be able to find some related info concerning the cause, and maybe a remedy. Otherwise, you might consider getting another vacuum. The cost of having the vac disassembled and properly serviced at a sweeper shop may exceed the value of the vac.

WB metalwork> My apologies if this is not the appropriate group for this topic, but I