Which wet/dry vacuum should I buy?

hernandez.art13 said:
Thank you Todd, I would also like to add, while I know it's not a true extractor. I will get one later on. I also want to use it as much as I can as an extractor for now. Until I get one in the future.
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How much are you wanting to spend on a vac tops? Is blowing the car off or extracting carpet with it more important?

If extraction is the most important factor and you want to stay within a reasonable budget, check this out as you want to be looking for a high static pressure rating. (water lift)

Google "Craftsman wet dry vac Model # 9-17761"

$252.25 at Grainger

6.0 peak horse power, 11 amps, 219 inches of static pressure and 170 mph of blowing speed is pretty good for the price.

Zoro Tools has the same model for $142.26 less at $109.99 Can't beat it man.
 
Yeah doing an air dry would just be an extra but not a necessity. Being able to extract water or soaps would be more important to me. $200 or under would be my ideal budget.
 
That's the one I have, Art. I absolutely love it! It's pretty hefty to be lugging around but I'm home based so that's not a problem for me. The suction is tremendous and therefore so is the blowing power. The pieces all fit together very snug so there's no loss of suction. You definitely can't go wrong with that one!
 
Coach Steve said:
That's the one I have, Art. I absolutely love it! It's pretty hefty to be lugging around but I'm home based so that's not a problem for me. The suction is tremendous and therefore so is the blowing power. The pieces all fit together very snug so there's no loss of suction. You definitely can't go wrong with that one!
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Which one are you talking about specifically Steve? I'm also going to be home based. So the size is not much of an issue.

And thanks!
 
hernandez.art13 said:
Which one are you talking about specifically Steve? I'm also going to be home based. So the size is not much of an issue.

And thanks!
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I have the Craftsman 16 gal. 6.5 HP wet dry vac with detachable blower.
I use it for both wet and dry extraction on nearly every vehicle I do. I have a Rug doctor upholstery handheld tool which I've modified to hook up to the sink for the water source and the vac hose connects to my vac. I can literally flood the area being worked - and I'm talking standing water - and that vac will extract nearly every drop! Now, obviously, I don't flood every vehicle I clean, that would be counter-productive. :laughing:
I keep the water heater in my garage at 140°-150° which almost eliminates the need for shampoo - almost. I don't like to introduce soap into the process unless it's absolutely necessary. That combined with the good fortune of having phenomenal water pressure makes for a really good cleaning system!
 
I just read this but can't copy & paste it because it was a scanned photo of an old article. It says this about how to determine a wet dry vac's potential true power, "If you want to compare one vacuum with another, multiply the vacuum's sealed pressure (also called sealed suction, water lift, static pressure or just "SP") by it's air flow which is given in CFM (cubic feet per minute). The resulting figure should be at least 5000, the higher the number the better.

Just an interesting tidbit because peak horse power alone or water lift alone doesn't really reflect the true performance of a vacuum.
 
So the Craftsman I mentioned would be 36,792 and the big Shop Vac in the AG store would be 16,650 at more than twice the price when not on sale. On sale it's $70 more with roughly half the performance of the Craftsman if the advertised numbers are all correct. These numbers are the same from site to site concerning the Craftsman I mentioned.

All this research to help you decide which model to choose and now I want to go out and buy it too and I don't even need a vacuum.
 
I sent it in your PM. If I win big in Vegas, I'll send you one :D

Thank you very much Dave :xyxthumbs:
 
hernandez.art13 said:
Just wondering, what do you use the detachable blower for?
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Well, my my place of business is also my residence so it serves as my yard blower as well. Having said that, I use it more for blowing out the garage and blowing the dust off of cars prior to washing them. You may have heard PHX is in the middle of the desert and the desert is an awfully dusty place! :D I blow out and mop the garage floor before every job.

Rant: Being a detailer in Phoenix isn't a bad job to have due to the year-round mild weather and over 300 sunny days. The problem with being a detailer in Phoenix is the unfathomable amount of dust in the air. I can have a car completely wiped down and ready to deliver to its owner and within 15 mins, there's a layer of dust all over the car - no exaggeration! 99% of the time, I don't roll the car out of the garage until the owner is on site so they get to see the car in all its glory at least for a few minutes before they subject it to the "elements".
/Rant
 
I just bought the Ridgid Black Friday shop vac from HD. I was really happy to get a good price on my first real detailing tool, especially for such a good vacuum(what I think might be a good vacuum anyway)--but I was pretty devastated once I realized for maximum efficiency I would need that $40 auto detailing kit. So I bought it too, overall I am very pleased with my purchase just because I know it'll pay for itself by spring, boy was I tired of putting money in those coin op machines

Also spent $42 at AG Black Friday sale and $27 on various car care related items between Wally World and HD.

So I spent $149 on tools/products and then my appointment for Saturday cancelled, frustrating but I did enjoy playing with my new Ridgid shop vac and all of its attachments


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
After searching this and other forums and going down to Lowes, Orchard Supply and Home Depot, I bought the following from Home Depot;

Rigid wd40700 4 gal 5hp wet dry vac
Rigid car cleaning kit (quality 10ft 1.25" flex hose not stiff like 2" hose)
2 Rigid dust bags (blowing out dry canister filter did not look like fun)
Shopvac foam sleeve(blowing out wet canister filter did not look like fun)

I cut the foam sleeve, wrapped it around the wet dry canister filter and held it in place with 2 rubber bands.


I am very happy with my purchase, plenty of power, easy to clean the car and I can pick up the vac and take it upstairs as it is small and light.
The build quality of the Rigid appeared to me to be of higher quality than shopvac or craftsman. You seem to get a lot more for your money with the equivalent size craftsman but the craftsman demo unit lid seemed very difficult to close and the hose was not same quality as the rigid.
 
tuscarora dave said:
How much are you wanting to spend on a vac tops? Is blowing the car off or extracting carpet with it more important?

If extraction is the most important factor and you want to stay within a reasonable budget, check this out as you want to be looking for a high static pressure rating. (water lift)

Google "Craftsman wet dry vac Model # 9-17761"

$252.25 at Grainger

6.0 peak horse power, 11 amps, 219 inches of static pressure and 170 mph of blowing speed is pretty good for the price.

Zoro Tools has the same model for $142.26 less at $109.99 Can't beat it man.
Click to expand...

Is that water lift rating inflated or what? I was considering the powrflite vac that richy has, but since seeing this post I'm not so sure. Anyone wanna chime in on this craftsman vac? Coach Steve? Art? Are the specs wrong?
 
Kengo123 said:
Is that water lift rating inflated or what? I was considering the powrflite vac that richy has, but since seeing this post I'm not so sure. Anyone wanna chime in on this craftsman vac? Coach Steve? Art? Are the specs wrong?
Click to expand...

Honestly, you can't go wrong with the PF51. I confidently stand by my recommendation of it. Very powerful vac for the money. You won't be disappointed.
 
I've got a 10 year old 6.5 16 gallon Craftsman (210 mph blower) and my only complaint is it's loud. It has a corded version of a detachable blower, that I've used for many things.

If my Craftsman grabs you...like richy's...it is NOT coming off by a simple shaking...you have to yank it. It'll suck the paint right off the car if you ain't careful...well, not really, but you get the picture. I do have to be careful on carpets because it'll grab it so hard I can't push or slide the nozzle forward and backward. It's almost too big and powerful for auto carpets in my book...it has that much power.
 
Thanks guys! I'm just mesmerized by those numbers on that specific craftsman.

Hopefully someone with that exact model can confirm that the specs are legit... Otherwise I may have to go with the strongly confirmed greatness of the pf51
 
Have you considered looking into a 2 or 3 stage vac? More power and quiter than your standard box store offerings. Look at the CFM and sealed pressure inch of water / static water lift specs if powerful suction is important. Several years ago I purchased a 2 stage ShopVac QXL30ATS from OverStock.com on close-out and have been very happy with it over the Craftsman's I had prior.

Recently I


picked up

Edit: The spam link embedded to the words picked up have been removed. -Mike Phillips



a Milwaukee 8912 wet/dry vac in very good condition from a construction company going out of business for $80. All it needs is a new hose and the swivel connector to make the hose to vac connection (current set-up is hose duct-taped to vac). I can tell you the 3 stage Milwaukee is a beast compared to a standard shop vac.
 
You do realize the last post prior to "shower's" was 2014. Not sure how to see when the last time someone posted.

Speaking of, anyone know whatever happened to Bobby G.? He had a yellow Corvette behind him on his avatar.
 
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