Opinions on vacuums for ashes?

Mikhail

Mikhail

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Being sick to death of hand scooping out ashes from my PK, I'd like to get a good but not too pricey, not too big vacuum to clean it out. Cordless would be nice but somehow I question if they would be powerful enough. I'd love to be proven wrong, but here in my hallucination I was thinking a small shop vac?

Anyone have one they love?
 
I would stay away from a cordless vacuum if you think you will have an electrical outlet near the cooker. They lack power and don't seem to last as long. I like a plain old Shop Vac. Pick your size but I have a 5 gallon and it works great on ashes and everything else. There are different replacement filters you can buy based on how small the particles are that you are picking up but they get more expensive and have to be cleaned or replaced more often when you get to the really fine filters. I spend about a minute scraping out the bulk of the ashes and then just use a standard filter to vacuum out the rest. I'm very happy with that technique.
 
I see free shop vac on CL a lot, neighbor gave me one couple years back when he moved. Gets a lot of use in the garage and as an ash vac. I never vac even slightly warm ashes. Has a decent reusable filter on it that I clean with an air compressor, and extended 3ft. nozzle...neighbors are far enough its no prob.
 
I use a Rigid for all of my Vac needs. Filter is a breeze to clean.
Not the cheapest vac, but work great IMO.
 
I just bought a Vac Master Ash Vacuum from HD on line and it works really well for my fire place and smoker. It can handle some worm embers.
 
Westx said:
I just bought a Vac Master Ash Vacuum from HD on line and it works really well for my fire place and smoker. It can handle some worm embers.
Click to expand...

I had no idea such a thing existed. I shall order one posthaste.

Amazon has them for about $70 but they're out of stock.
 
I've got and use on the smokers/grills a Rigid 4 gal/5.0 HP peak shop vac from HD and buy the small particle filter bags. I've been supplementing heat with a 68K BTU Harmon Pellet stove for 6 years and use this vac for the bi-weekly cleaning of it ... the ash is as fine as talcum powder ... never an issue. Just make sure what you're vacuuming is stone cold. That little thing'll suck the teeth right out your head! ;>
 
I bought a purpose built Ash vacuum when I had an apartment with a fireplace - http://a.co/d1eoydG

Since getting the house and starting BBQ, we use it all the time, grouting, sanding, BBQing, 2 fireplaces, we've had it for over a year, I've used it pretty heavily during sandy and dusty projects, and it's done well. The nice thing about it is the filter is cloth and reusable, and it puts out NO particles. Everything gets trapped, whereas a shopvac will spew dust all over without a filter.
 
PNWSmoke said:
I bought a purpose built Ash vacuum when I had an apartment with a fireplace - http://a.co/d1eoydG

Since getting the house and starting BBQ, we use it all the time, grouting, sanding, BBQing, 2 fireplaces, we've had it for over a year, I've used it pretty heavily during sandy and dusty projects, and it's done well. The nice thing about it is the filter is cloth and reusable, and it puts out NO particles. Everything gets trapped, whereas a shopvac will spew dust all over without a filter.
Click to expand...

I have the same one and agree, the filter works well. Previously I had used a more general shop vac and the fine dust got blown back out through the exhaust.
 
When I bought my pellet grill, I needed something to clean ashes out. I have a large shop vac, but didn't want to drag it out to clean up a small amount of ashes. Plus, once you use it for ashes, that is all it is good for. I looked at the ash vacuums, and they look pretty nice, I wanted something small and compact. I went with this, and have been pretty happy. It has a washable, cloth filter, that cleans pretty easy.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003M2F7NI/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 
Another recommendation on the powersmith. I’ve had one for 5 years. Use it for both the wood burner stove in house and for my pellet smoker. Replaced the filer at about 3 years, should last through the winter.
 
So far, I just use the Milwaukee 18v cordless vacuum. I've been using it for work around the house, and it was handy when I needed it...so I went for it. I clean the filter after each use on the smoker, though. For me, it has to be convenient, and our house is outlet poor, so things have to be cordless for me to use them.
 
rexster314 said:
I got this one about 2 weeks ago.

Sorry about the rotation.
Click to expand...

I just bought the same model! I fired it up this morning for the first time.

It gives me a ton of comfort getting every last speck of ash. I’ve sunk enough cash in these cookers that it’d be a shame if they corroded cause I didn’t go all the way. After a first run, I’m pleased. Both fireboxes are spotless whereas before they were merely clean based on the best I could do with an ash rake.

Thanks for launching this thread Mikhail! Once again, Brethren ups my game just by soaking these threads up
 
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