Shop Vac -- Is It Enough?

**matthiasj** · 06-05-2005, 09:08 AM

I need a good Shop Vac, for vaccuming, blowing my car off, and for extracting. Home Depot carried Ridgid brand shop vacs, and they have some nice ones with a lifetime warrenty. Craftsman also has some good ones. I want one with a detachable blower. Would 5hp be enough to extract water when i shampoo the interior, and would it be enough to vaccum dirt? HD has a ridgid for 100 bucks with 6.5hp, 16gal. tank, and a 170mph (i think) detachable blower.

Would 5hp be enough or do i need 6.5hp?

Thanks,
Matt

**GregCavi** · 06-05-2005, 11:27 AM

I think Sean has one of these and Pappy does to.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...otive&n=507846

FWIW my dad has a 6.5 HP shop vac that works great! It does a great job at vaccuming and extracting. I dont use the blower because it is blowing out air plus whatever crap was stuck in the hose. I am thinking of buying the above shopvac for mobility reasons.

Greg

**PhaRO** · 06-05-2005, 02:04 PM

I have one of the blue shop vacs from lowes (contractor series I think). It`s 5 or 5.5hp and I think it does a great job. It doesn`t have a detachable blower but you can reverse the hose. Personally I don`t often use that feature for reasons Greg mentioned (dirt in hose coming out). Years ago I had a 6 or 6.5hp 20gallon shop vac and hated it. The suction was too much. I could pull mats out of cars with it. I use one of the snorkle type attachments and the suction made it difficult to move back and forth. For extraction I use a small Little Green Clean Machine to rinse but then use the shop vac I have now without attachment to pull more moisture out. It`s strong enough to lift the carpet off the floor and fabric away from seat. I like the blower idea but think you`d be better served with a dedicated blower. Good luck and let us know what you end up with.

**maximv1** · 06-05-2005, 04:59 PM

i think a 5 hp will be plenty. any of the brands you were looking at would be fine. the lifetime warranty is nice to have. as greg and pharo said, i wouldn`t use the vac for drying. i would invest in a car dryer.

**Don** · 06-05-2005, 05:59 PM

The 3.5 hp Shp Vac I have works well. Like "Tim the Toolman" I`d like more power, but I really can`t complain.

**probegt** · 06-05-2005, 06:35 PM

Ive got the Ridgid 5hp 12 gal and it has plenty of power for anything. It does have the detachable blower but you can stick it in the exhaust port to become a blower. Its a great vac.

**Mikeyzr** · 06-05-2005, 06:37 PM

Craftsman has a newere quiet 5HP model now which cuts the noise down by about 40%. The 5HP model will have plenty of power! I have also used a little 1.25HP and that little sucker gets up all the crap pretty good too.

Mike

**pappy** · 06-05-2005, 08:15 PM

Originally Posted by GregCavi

I think Sean has one of these and Pappy does to.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...otive&n=507846

FWIW my dad has a 6.5 HP shop vac that works great! It does a great job at vaccuming and extracting. I dont use the blower because it is blowing out air plus whatever crap was stuck in the hose. I am thinking of buying the above shopvac for mobility reasons.
Greg

Yea i got this one but mine is red....which imo is way better then yellow...haha. Works fine for regular vacuming but with the long hose you might loose alilttle suction then normal shop vacs. I still love it. i can leave it on the wall and do an entire car thats centered in my 2 car garage. plus we have one in the mobile work van. then we dont have to haul the thing around...we just unwind the hose and imo looks very proffessional...instead of hauling a giant thing out.