Air Force Blaster or Shop Vac?

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Boss_429

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What do you think folks? I've been considering one of those "fancy dancy" Air Force Blasters to help dry the water out of all the "nooks & crannies"? I have a big Shop Vac, but never trusted using one.

Is the Blaster a better way to go? $200 bucks is a lot to spend to "blow dry" the vehicle! :D

Anybody have one? Input....... need input! :D
 
I have the Metro Master Blaster. It has two 4hp motors that can be turned on/off individually for more or less power depending on what your doing. I detail for a living so the investment was well worth it. I can air dry anything with a flip of a switch(or should I switches). I use mine for not only drying cracks and crevices, but I'll dry the whole vehicle. I use it for blowing nasty carpet mats and carpet inside vehicles. It works awesome for blowing under seats to get all the crap out. I'll even use it for vents if not to dirty, but mostly use my compressor for that. The power this blower generates is unbelievable until you try it. Would I buy it if I didn't detail for a living? Probably not, because the blower on the vacuum I have would work but it wouldn't have near the power. I always look at the time factor for everything I buy. If a piece of equipment can save me time, I'll buy it because I know it will pay for itself in the long run. The best price I found for this unit was from a wholesale pet store. Here's the link. http://www.worldpetstore.com/meairfomabld.html

There's also a smaller version with one motor vs two. It's less money but half the power.
 
Just to put my two cents in, I occasionally use my Rigid 5 hp. 4 gallon shop va (the one everyone else has haha) to blow cracks by using the blower feature (simply plugging the vacuum hose in the exhaust port, the exhaust peace on the vacuum port). With the filter still on, I let the vacuum blow any debris out that isn't caught by the filter, but I still get the occassional "spurt" of dirt clump or other gross vacuum debris on the paint as I'm drying!

Any way to prevent this, or is it just the drawback to having a shop vac as my blower?

Oh, and as much as everyone says how good waffle weaves are, my largest one cannot dry a whole car, not even when the towel was brand new. You'd have to have a pretty small car for it to dry a whole car. That's why I like to have a blower-it makes the towel "last" longer when drying.
 
Towards the shop vac, what about filtering the air before it hits the hose. Take a piece of cheese cloth or something a little finer and stick it over the hose and then attach to the vac. It's an option. I haven't done it, but I don't see why it wouldn't work.

I do think Mark has the best idea, but probably not for your own personal use.
 
As long as the inside of the shop vac is empty and the internal filter has been cleaned of anything major, you shouldn't really have any problems with crap blowing out of the exhaust.
 
I have and use the 4 hp metro blaster. I bought it used and purchased a new hose and nozzle for it.
My car has a lot of places that like to hold water. I get about 80% of the water blown off and hit the mirrors, tail lights, etc with the metro. Then I finish with the MF WW.
Not sure if it is really faster, but it is more thorough.
 
Whether or not you need the Air Force Blaster, I can't answer, but I don't think I would feel comfortable using a shop-vac to blow dry my paint.
If it is one of those that actually detaches from the vac and becomes almost the same thing as a leaf blower, that I could probably handle.
I have a leaf blower and a Metro Vac-N-Blo and an air compressor and have never used any of them to dry the vehicles. I guess maybe I should try it.

Charles
 
Thanks for the info everybody.

A while back, just after I bought my Shop Vac, I tested it by putting the hose on the exhaust port and ran it for about a minute or two with it blowing on a clean white towel. I wasn't pleased with what I saw on the towel, so I never used it on paint. Of course, I suppose I could clean it out and make sure the filter is clean............ but that might get to be a pain every time I want to use it.

At least the Blaster has a filtering system built in. I'll look into the Blaster in more detail. Then, I'll just need to convice the wife that I need to spend $200 to "blow dry" the vehicles. :D Hopefully, she will buy something "stupid" and I can sneak this purchase in! :lmfao

Thanks again.
 
I'd go with an air compressor. Can get the set up at or less than the vac n blo and it is more verstile.

Just my 2¢.
 
Boss_429 said:
Thanks for the info everybody.

A while back, just after I bought my Shop Vac, I tested it by putting the hose on the exhaust port and ran it for about a minute or two with it blowing on a clean white towel. I wasn't pleased with what I saw on the towel, so I never used it on paint. Of course, I suppose I could clean it out and make sure the filter is clean............ but that might get to be a pain every time I want to use it.

At least the Blaster has a filtering system built in. I'll look into the Blaster in more detail. Then, I'll just need to convice the wife that I need to spend $200 to "blow dry" the vehicles. :D Hopefully, she will buy something "stupid" and I can sneak this purchase in! :lmfao

Thanks again.
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A lot of what comes out of the shop vac is actually dirt and junk that is left inside the hose. the ribs that are in most of the hoses are great places for stuff to get trapped in and then when you switch it to the blowing side they are blown out. The filter on my craftsman does a great job of filtering out dust and dirt. I would think you could have the same issue with the Blaster.
The best and safest method would be to have two hoses. (I don't, but I usually start by blowing the water off my wheels first and by then most if not all of the junk has been purged from the hose.)
 
kimwallace said:
A lot of what comes out of the shop vac is actually dirt and junk that is left inside the hose. the ribs that are in most of the hoses are great places for stuff to get trapped in and then when you switch it to the blowing side they are blown out. The filter on my craftsman does a great job of filtering out dust and dirt. I would think you could have the same issue with the Blaster.
The best and safest method would be to have two hoses. (I don't, but I usually start by blowing the water off my wheels first and by then most if not all of the junk has been purged from the hose.)
Click to expand...

Excellent idea Kim......... I may give that a try!

Thanks
 
The Air Blaster will NOT have the same problem as a vacuum because it's not being used to remove dirt as a vacuum then used as a blower, but rather will ONLY blow fresh air through a filter that's sealed and enclosed, then blown out the end of the nozzle. If the filter is kept clean, this will NEVER be a problem.
 
My apologies ... I had the Blaster confused with the Vac and Blow!
Some days the old brain doesn't work as well as it should! sorry :(
 
This was the reason I bought the Air Force Blaster, as I have the Vac and Blo and didn't want to blow any dirt/dust from the hose on my truck. The Blaster has some soft rubber attachments, but I use the large conical nozzle. The filter is made out of pourous foam, so it wouldn't filter out very fine particles of dust, but again you wouldn't be blow drying in an environment like that.
 
I'd go with the air compressor. You can use it for a million different things and you can get one that's perfectly fine for considerably less than $200. I use my compressor for just about everything, and it hasn't let me down yet.
 
tubafeak said:
I'd go with the air compressor. You can use it for a million different things and you can get one that's perfectly fine for considerably less than $200. I use my compressor for just about everything, and it hasn't let me down yet.
Click to expand...

Hmmmmmmmm........ that's another good idea.

Thanks
 
For those of you who have a Blo-N-Vac, would the "two hose" idea work . . . GEE, I just got used to the "two bucket" concept.\

Last night, as I was d'taling my brother-in-laws car (and, for some reason, those are the worst!) my wife complained about the "dirty wheels on the vacuum cleaner that I was dragging back into the house". Of course, I d'taled the vacuum cleaner wheels before I brought it back inside and, seizing the moment, told her of a small, yet powerful vac-n-blo that could be mine for a mere . . . well, you get the picture.

Anyway, I am very interested in getting one of these, but I would want to use it both to blow dry and vacuum vehicles.
 
stoddwilson said:
For those of you who have a Blo-N-Vac, would the "two hose" idea work . . . GEE, I just got used to the "two bucket" concept.\

Last night, as I was d'taling my brother-in-laws car (and, for some reason, those are the worst!) my wife complained about the "dirty wheels on the vacuum cleaner that I was dragging back into the house". Of course, I d'taled the vacuum cleaner wheels before I brought it back inside and, seizing the moment, told her of a small, yet powerful vac-n-blo that could be mine for a mere . . . well, you get the picture.

Anyway, I am very interested in getting one of these, but I would want to use it both to blow dry and vacuum vehicles.
Click to expand...
It would probably work, but I can't get comfortable with using the vacuum to blow off the water after the tank has had dirt in it. I can't put that much faith in the filter system.

FWIW, the Vac-n-Blo does a great job as a vacuum.

Charles
 
I used to use my shop vac and vacuum all the water from moldings and wheel centers and mirrors. Went to WalMart and got a $26.00 electric blower at the garden shop, very light and small and blow dry the whole car. Best $26.00 I've spent in a long time. Saves on microfiber too. Does just as good as my brother's high dollar blaster.
 
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