Spent $150 on a HEPA vac attachment and it was a waste of money

I bought one of those fancy HEPA vacuum attachments for cleaning chimneys from inside the house. Cost me $150 from a supply shop in Portland. After three jobs using it, the filter clogged up so bad I had to stop mid-clean and take it apart. The fine ash just packed into it in under 20 minutes. My old shop vac with a simple cloth bag worked way better and cost me $40. How do you guys keep your vacs from choking on fine soot?

2 comments

2 Comments

webb.xena5d ago

Honestly this is just how stuff goes now lol. Companies keep making things more "high tech" and expensive but they forget the basics actually work better in real life. It's like they design stuff in a lab and never test it on actual mess. That fine ash is a nightmare and a fancy filter might catch it but it clogs up in no time. Your old shop vac setup proves that sometimes simple and ugly wins. I see this all the time with other tools too, people pay for flashy new tech and the old reliable budget option works circles around it. Glad you didn't waste more money trying to fix it lol.

patricia3854d ago

Haha, is your friend me? I swear I watched my buddy go through this exact same thing with a fancy ash vacuum. He bought one that was supposed to be the best on the market, cost a fortune, and it choked on the first load of fireplace ash. He ended up just using his old shop vac with a cheap paper bag inside, and that thing has been going strong for two years now. @webb.xena you hit the nail on the head, it's like companies put all the money into marketing instead of making it actually work. Simple and ugly really does win most of the time.