wet vac
June 23, 2010 5:32 AM   Subscribe

What do I need to know about wetvacs before I buy one?

I need to get a wet vac to suck up relatively small amounts of water from my basement from time to time. I am mystified by the different price points and sizes.

What size do I need and what is the HP an indication of?

What's the minimum I need here?
posted by jenfu to Home & Garden (5 answers total)
 
I've got a "bucket head" from Home Depot (product page) - it clips onto a normal Home Depot utility bucket and turns it into a wet/dry vac. I used mine to empty my entire sump when I was changing the pump and it worked great. I got it as a gift, but if they're really only $20, you can't go wrong for occasional use.
posted by pocams at 6:03 AM on June 23, 2010 [1 favorite]


If I had to do it over again, I would get the one with the chepest replacement filters. I seem to ruin one every six months or so (water and sawdust, water and cat litter, paint, forgetting to clean it out so it mildews, etc.). After five years, replacing the filters on mine has cost more than the vac did!
posted by cjemmott at 6:04 AM on June 23, 2010 [1 favorite]


The hoses that come with most vacs are terrible. If you can afford it, spring for the "professional" quality hose. It makes the vac so much easier to use. Here's an example of what I mean. They don't kink or collapse when you step on them and they're much more flexible than the stock hose.

As for brands, I've had a couple of Rigid vacs and been very pleased with them. Replacement filters are about $20.
posted by bonehead at 6:27 AM on June 23, 2010 [1 favorite]


Take the filters out when you use them for water !
posted by lobstah at 7:11 AM on June 23, 2010


i have a rigid & a small shop vac. both work pretty well for wet & dry vacuuming. small one only uses a paper filter which gets gunked up rather easily, so it's a pain, but is more versatile than the bigger one.

regarding filters: the clean stream is more expensive, but it really works. really. it can be a pain to knock out all the sheetrock dust, but i had one i used for more than a year until my contractor used it to vacuum up wet stuff. bad, contractor! bad!

and yes ... no filter when wet vaccing!
posted by msconduct at 8:41 AM on June 23, 2010


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