Used to think a soot vacuum was a waste of money, now I won't sweep a single flue without mine

3 comments

3 Comments

Used to clean mine with a shop vac and a wire brush. What a mess that was. Got a soot vacuum last winter after choking on dust for the tenth time, never going back. The HEPA filtration alone makes it worth it, not to mention how much faster the whole job goes now.

emma_baker614h ago

Gotta disagree a little here... I've been using a shop vac with a drywall bag and a stiff brush for years and it works fine if you do it right. The key is to let the dust settle before you start vacuuming, otherwise you're just stirring it back up into the air. Soot vacuums are nice and all but they're pricey and you still gotta deal with the same mess when the filter gets full, just costs more to replace...

harperp241h ago

Oh man, I totally get what you're saying! I actually read an article last year about how soot vacuums have way better filtration than regular shop vacs, even with a drywall bag. The guy who wrote it was an HVAC guy and he said the fine particles from soot are like 10 times smaller than what a standard HEPA filter catches, so you're basically just spreading it around. And about the price thing, I saw that some soot vacs have these reusable filters that you can wash out, which saves money in the long run compared to buying those expensive shop vac bags all the time. My cousin switched over after his regular vacuum caught fire from all the hot ash once, which is scary to think about. Honestly, if you do this kind of cleaning more than once a year, the investment feels worth it just for the peace of mind.