Depending on the age of the vac, it may not have had a pleated filer
cartridge. I have an old (80's) shop vac that does not have a pleated filter
or the ability to use one. The foam filter on these older units is there to
provide support for a filter bag. I have found them at Wal-Mart, Lowe's and
Home Depot. My unit originally came with a cloth filter bag but it was not
very good at filtering dust.


Look for the paper filter bags at a Shop-Vac dealer. They are held in place
by either a large rubber band or a plastic ring.

--
Gordon Parks
"trainfan1" wrote in message
et...
aemeijers wrote:
Finally trying to clean out the 20+ years of dirt and dust in the
basement, so I can try to get it halfway organized. There used to be a
garage bay down there, and I had some concrete cutting done last year for
furnace swapout. In the old garage and where the concrete dust was, the
shop vac did a good imitation of a smoke machine- the stuff pumped right
through the foam filter ring around the motor can. Couldn't see across
room, layer of dust on everything, and asthma kicked in within a few
minutes. The vac is second-hand cheap junk, but it sucks well. Anybody
know a source for, or how to fabricate, a filter cylinder or bag, that
will actually slow dust down?

No fabrication necessary. Just get a filter that the vac originally came
with. The foam is not it. The foam piece is supposed to go over the
pleated paper filter.

There are also washable pleated filters for most models. They are about
$30 but last a long time.


Rob


Hopefully cheap enough that I can have several on hand, and rotate them
as they get plugged up? Idea being that I could then take all the filters
outside, hose them clean, and they would be dry in time for the next
project?

Related question- anybody know a good way to strip old striped
foam-backed basement carpet? I pulled back a corner, and it looks like a
layer of talc under there. I really don't wanna end up in a hospital from
inhaling all that.... (The truck-mounted rig a duct-cleaning company uses
comes to mind, but I assume they would charge a fortune, if they would
even do it.)

aem sends...