Puckdropper wrote:


The Ridgid WD1450 is around $100 and reasonably quiet. Ridgid, AFAIK,
hasn't posted decible ratings, so there's no way to compare. I would
guess it's in the mid-70's.70

Just be careful guessing at dB levels - they aren't what would seem
intuitive to you. Normal speach is around 65 dB, so your guess at mid-70's
might just be off by a lot more than you would think.



That would be grounds for me to replace the tool. A quiet vacuum is a
considerable upgrade on a loud noisy one. Plus, many new vacuum
designs limit the amount of dust they throw into the air (I've
watched a cloud form over a cheap shop vac), but the old one might do
that just fine.


Likewise - I used to have an old Craftsman 16 gallon screamer. Loud - and
it blew as much out the exhaust port as it vacuumed up! Junked it in favor
of a small Ridgid, and I've never seen any blow out from it - even when
cleaning up sheetrock mess.

--

-Mike-