Shop Vac

While I was working on a project this weekend (curved oak stair nosings for a church I am building--more on that later), I was forced to perform a most dreaded shop chore--emptying the shop vac.  There are many problems with shop vacs, some of which can be improved, some, one must live with.  I use two vacs in the shop: one dedicated to the miter saw for dust collection powered through a triggered switch that powers up when I start the saw and runs a few seconds after I release the saw trigger.  This vac is buried behind the saw stand and thankfully doesn't require emptying often due to its exclusivity.  My other vac gets used for dust collection on the router table and also for general shop cleanup, so it sees much more use.  I have my router table wired with a 30 AMP switch that activates the internal outlet that the router is plugged into and an external outlet that the vac is plugged into so that they come on simultaneously, like the miter saw.


The multi-use vac is mounted on a light duty convertible dolly, the type that looks handy when one acquires it, but ultimately is of little use.  I am lucky enough to have received two of these dollies from individuals who became tired of looking at them.  One is dedicated to my recycling totes and the other has become the bottom half of my shop vac.

You might be thinking "hey, most shop vacs come with wheels".  If you are really thinking, you would finish that thought with "that aren't worth a damn".  If the wheels aren't yet broken, they are the perfect size for tripping over any object that you would find on the ground at any given time, including the vac's own cord.  This usually results in a tipped over vac or a dislocated hose, or both, and at the moment you are experienced the most weakened good humor.  The dolly's large rear wheels and good pivoting ability greatly reduce both hazards.

But, in order to keep the vac on the dolly, I have bungied it front and rear.  This adds another step to the already irritating process of emptying the thing.  This process begins when you realize that you have no more suction.  You take off the top and dust floats gently into your nostrils.  You unscrew the filter retainer and pull the filter off its stanchion, causing another cloud.  Then you must knock the caked dust off the filter into the vac, which is a major mess, so you leave the filter in the vac and drag the whole unit to your dumping point, which is for me, the woods  (shut up, I'm composting).  On the way, the many useless attachments that are handily mounted onto the vac fall off, leaving a trail.  In my particular case, the man-door to the back yard is partially blocked to accommodate my storage needs.  It opens enough for a man to pass through, but not a man with a clump of shop vac.  This means I must go around through the overhead door to the back, which is blocked by a nifty stone wall, effectively making the trip one for which you may want to pack a lunch.

Yesterday, I had an epiphany.  After a particularly rigorous encounter with a too long neglected vac, it occurred to me that I could simply put a plastic garbage bag in the vac so that emptying it is a matter of lifting out the bag, which can then go into a garbage can, or fit through the back door with me to be emptied in the compost heap without disconnecting and wrestling with the entire apparatus.

Life is full of simple pleasures.