Thread: The Dirt on a Shop-vac

Hmmmmm .. . .

5.5HP , that makes it 4kW.
At 120V thats 34A, and at 240 that's 17A, somehow I doubt it.
I know its common for north american appliances blurbs to exaggerate these things.
I think the claim is based on some sort of "peak power" nonsense.

We don't do this in Oz for appliance power but we do for air flow.

Hi BobL, It does say 5.5 peak HP. The entire line of shop-vacs at the store were labelled the same. I didn't think about what 5.5 really meant other than it must be better than my old 1.75 "peak HP" shop-vac.

Originally Posted by Woodified

Hi BobL, It does say 5.5 peak HP. The entire line of shop-vacs at the store were labelled the same. I didn't think about what 5.5 really meant other than it must be better than my old 1.75 "peak HP" shop-vac.

I knew this, just wanted to make sure the newbies didn't get sucked in.
Even a 5.5 Peak HP is an nonsense. 5.5 (4kW) peak would be 0.7 x 5 - 2.8kW which is more than a basic domestic GPO can handle continuously.
It might be 5.5 Peak to Peak (which is meaningless) making it 5.5/2 * 0.7 = 2kW , which is MUCH more likely.

It is probably what the motor will draw if you stall it. Just before it goes up in smoke.

Originally Posted by Bohdan

It is probably what the motor will draw if you stall it. Just before it goes up in smoke.

A vac motor will not usually stall instead it just cavititates. It should draw even less current when cavitating than when pulling a full load of air.

Can I assume then that a no-bag vac will surely mean a filter gets clogged very quickly ....

Originally Posted by Tahlee

Can I assume then that a no-bag vac will surely mean a filter gets clogged very quickly ....

In the absence of a cyclone, yes.

The pleated filters are expensive - around $25-30. I use a cyclone now but before I covered my pleated filter with a draw string pre filter cover available from Bunnies. Pack of 5 is about $6

Or ask the Missus/Girlfriend for an old stocking/pantyhose and put that over the pleated filter. Stops large shavings and things from poking holes in the filter but needs to be shaken out occasionally to get the medium sized bits out.