Thread: Do you use your dust extractor for wet stuff?

I've an old Festool CT33 vac which is rated for wet work, but I've always been wary of that.

SWMBO has a VAX wet carpet machine which we do the carpets with periodically. Its great, but the hoses and tidyup are messy.

For myself, I bought a little handheld wetvac for the car. Its a Bissel Spot Cleaner and its fabulous for cat spews (quickly quickly!) and doing the car floors. They go on special periodically. Its a FANTASTIC little machine.


As an amusing anecdote and something NOT to be repeated EVER... I had my big 3HP DC with 6" hose in the workshop. Loving Wife looks after kittens from the RSPCA and they occasionally rampaged in the drift piles of sawdust around the lathe. It was also a favourite poo-place when they became older..... NNNNOOOWWWW, I always ensured the lathe curls were free of their poos before sucking the drifts up, except for once....

FFWWOOMMPP... up went the pile, to be vaporised instantly into an aerosolised gas and immediately vented at 1000 CFM into the entire workshop. The stink was absolutely unimaginable. It was nauseating beyond belief. It took an age to clean up the machine, clean out the pleated filter, clean out the stench. It was the very worst thing I've ever experienced!

THAT never happened again!

Originally Posted by rogerwilco

... Whaddaya reckon?

As, at this stage, this is just a one-off job, I would be inclined to go with the existing vacuum, and then flush out the hoses and machine thoroughly when you finish.

If you start repeating the job, I would then consider another hose, but you would still have to flush it and the machine, so why bother?

Originally Posted by woodPixel

.... NNNNOOOWWWW, I always ensured the lathe curls were free of their poos before sucking the drifts up, except for once....

FFWWOOMMPP... up went the pile, to be vaporised instantly into an aerosolised gas and immediately vented at 1000 CFM into the entire workshop. The stink was absolutely unimaginable. It was nauseating beyond belief. It took an age to clean up the machine, clean out the pleated filter, clean out the stench. It was the very worst thing I've ever experienced!

THAT never happened again!

The next post, woodPixel, will probably be from BobL pointing out that the manufacturers were a little optimistic and that your vacuum only pumps at 400 cpm.

Arn't you now appreciative that the fragrance was not being dispersed at 1,000 cpm?

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

As, at this stage, this is just a one-off job, I would be inclined to go with the existing vacuum, and then flush out the hoses and machine thoroughly when you finish.

If you start repeating the job, I would then consider another hose, but you would still have to flush it and the machine, so why bother?

actually, I’m gearing up to do this job at least annually, maybe more. It’s one of those jobs that if done more often will get easier. And I’ve churned through a couple of sump pumps already. The most important one is right near the workshop and holds 600 litres. If it overflows it’ll go through everything.

Probably what I should do is give it a test run with my existing machine. See how it performs, then I’ll know exactly what level of machine will be required I’d get one specific to the task.

so… to use it in wet mode, is it just a matter of taking out the filter bag and any inline filters and having at it? Cleanup is water flush the hose and wipe everything out?

Originally Posted by rogerwilco

... Probably what I should do is give it a test run with my existing machine. See how it performs, ...

... so… to use it in wet mode, is it just a matter of taking out the filter bag and any inline filters and having at it? Cleanup is water flush the hose and wipe everything out?

Consult your handbook on this - there is some variance between brands & models.

Mine, you also had to put in a wet filter - a bit of (expensive) foam. When washed, hang the hoses vertical as any loop will store water.

Fragrance issue - no comment

My old ryobi is a wet and dry vac. It's mainly used to suck up metal swarf covered in water soluble oils. Every now and then I fill the hose with a mix of water and Simple Green detergent and let it soak ON and then flush it out and hung it over the clothes line in the sun - seems to dry out just fine.

Bob, how do you reckon a these machines will go sucking silty, sandy sediment out of the bottom of a drainage pit? Am I being optimistic?

Originally Posted by rogerwilco

Bob, how do you reckon a these machines will go sucking silty, sandy sediment out of the bottom of a drainage pit? Am I being optimistic?

Probably. When mine sucks swaarf its still 80-90% air.
How deep are the pits?

Most of them are 40x40, and would have maybe 5cm of silt covered by 5cm of water.
The big pit is 500 litres capacity (100cm x 80cm x 60cm), but that one is big enough step into and shovel stuff out of it. It's the small pit buried deep behind a retaining wall that is the prime candidate for wet vac.

Originally Posted by rogerwilco

Most of them are 40x40, and would have maybe 5cm of silt covered by 5cm of water.
The big pit is 500 litres capacity (100cm x 80cm x 60cm), but that one is big enough step into and shovel stuff out of it. It's the small pit buried deep behind a retaining wall that is the prime candidate for wet vac.

I would have though a regular water pump and running hose to stir up the silt would have been the way to go?

What about one of those drill mounted pumps that fit onto a couple of 1" hoses?

62861_2000x2000.jpg s-l1600.jpg
e.g. Drill Powered Water Pump 25-50L/min for Electric Plumbing Garden Hose | eBay

Says its self-priming to 3 metres.

Originally Posted by woodPixel

What about one of those drill mounted pumps that fit onto a couple of 1" hoses?

I've got submersible pumps that will move 120L/pm, but the trouble is the debris.
Bob is right, stirring up the water with a hose or jet would put the silt in suspension, and the pump can handle that. But I need a way to get the solids out. Tan bark, and fig leaves. No pump is gonna handle those.
In the shallow pits, thats not too hard. It's the one that 1m+ below ground level that is hard to get at. That's the one I want to try with the vacuum, but I think it's wishful thinking.

I might have to just get in there with a sieve on a pole, or something like that, and get all the solids out. Then put some mesh over the grate so that nothing can get in there again... Pretty annoying job!

Swimming pool pump.

Originally Posted by rogerwilco

I've got submersible pumps that will move 120L/pm, but the trouble is the debris.
Bob is right, stirring up the water with a hose or jet would put the silt in suspension, and the pump can handle that. But I need a way to get the solids out. Tan bark, and fig leaves. No pump is gonna handle those.
In the shallow pits, thats not too hard. It's the one that 1m+ below ground level that is hard to get at. That's the one I want to try with the vacuum, but I think it's wishful thinking.

I might have to just get in there with a sieve on a pole, or something like that, and get all the solids out. Then put some mesh over the grate so that nothing can get in there again... Pretty annoying job!

Once you have the water/silt out, a wet and dry vac should be able to handle the debris - assuming the are small enough to fit thru the hose, if not a scissor action poopa scoopa should do it.

Screen Shot 2022-08-07 at 7.12.14 am.png
This one is called a Pooper Scooper but there are many designs etc around.