Do you use bags with your shopvac?

[Sylvain Deschamps]

I'm a neewbee to this forum, and first of all my thanks to contributors and members for your expertise on my favorite passtime, woodworking.
I notice many subjets about the shopvac and its use and upgrades in order to reduce filter maintenance. Of course the Thien baffle being a great one. But it seems that some ww'ers don't use a shopvac bag. I have always used the bags and rarely require to blow out the filters on my shop vacs, even with drywall flour. (actually I didn't know it could be used efficiently without the bags) Just empty the bags when their full. I even re-use them 2 to 3 times each. Just un-fold the lightly glued end, empty it, refold it and pinch 3 or 4 black jumbo paper clips. Some makers models don't have the bag option, but if you chose the a little higher end ones, they all have baging capability. So my question is, is there a reason for not using the bag? Does it reduce the efficiency of the shopvac? Is it a supply issue?

[Prashun Patel]

I think it's a convenience thing. Emptying the preseparator is easier or cheaper in the long run than emptying bags or clearing filters.

Also, if you made the presep large enough, you wouldn't have to empty it as often as the bags require.

I wonder too if performance and suction degrades as the bag fills vis a vis using a preseparator. Granted, the presep usually means longer ducting and marginal loss if there's any gaps in the lid of the separator, so I'm not sure which is worse...

[GERALD HARGROVE]

The only place I use my shop vac is when renavating my house, plaster walls. I use bags in mine, because it saves a lot of time and money in the log run. The vac runs longer with the same suction and seems to not work as hard during the process. Bags are resonably priced over a filter and air quality is much better.

[Joe Dowdy]

I have wanted to try to use a bag, but need to find directions on how to make one up

[Phil Thien]

I use bags. But I was filling 'em so fast that I decided the separator would save money and time in the long run. Yet I still use the bags 'cause the separator doesn't get everything, and sometimes I use the vac w/o the separator (for example, when I take the vac outside to clean the cars).

[glenn bradley]

I use a seperator on my large vac but not on the small one. The seperator gets emptied a dozen times or more before the vac needs any attention. I don't use bags in either; don't need 'em. I use CleanStream filters; when its time to clean them I just toss them on the grass and hit them with the hose.

[Paul Greathouse]

With an Oneida Dust Deputy ahead of my 6.5hp Shop Vac, brand vac I get close to zero carryover to the vac. I've had the DD since November08 and have emptied the DD bucket several times but have not needed to clean the CleanStream filter yet. There was just a slight residue of dust in the ShopVac tub last time I looked, not even enough to call it a coating.

I'll be ordering another DD for my other shop vac soon, it has the bucket lid seperator from Rockler on it. The bucket lid seperator does carry over excessively when the bucket gets over half full. I'll probably try the new plasitic Oneida next.