Shop Vac with HEPA filter--does it work?

[Ron Jones near Indy]

Has anyone used a HEPA filter on a Shop Vac? I'm looking at the Shop-Vac 90340 CleanStream Replacement Cartridge Filter to use in cleaning up a storage room in my shop. It may or may not have some nasty dust and other stuff that I would rather not breath or put in the air while cleaning. My theory is it will do little good to vacuum the place if the vac exhausts the dust to settle on other surfaces. My thought was to use this filter with a foam filter (pre-filter) around it to catch the big stuff so that it would drop off the filter when the vac is turned off. Any opinions or suggestions?

[harry strasil]

I got one not too long ago, but I use an old white shopvac 2.5 inch hose from the exhaust port to a box with half a furnace filter in it as an extra precaution, I also have a clearvue mini in front of the shop vac and only the very fine airborne stuff gets to the filter.

[Greg Hines, MD]

I use a CleanStream filter for my shop vac, and it works very well. Also, very easy to clean them out, much easier than the old paper filter.

Doc

[george wilson]

I used a very fine filter on my Fein shop vac.it got very plugged up,and I kept knocking it out. Being a Cleanstream filter,you are supposed to be able to wash it,but I felt that water would just turn the fine dust into glue. I finally put in a new Cleanstream filter,and then put in the felt cloth bucket shaped filter that came with the vac(don't discard it,it costs about $40.00 or more. Now,the cloth bucket shields the extra fine filter from most dust,and the vac sucks better. I think the fine filter will last a lot longer,too.

[Rich Tesoroni]

I have the mini dust deputy in front of the little Fein. Inside it have have one of the fein bags and the clearstream filter. I tapped the filter and nothing seemed to come out of it.

Rich

[Fred Hargis]

I use the Cleanstream with my Fein, and can't say enough good things about it. But if you are dealing with unknown hazardous stuff, you will be exposed cleaning the tanl. I think I would consider the Cleanstream and also use drywall bags in the vac....disposal besomes much easier.

[Loren Hedahl]

My experience is the Cleanstream is well worth the extra bucks.

When cleaning up a dusty area, I believe the exhaust air from the Shop Vac stirs up a lot of dust as well as just your movement around the area.

The only solutions I have for that would be to leave your Shop Vac outdoors and plumb your shop with plastic pipe like a home built-in vacuum uses.

Or use an air-cleaner to clean the airborne dust.

Or just figure on vacuuming a lot oftener.

[Matt Day]

I've got a HEPA filter on my Craftsman shop vac, Cleanstream I think, and it's excellent - I wouldn't run one without it. When I first purchased the shop-vac, I tried vacuuming up some dust and it basically shot right back out at me sinc the stock filter didn't filter down to that level. I got the HEPA filter and it's a hundred times better. So much so I use the shop vac routinely around the house - just did yesterday in fact to suck up some stuff the regular house vacuum wouldn't get.

The suction of the vacuum gets noticeable less when the filter packs up with fine dust, so I regularly remove the it and clean it by wacking the sides of it over a garbage can (usually with a dust mask since dust goes everywhere, and of course outside!) and sometimes by using the air compressor. I've probably done this 30 times with it and it still seems to filter like new.

Well worth the investment.

[Matt Uchida]

Don't mean to revive an old thread but I was at lower buying a new shop vac and better filter. I was looking for their HEPA filter which they don't stock but they did have one labeled for fine filtration. It stated 95% for particles up to 0.3 microns in size. I thought that was HEPA territory? Not sure whether I should return it and order a HEPA or clean stream or just accept the 0.3 micron size?

[Van Huskey]

Don't mean to revive an old thread but I was at lower buying a new shop vac and better filter. I was looking for their HEPA filter which they don't stock but they did have one labeled for fine filtration. It stated 95% for particles up to 0.3 microns in size. I thought that was HEPA territory? Not sure whether I should return it and order a HEPA or clean stream or just accept the 0.3 micron size?


HEPA is 99.97% down to .3 microns. So lets say 10,000 dust particles .3 microns go into a HEPA filter, 3 come out the other side, compare that to the filter you were looking at in Lowes where 500 particles come out the other side that is 167 times the amount of dust getting through compared to the HEPA filter. Your lungs, your choice. A Cleanstream is $40 or less. Note the vast majority of shop vacuums even with an added HEPA filter are not true HEPA vacuums there are plenty of vacs that are full unit HEPA certified but they have a price premium.

[Matt Uchida]

HEPA is 99.97% down to .3 microns. So lets say 10,000 dust particles .3 microns go into a HEPA filter, 3 come out the other side, compare that to the filter you were looking at in Lowes where 500 particles come out the other side that is 167 times the amount of dust getting through compared to the HEPA filter. Your lungs, your choice. A Cleanstream is $40 or less. Note the vast majority of shop vacuums even with an added HEPA filter are not true HEPA vacuums there are plenty of vacs that are full unit HEPA certified but they have a price premium.

What I was looking at in lower said it filters down to 0.3 microns. That is why I was wondering the difference between that shop-vac brand filter and the HEPA filter. I got no problem spending the extra money on a clean stream, I just wonder why if the filter said 0.3 microns it wasn't a HEPA filter and what is the difference.

[Jason Roehl]

Better yet, in addition to the filter, get the bags rated for drywall dust. Much easier to empty the shopvac then without breathing a bunch of the stuff. You could even put duct tape over the hole of the bag before you remove it from the shopvac and throw it away.

[Adam Merritt]

I would seriously consider adding a small dust deputy or something before the shopvac. I have a HEPA filter on my Craftsman XPS shop vac and it would get caked in the fine flour-like saw-dust and really reduce suction. Of course you can clean up it, and use again, but it was a pain and makes a mess. I added a dust deputy with a 5 gallon bucket and it worked better than I hoped. I get hardly any dust in the shop vac unless the 5 gallon bucket is over full. There was a noticeable difference in air quality with the HEPA installed in the shop vac. I just replaced this setup with a large 2 stage dust collector (with HEPA of course), but it worked fine for me until that point.

[James Gunning]

+1 on adding a small cyclone (Dust Deputy, Clearvue, or other) to the inlet on your shop vac. It will reduce the "suction" a bit, but will totally solve the filter plugging issue. I have a washable Cleanstream filter in mine, but I didn't really need it since a quick hit with the air hose maybe twice a year keeps it totally clean.

[Paul Wunder]

Another vote for a mini cyclone in front of shop vac. I have a ClearVue mini ahead of my Ridgid shop vac and nothing reaches the vacuum. I have used this arrangement for about three years now and the OEM shop vac filter is as clean as it was when new. I have never had to empty the shop vac because nothing reaches it

[Matt Uchida]

I did purchase a dust deputy. My only question was trying to figure out if the 0.3 microns was good enough or if I still needed the HEPA filter. I may just return it and get the clean stream.

[Van Huskey]

I did purchase a dust deputy. My only question was trying to figure out if the 0.3 microns was good enough or if I still needed the HEPA filter. I may just return it and get the clean stream.

The filter you are asking about is rated at the same .3 microns as a HEPA filter the HEPA filter just has a much higher percentage of capture at that size range. So it is not a matter of size. Just get the am Cleanstream, it is a better filter for woodworking.

[Doug Garson]

What I was looking at in lower said it filters down to 0.3 microns. That is why I was wondering the difference between that shop-vac brand filter and the HEPA filter. I got no problem spending the extra money on a clean stream, I just wonder why if the filter said 0.3 microns it wasn't a HEPA filter and what is the difference.
I think Van answered your question. HEPA collects 99.97% of particles down to .3 microns while the other filter only collects 95% of particles down to .3 microns.

[John Seybold]

I put a HEPA filter in my Ridgid shop vac and it seems much better than the standard, although once it gets clogged with fine dust performance of the vac starts to suffer. I have found a routine that keeps my vac working well - once a week, on trash day, I empty my big dust collector, put it back together, take the shop vac apart, dump the contents into the bag of dust I got out of the collector, and clean the filter by vacuuming it in place with my dust collection hose. Total time is about 5 minutes, and I'm good for the next week. The back suction on the filter really gets it clean - much better than tapping it or brushing it or whatever, and also the fine dust doesn't escape. Best thing is that I never forget to put the shop vac filter back on because I never take it off...

[Bill Dufour]

Hepa filter is very easy to clean if you do it right. simply buy an extra one. Remove dirty filter, install clean one, vacuum dust off dirty filter, repeat as needed.
It sounds dumb but it works great and no more clouds of dust from shaking filters. It helps if you own two vacs that use the same filter
Bill D.

[Jim Dwight]

I have two Rigid shop vacuums, the older one has a clearstream quasi heap filter. I used to use it with a dust deputy in my shop but bought a more powerful rigid for the shop and currently use the older one away from the shop. Currently it is capturing drywall dust as I sand after removing popcorn on the ceiling of the kitchen. With the dust deputy, I did not need to clean the clearstream. Without it I do. Either way, there is nearly nothing coming out of it. The dust deputy will get the majority of drywall dust, I've used it, but the stand that the DD is on is just too much trouble to pull around the house. Instead I use the shop vac with clearstream and knock the dust out of the filter when I am done. I just do it outside and let the rain take it away.

[Jonathan Kolhoff]

So I just joined the forum recently and I'm very new to woodworking, but filtration is one area I feel qualified providing feedback...

A lot depends on what you're trying to filter out of the air. Since this is a woodworking forum, I imagine it's dust from woodworking. 'Sawdust' is typically 30-600 microns. When you start talking about 0.3 microns, you're really talking about stuff like bacteria, smoke and radioactive fallout (which interestingly enough is why HEPA filters were originally invented/developed during the Manhattan project). Potentially you are cleaning up an old particle accelerator, but probably not. If a filter is good for 95% of 0.3 micron particles, it's probably doing better than 99.97% for 30 micron particles. So, if you're worried about 'sawdust' then you probably won't see much of a difference between the two filters.

With that said there is other stuff that's not particularly good for you, which would be nice to filter out as well. Especially if you're vacuuming up some old sawdust that's been piling up in a corner (saw dust is a good food/carbon source for growing bacteria); it would be nice to have the extra peace of mind that any bacteria is being captured as well, instead of being picked up and tossed around your shop.

[Van Huskey]

'Sawdust' is typically 30-600 microns.


While most of the wood dust produced by our machines is greater than 9 microns there is actually an appreciable level of finer dust produced even down under .4 microns. This is from the Journal of Aerosol Science, I can get you the citation if you are interested.

[Matt Uchida]

I think wood is not even my worst worry. I also make knives so I am sanding metal and various composite materials including glass fiber materials. I do wear a respirator when working on those though. I will be buying the clean stream. Thanks for the input!

[Matt Uchida]

I thought the clean stream would be very expensive given all the praise and quality but online it is only $27. With free UPS shipping?! To Hawaii!!! (UPS is never cheap to Hawaii)
http://www.cleanstream.com/products/landing_shopvac_genie.html
I think that is cheaper than the lower quality shop-vac brand one I grabbed at lower?! And on Amazon it is $38?!
https://www.amazon.com/Shop-vac-903-40-00-HEPA-Cleanstream-Filter/dp/B006W4WJFC

Am I missing something?

[Matt Uchida]

I thought the clean stream would be very expensive given all the praise and quality but online it is only $27. With free UPS shipping?! To Hawaii!!! (UPS is never cheap to Hawaii)
http://www.cleanstream.com/products/landing_shopvac_genie.html
I think that is cheaper than the lower quality shop-vac brand one I grabbed at lower?! And on Amazon it is $38?!
https://www.amazon.com/Shop-vac-903-40-00-HEPA-Cleanstream-Filter/dp/B006W4WJFC

Am I missing something?

Can anyone answer this one? Want to make sure I am getting a legitimate cleanstream filter.

[glenn bradley]

Can anyone answer this one? Want to make sure I am getting a legitimate cleanstream filter.

This is an actual CleanStream (http://www.cleanstream.com/)filter. The part number on the Amazon link is a Shop Vac filter part number so it is confusing as to exactly what they are selling. The pic does not look like a Clean Stream product but, website pics are wrong frequently enough to be inconclusive.

I have run them in my vacs for over a decade. The price is quite reasonable considering you can toss them out on the lawn and hit them with the hose to clean them. I have two vacs and three filters. When one requires cleaning I swap it with my clean standby and wash the fouled filter out in the sink and set it aside to dry. One of the three was bought back in 2004 or thereabouts and is still in service. I do run a per-seperator (Dust Deputy) so I am not sand-blasting the filter with wood chips and nails or anything. YMMV.

[Van Huskey]

Can anyone answer this one? Want to make sure I am getting a legitimate cleanstream filter.

The first link says free shipping to CONUS but I didn't try to check out to Hawaii.

The Cleanstream filters were ~$40 when they first came out a few years ago and only sold direct, as they have expanded to numerous dealers the prices have come down, but they are indeed an inexpensive filter.

[Matt Uchida]

Update:
So I called the company and they said that the Shop-Vac clean stream filters is made by shop-vac however they purchase the material from Gore. So same actual filter material but different manufacturer.

[Gene Takae]

Update:
So I called the company and they said that the Shop-Vac clean stream filters is made by shop-vac however they purchase the material from Gore. So same actual filter material but different manufacturer.

Matt-I'm in Hawaii too and got a great deal on Cleanstream filters at Walmart on closeout for something like $10.00.