Need quiet shop vac

[Mike Henderson]

I need to buy a quieter shop vac. Not a big one - like the 8 gallon ones - but a smaller one such as 3 or 4 gallon. Who in your experience makes a quiet shop vac (besides Festool and Fein)?

Mike

[phil harold]

I have the old porta cable dust extractor it is Much quieter than the old sears, but the sears sucks more and wont die.

[Neil Brooks]

Forgive an indirect answer to your question, but have you thought about building a "sound isolating box" for it ?

Example: I have a three-cabinet work station on which my RAS and my CMS sit. Soon, the middle cabinet will get a dedicated ShopVac, and the interior will get some EPS sheet, glued onto the interior.

They need a certain amount of airflow, but my cabinets are backless, so ... no problem, there. The online designs for the isolating boxes tell you how to position the right sort of baffles to GET the airflow, while still cutting out much of the noise.

[Jerome Stanek]

I have 2 Fein vac for my CNC and running both a once it is still a lot quiter than my 1 shopvac.

[John Lanciani]

Fein; buy once, cry once. Worth every penny.

[Mike Henderson]

Okay, let me ask another question since it sounds like the answer to my first question is Festool or Fein. How do the sound levels compare between those two extraction units? Is one significantly quieter than the other?

Mike

[Gary Curtis]

Fein and Festool both publish sound levels in Decibels. I bought the mid-seized Fein. It does sound muffled compared to 'Borg' shop vacs. One problem. My wife insists on using it to vacuum the house.


Consumables add up to an ongoing cost with any vacuum. My Fein takes about 5 months before I fill and replace one bag. Tremendous capacity. Again this is the mid-sized machine.

[Bruce Page]

Fein; buy once, cry once. Worth every penny.
Agreed. Love my T3.

[Mike Hollingsworth]

these are great:$79
204907
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202077241/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

[Joel Goodman]

I have the small Fein and for a shop vac it's quiet.

[Larry Frank]

I have the Festool and bought it because I liked the wheels and stability better. However, both the Fein and Festool are very similar and very good units but as expected not cheap.

[Kevin Stricker]

I have a Fein Turbo II and a couple CT22's. The Fein is much quieter on max suction but you can cut back the power level on the Festools to be equally quiet or even quieter on low for sanding operations.

I bought the Fein new for $250, and have seen several in the $100 to $150 range on Craigslist. The Festools are great for onsite work with the systainer stacking, cord/hose storage, and the square shape packs better. For shop use I cannot see paying the premium above the Fein, which is a really nice unit.

BTW I have a couple rigid vacs too and the Fein is at least 10dB quieter. Mine is in the house right now as our home vac died and my wife loves using it for vacuuming too.

[Perry Holbrook]

Mike, take a look at the units at Home Depot. The couple I picked up there are much quieter than I expected. I've got 2 Fein's, and they are quieter, but not by much.

Perry

[Chris Kennedy]

I have no idea how good they are, but Ridgid makes a muffler for their shop-vacs. Been considering one . . . .

Chris

[Peter Elliott]

Home Depot - Rigid Pro (http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053&productId=100081216&R=100081216)... it is very quiet and does a great job. I used it every day! Also get the syn filter sold right next to it.
I use mine for sanding, routers, some equipment.

204934 (http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053&productId=100081216&R=100081216)

it cost $99

[David Ewing]

I have the 16 gal shop vac brand sold at Lowes. The blue ones. It has a decent muffler system...basically ports under the upper plastic shroud. I was surprised how quiet it is. It is not perfect...but price/performance was very good. It also has the ability to pump water. I use a nano filter with a bag.

I also have a harbor freight dust collector with the nano filter....also pretty quiet. I suppose it depends on your definition of quiet. Baby in the room...not quiet enuf. I'm in the basement so I'm ok.

Good luck


Dave

[Ron Kellison]

these are great:$79
204907
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202077241/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

I have one of these. Not as loud as my big Ridgid beast (that won't die so that I can buy a Fein!) but still quite loud.

Regards,

Ron

[Mike Henderson]

Home Depot - Rigid Pro (http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053&productId=100081216&R=100081216)... it is very quiet and does a great job. I used it every day! Also get the syn filter sold right next to it.
I use mine for sanding, routers, some equipment.

204934 (http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053&productId=100081216&R=100081216)

it cost $99
After reviewing the vacuums at Home Depot, I bought this one. It's not as quiet as a Fein or Festool but it's acceptable. I'll also get a muffler for it - they were out of them at the HD I went to.

One good thing about the Ridgid display at HD is that they have a rating for each vacuum. They assign a number for the suction and a separate number for the noise. While not an actual dB number, it helps you choose the quietest of the group. The smaller Ridgid vacuum mentioned earlier was actually rated as noisier than this larger one.

Since it's a universal motor, I suppose I could put one of those speed controls on it and quiet it down by slowing it down, at the loss of some suction. But for now, it's acceptable.

Thanks to everyone who offered advice. I very much appreciate it.

Mike

[Mike Henderson]

I bought a "muffler" for the Ridgid vacuum and it doesn't make much difference. If you face the same thing, don't waste your money.

The vacuum is about as noisy as a household vacuum so it's not too bad.

Mike

[Peter Elliott]

Mike, I should have warned you not to buy that muffler.. my bad...

But I will say this is pretty close to a Festool/Fein vacs as far as decibels wise. I remember at the time looking at a review and this $99 vac was so close.
I wish I could find that spec.

Either way, I didn't feel I need to spend $$ on a festool/fein sander. I use this Rigid with an auto on switch from craftsman.

Currently I am using it on my Mirka Ceros RO setup and it's about the best electric combo I've had my hands on...

[Jim Becker]

these are great:$79
204907
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202077241/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

I have one of these for clean-up purposes during home-improvement work and sometimes in the shop, like the DC/Compressor closet where I can't easily use another method. It's definitely quieter than many of the larger "shop vacs" I've used and owned, but still louder by a noticeable amount from my Festool CT-22. One really still should wear hearing protection when using it.

[Mike Henderson]

I have one of these for clean-up purposes during home-improvement work and sometimes in the shop, like the DC/Compressor closet where I can't easily use another method. It's definitely quieter than many of the larger "shop vacs" I've used and owned, but still louder by a noticeable amount from my Festool CT-22. One really still should wear hearing protection when using it.
In the Ridgid display at HD, that little vac was rated as a 6 for noise but the larger one I bought was rated as a 4 (smaller is quieter). The one I bought is not bad as far as noise is concerned. It's not Festool quiet but it's decent.

Mike