My shop vac died mid-job last Saturday - found a hack to bring it back

I was cleaning out my garage after a big project, sanding drywall dust everywhere, and my 5 gallon Shop-Vac just quit. Wouldn't turn on at all. I was about to toss it and buy a new one at Home Depot for like $60. Then I remembered something my dad told me years ago - the float inside can get stuck if it's too full or clogged. Took it apart, sure enough the little foam float was jammed against the top from all the fine dust. Cleaned it out, put it back together, and it fired right up. Has anyone else had this happen with their shop vac filters getting clogged in a weird way?

2 comments

2 Comments

rowan_kelly6424d ago

Honestly, sounds like you just got lucky. Those floats are designed to do their job and when they jam it usually means something else is already broken internally, you probably just jiggled it enough to work one more time before it properly dies for good next week.

clark.joel23d ago

So basically a guaranteed repair bill next week then.