Was dead set against using a shop vac for chimney cleaning, now I'm eating my words

Caught so much flak from my buddy over at All Seasons Chimney in Denver for using a drop cloth and bucket like it's 1985, finally tried his setup last week on a job and cleared a heavy creosote log in under 10 minutes. Anyone else switch sides on a tool they swore they'd never use?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_spencer1mo ago

I was exactly the same way about shop vacs for chimney work. I thought it was just a gimmick and that my old tarp and bucket method was good enough. "Eat my words" is right because after borrowing a buddy's vac for a heavy creosote job I felt pretty stupid for how much time I wasted before. Now I keep one in the truck for every job and it makes the whole cleanup part way less of a headache. It is one of those tools that just works way better than you expect the first time you try it.

carter.casey1mo ago

That Rigid or whatever brand he had seemed like overkill until I saw how fast it pulled out years of crud. @the_spencer did you notice a big difference with the HEPA filter on yours or just the regular one?