The Best Shop Vacuums for Cleaning All Sorts of Debris

Buying Guide: Shop Vacuum

Are you looking for a vacuum that can get rid of any spills or dust regardless of size? If so, you may want to look into buying a shop vac. This guide will cover everything you need to know about purchasing a shop vac for your home.

What Is a Shop Vacuum?

A shop vacuum is a type of vacuum cleaner that offers more power and adaptability than regular vacuum cleaners. Also known as wet/dry vacuums, shop vacuums can suck up both solids and liquids without damaging the device as it places everything inside a large tank. It can also suck up larger solid debris such as nails and sawdust without issue, a feat that wouldn’t be possible with a regular vacuum cleaner.

Why You May Want To Get a Shop Vacuum

They’re more powerful than regular vacuums

Regular vacuum cleaners are great, but they have their limitations. There are two major elements of any vacuum cleaner: its horsepower and its capacity. In terms of both, regular vacuum cleaners don’t really offer that much. They’re great for cleaning small particles and dust, but for anything remotely large they fall short because of their lackluster power and capacity.

Shop vacuums pack more of a punch. They boast stronger motors and have larger capacities thanks to their big tanks. It’s worth noting that shop vacuums have better specs because they’re made to handle whatever the user wants to suck up. So, if you don’t really care about cleaning anything other than dust with a vacuum cleaner, then the shop vacuum may be a little unnecessary. But if you need to clean up large particles and liquids on a regular basis, shop vacs are surprisingly convenient.

They’re more versatile than regular vacuums

Versatility is another feature that makes shop vacs better than regular vacs. When you’re cleaning a room with a regular vacuum, you first have to wipe up any liquid and sweep any large particles or small items with a broom and dustpan. This is because such items cannot go inside the vacuum cleaner without possibly damaging the device.

You don’t have to worry about any of that when it comes to shop vacs. All you need to do is turn the device on and let the vac handle the rest. While there are some limitations to this, the strongest and most powerful shop vacs can suck up pretty much anything that fits inside the vacuum cleaner’s tubes and pipes.

Things You Can Clean With a Shop Vacuum

Dust and dirt

Dust and dirt are the main culprits of a messy home. They’re small and difficult to see when isolated, but when they start piling up they’re almost impossible to miss. More importantly, they can cause allergies in some people and even cause sickness if the dust or dirt carries any bacteria or viruses. You’ll want to get rid of these small microparticles as often as you can.

Both regular vacuums and shop vacs can clean up dust and dirt pretty easily. Shop vacs do have a stronger motor than regular vacuums but when it comes to something as small as dust specks the difference doesn’t really matter that much.

Larger solid particles

Aside from dust and dirt, shop vacuums can also clean up larger particles and smaller items. This can range from sawdust to small items like nails or some leftover chips in a couch cushion. These are the types of debris that you’d normally have to sweep before using your regular vacuum cleaner. With a shop vac, you can suck it all up just like that.

Liquids

This last one is pretty interesting since you’d normally never think of sucking up liquids with a vacuum cleaner. Shop vacs can suck up anything, be it wet and dry. You can clean up juice and water spills, oil spills, or anything that you would normally wipe away with a cloth or towel. Depending on the attachment you use, you won’t leave behind a trace of particles, making shop vacuums one of the best tools to use for all-around cleaning.

Tips When Using Shop Vacs

Empty the tank regularly

Just because a shop vac can have gallons worth of space doesn’t mean you should only empty the tank sparingly. Depending on what you sucked up with the shop vac, you may have organic material inside, and this can decay and leave behind a bad smell that may be difficult to remove. If you’d rather not deal with that, it’s a good idea to empty the tank after every use, especially if you only use the tank sparingly.

If you use the vac daily and you don’t suck up anything organic or decayable, you could empty the tank once every few days or even once a week. Just be sure that you don’t fill the tank up too much before emptying it.

Use the right attachments for the right job

Vacuum cleaners come with an array of attachments, and you can use many different attachments for your shop vac. Some are great for cleaning up liquids (such as the squeegee attachment) whereas others may be better for solids (like the brush attachment). Using the right type of attachment will ensure that you clean as effectively as possible.

To save yourself the hassle, try planning out the order in which you use your attachments. For example, you could clean all the liquids in the area first with the squeegee attachment and then swap to the brush attachment for cleaning up larger solid particles. This can help save time and effort so you don’t have to constantly switch between attachments. Be sure to also clean the attachments regularly to ensure they don’t end up dirtying the room instead of cleaning it.