Shop vac died (thankfully)

[Colin Tanner]

15 years ago I bought a Ridgid 6 hp 16 gallon shop vac that did double duty as a blower. While using it to blow the rest of the leaves out of a flower bed it died. It was high pitched and loud.

i bought a Dust Deputy for the shop vac, which works well, and was hoping to use it as a dust collector for my burgeoning woodworking hobby. I know that nothing will take the place of a real dust collector, but until I really see that I'm going to follow through I was hoping to get a quieter shop vac that will work well as a DC in the meantime. No matter what, I will still need a shop vac even if I buy a DC.

Can you guys share your experiences and give me dome suggestions for a new shop vac?

[Mike Chalmers]

I don't think you can find a quieter shop shop vac than the current Ridgid "Scroll Noise Reduction" machines, certainly not in their price range. I have used lots of different makes over the years, and am currently operating 4 for various machines and purposes. My Ridgid 6.5hp, 60 liter machine is my "go to" machine.

[Mike Cutler]

Colin

I probably have the same Rigid vac you have, same age, and have also been waiting for it to blow up. I started using it to blow leaves out of the gutters, so maybe I can accelerate it's demise.
My Vac in the shop is a Fein Turbo II probably about 10 years old. It's very quiet. I know folks run a Dust Deputy with them. I have a DC, so I've never done it personally
If the new Rigid's are as quiet as Mike says, I'm going to check them out. Other than the noise, my Rigid has been a real work horse around the house for years. I've done everything with it. It's vacumed water out of my cellar on more than a few occasions.

[Don Jarvie]

Some of the Craftsman will allow an external muffler but I haven't seen one in action.

[Bruce Page]

Some of the Craftsman will allow an external muffler but I haven't seen one in action.

I bought the muffler for my old Craftsman screamer vac, it did not make a noticeable difference. I replaced the screamer with a Fein T3 and have not regretted it.

[Larry Frank]

My 18 year old Craftsman screamer recently died...RIP. I bought a Ridgid as a replacement and it is much quieter and a well designed shop vac. I think the Ridgid are the best ones for the buck.

[Jim Breen (NY)]

I also replaced a 20 year old Craftsman that was real noisy and became unbearably loud after using it to suck up drywall dust for a week (yes, I was trying to kill it and succeeded). The Rigid is much quieter, but that's comparing it against a 20y/o vac. I use mine with a dust deputy (and hearing protection) and have good results.
I looked at a Fein and could not justify the cost, pkus the outlay in adapters to connect it to my tools.

[Mike Henderson]

I bought the muffler for my old Craftsman screamer vac, it did not make a noticeable difference. I replaced the screamer with a Fein T3 and have not regretted it.

I agree with Bruce. Bought a muffler for one I had and couldn't tell the difference.

Mike