Smurf

Is it normal for the vac to lose suction if the filter is wet? I sucked up some water to clean the hose through today. The filter got wet and it wouldn't suck anymore. It did suck with the filter out, but I just finished the job by hand.

Is it normal for the vac to lose suction if the filter is wet? I sucked up some water to clean the hose through today. The filter got wet and it wouldn't suck anymore. It did suck with the filter out, but I just finished the job by hand.

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Oh aye..? that statement sounds suspect...lol

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yeh well i didnt want to say anything ......

I dunno, you come on here for advice and all people do is take the p!ss /emoticons/tongue.png

I dunno, you come on here for advice and all people do is take the p!ss /emoticons/tongue.png

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now come on this is definitely dodgy...but I just finished the job by hand.

If I suck up just water I take the filter out otherwise the float cutout will not work properly

Yes, it will loose suction if the filter is saturated. The reason is that the motors cause suction by drawing air down the hose, through the filter and into the motor housing. If the filter is soaked with water, then air cannot pass through it. So, you loose suction at the hose.

I have a length of plastic as a protective flap between the drum inlet and the filter. It's a simple solution but keeps the filter dry when sucking up wet muddy gutters. And as Smurf says, if I know I am drawing up water e.g. cleaning the hose, I remove the filter.

I will try to get a picture of the plastic flap and post it up here.

Sounds interest Paul & pics would be good /emoticons/wink.png

Cheers lads. So if I'm sucking up mud and the filter is covered in mud, what do I do if the filter is covered in it?

That's a catch-twenty-two @Tuffers as wetvacs are not designed for clearing sludge from guttering.

We all know if you take the filter out **** can get sucked up into the motor. If you leave the drum filter in it will eventualy get clogged and lose suction.

I've knackered more motors than a care to think about as guttervacs suck /emoticons/biggrin.png

these gutter vacs sound like there not wat there cracked up to b glad i stuck with me new 3 tear, that will do me ide like to try a vac but im not guna shell out all that cash on one if its guna b a pain in the ars moters burning out an all that old game cos if i got one it would have to b a gudun full carbon pole 3000w jobby

very interesting this, just nipping slightly off topic...reminds me of the time i left my wife with an industrial wet and dry to clean out the soot in the loft after i had taken down the chimney.....apparently it was set up for wet use and all she was doing was hoovering up the soot on one side and the vac was chucking it out to the other....she was kinda covered in soot herself....well i should have checked it myself ...my fault...very funny though:devil: sorry for hijack but it proves i am learning...

I think I feel sorry for Mrs CNC /emoticons/biggrin.png bless her.

kinda turned me on actually it was so hot up in the loft she was down to her white knickers....the rest of her was black ...and she had been hoovering away all day....really ...all day... and no i am not showing the photos...twas in my youth...i put this in cause i know mr taytay will say something....

kinda turned me on actually it was so hot up in the loft she was down to her white knickers....the rest of her was black ...and she had been hoovering away all day....really ...all day...

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OK, here are the pictures I promised in the post the other day about the plastic I use in my Gutter Vacuum.

First, the problem:

Here is a representation of a Gutter Vacuum collection tank. Air flow brings in the debris that you suck out of the gutters and into the vacuum. As the air is drawn up by the motors, the air passes through the cloth filter bag, but the debris simply hits the bag, then drops to the bottom on the vacuum tank. But, if the debris is wet, as often it is, then the material filter gets wet.




Now the solution:

Put a sheet of plastic in the tank, between the filter bag and the inlet. This means the debris hits the plastic and drops to the bottom of the tank. It doesn't hit the fabric filter bag, so the filter doesn't get wet.



Here are some images of my vacuum with the plastic sheet in place. It is simply a piece of plastic with the top folded down over the edge of the vacuum tank. It is held in place when the vacuum head is in place.



The plastic doesn't go all the way to the bottom of the tank, so that there is room for the debris to build up. It also doesn't cover the water outlet. Though it does go a bit lower than the material filter in order to protect it



Here is the mess o the inlet side of the plastic. You can see that the debris hits the plastic sheet, then drops down into the tank.



The plastic takes the abuse pretty well actually. I thought that I would have to replace it frequently, though this is the same piece of plastic that I have used all winter on gutter jobs.



From the mess of the vacuum you can see that the last job I did was was pretty dirty and wet, but the filter bag stayed dry.




Details about the plastic:

Well to be honest it's not too scientific. I wanted to put some plastic in place to protect the filter. I wanted it big enough to protect it, but no too big as to be a problem when debris started collecting in the tank. I went out to my shed, found a bit of plastic lying about, thought that this looks about the right size, tried it and it worked. The plastic I found was pretty thin and I was concerned about the first sharp object hitting it and ripping it. Though, the piece that I found was long, so I folded it in 3. Therefore the plastic in these photos is actually 3 ply. I guess you could use a single thinker piece or maybe a bit of tarpaulin or get one of those strong polypropylene woven re-usable shopping bags that sell in supermarkets and un-stitch the sides. Though I haven't had to try as my first try worked and has done me for all my winter jobs.

The size of the plastic:

Again, I wouldn't get too caught up with exact measurements. I don't know if the size that I use is the most suitable as I haven't experimented, I just know it works just fine for me. I can keep the filter dry in normal conditions (assuming that I don't allow too much to build up in the tank). It also doesn't appear to obstruct the collection on the debris in any way.

I am not going to tell you the exact size of the bit that I use because vacuum tank sizes differ, so the size that I use may not be suitable for you. I will say that the height on my plastic is about the same height as the vacuum tank (not including the head). So when I fold a bit over the edge to hold it in place, then it leaves a space at the bottom to allow debris to fall to accumulate. The with of my plastic is somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 the circumference of the tank.

As has already been mentioned, if you are going to suck up a load of water e.g. a bucketfull to clean out the vac tubes, then remove the filter first.

I have another modification that I have donne to my vacuum to help protect it when sucking up a large quantity of water, especially when mixed with sludge and there is no filter bag to protect the motors. I will do another shorter post to show you that.

very clever and a great write up thankyou paul

thanks for that wwc ,thats a great idea , recently i noticed my et vac was loosing suction but the filter was filthy so a quick clean sorted it . most of the winter when the weather was wet i find the suction is far better with the filter removed and in summer when its dry and dusty i wouldnt use without the filter in because the dust would knacker the motors

Thanks wwc. Excellent post! Same vac as mine.

thanks for the info @WWC

handy tip

Cheers WWC top tip guv