I’ve been shying away from this title of “influencer” for a minute. It doesn’t really sit right with me and when my fiancee Lindsey says it, my hackles go up and my jaw tightens a bit. So when I got the e-mail from an agency to work with The Home Depot Prospective, I was a bit nerved to say the least. First, why me? To say I’ve got a micro-audience is probably an understatement and furthermore, what tools could they possibly want me to review? Most of the brands and tools I use are tools that The Home Depot doesn’t carry and their audience simply wouldn’t use.
After being assigned Emerson, the brand behind Ridgid Shop Vacuums, I was even more skeptical. A shop vacuum? Really? Let’s ignore the fact that prior to this partnership I was using the 14 Gallon Ridgid Shop Vacuum anyway. It happened to come with a free backpack cooler that has been a life saver for beach days. In reality, how in the world am I going to feature a shop vacuum in my work?
For those familiar with my videos and social channel content, a shop vacuum is not something that gets a lot of air time. Oh and did I mention I have to present two of these? And their filter system?
The 9 Gallon 18 volt Cordless Shop Vacuum: The Ice Breaker
The 9 gallon 18 volt RIDGID Shop vacuum was the ice breaker to easing me into this process. I picked it because, well, I already owned the other one so why not try something different. Also, I had an image in my head of using it for dust collection for my track saw and domino and figured: one less cord would do me well. I’ve been skeptical of cordless tools other than drills, drivers, and even jigsaws because battery life is historically poor or these tools are underpowered. This, was a clear exception. This operates with one or two of the RIDGID 18v batteries and the power and run time is excellent. It comes with a small port hose kit that I was able to adapt to my tools easily. It also comes with a car cleaning kit, which after I cleaned my truck for the first time since 2016, worked really well to clean off a workpiece before applying finish. I used the angular brush attachment for that with the soft bristles and it worked like a charm. The only downside to this vacuum is related to run time, but is more of a me problem. Often I found myself after a process was done, ie. sawing, domino-ing, etc. standing there with the vac still running for a couple minutes plotting my next move. That’s a byproduct of being used to the corded offerings. It eventually died during one of those moments, albeit, with close to a full day of work being completed. In practice, it’ll just make you more conscious about turning on and off stuff. Which is probably good for you and the environment… and your electric bill.
If you’re interested in this shop vac, check out the affiliate link here.
The RIDGID 14 Gallon Corded Work Horse
The 14 Gallon Shop Vac was the offering that I previously owned. I ended up giving away my lightly used one to a friend and keeping the new one for the campaign. Unlike the 9 Gallon Cordless Vacuum, I’ve had a ton of time to play with this one.
It’s big. It’s large for my shop. But let me tell you, the industrial sized drum and powerful motor are a godsend. For whatever reason, the filter on this does need to be changed quite often (more on that later), but it absolutely sucks… in a good way. I’m talking chips, shavings, dust, whatever you can throw at it. I’m chunking out a lot of waste with a mortising chisel on the regular and this thing will drink up huge chunks of whatever like it’s nothing. The standard hose is fat, the entry port is large, and it rarely ends up with clogs or any of those frustrating things that happen with the smaller offerings.
The 14 Gallon Shop Vac has a large industrial drum.
You might remember this from my video on the Nicholson Workbench, but I literally vacuumed up three days of plane shavings from my porch from flattening the thing in a single bound with this guy. It eats.
The feet also have recesses to hold some of the accessories, like the hose extension tubes. There are also some clips on the back for a couple more accessories, but to be honest, those are constantly falling off. If there’s one suggestion I have, this, along with the other shop vac offerings, need some sort of integrated storage for the myriad of accessories. As someone with a small shop, organization and tidiness is key, and loose accessories don’t lend to that.
With all that being said, I have been and still remain pleased with this shop vac. It keeps my area clean for the most part (when I’m not too lazy), and the small part hose kit gives this added versatility. If you don’t have the luxury of multiple vacuums, this would be your guy.
If you’re interested in this shop vac, check out the affiliate link here.
If you don’t know what this is… keep reading.
Odds are, you’ve never replaced the filter on your shop vacuum. You’ve probably said: it’s fine. Or something along the lines of: I could spend that ten dollars on beer. Or even worse: my shop vac is defective.
Well alas, none of the above is correct. Think of your filter in your shop vac as ANY OTHER FILTER in your life. It protects what’s on the other side from stuff that hurts it. In this case, dust and debris. When the filter starts to jam up with dust, debris, and other unmentionables, it starts putting strain on the motor which reduces performance often times and can lead to more serious problems. Yes, RIDGID has the lifetime warranty on its vacuums. But replacing a vacuum every two to three years because you didn’t know it takes five seconds and ten dollars to change is probably not a great practice.
$10 and five seconds to replace with a tool free exchange.
RIDGID offers a variety of different filter options, I believe four or five. However, for basic woodworking applications the bottom of the line, cheapest option, is perfectly fine and affiliate linked here.
RIDGID likely knew that the average joe was too lazy to break out a bunch of wrenches and devices to swap out a filter, so they designed a tool free removal and swap. Just push down on the rubber seal to pop the old one off and push down on the rubber seal to lock the new one on. Don’t wear your good shoes because it can get a bit messy.
And that’s it honestly, you’ll be sucking at full power in no time and isn’t that we all need?
Head over to my Instagram to see the IGTV series showing these products in action.