Filter Queen Shock!

[briankirbyclass]

Here's an interesting tidbit,or observation.
Im having a room addition built onto my home, so naturally there has been MUCH sawdust, debris, drywall dust, ect. to clean up. After one particularly bad day of every inch of the room having at least 2 inches of drywall and sheetrock mud/dust covering it,(not to mention sawdust, and wood shavings mixed in)
I reached for the Filter Queen Majestic, thinking surely with an empty bucket, a new genuine cone,charcoal filter, and inner(inside) top filter, the Filter Queen would gobble up this horrible mess, no problem.
WRONG!,,,the Majestic chocked up, and cut off the suction almost immediatly! What the??
I dont understand it,,,a Filter Queen with an empty bin, and new cone? The suction was tremendous before i started cleaning!
No, the hose wasnt blocked,,i guess the incredible amount of drywall dust(which is worse that chalk dust) was just too much for the FQ.
After unclamping the FQ motor,,,there was about only 3 inches of dust in the bottom,,,,that was all it took to almost completly shut off the suction. Evidently a Filter Queen just dosent like drywall dust!

OK,,,well, i threw that back in the closet after emptying it, and cleaning it all up, and got out the TriStar EXL,,,put a new micro liner in the bag, made sure the pre and post motor filters were clean and clear,,,and low and behold,,,the TriStar gobbled up all the sheetrock and drywall dust,and every bit of the mess without any hesitation what so ever!
Yes, the motor did start to strain after the bag was a little over half way full,,,so, i put a new liner in,,and it hummed along without any problem at all.
I eventually filled 4 liners a little over half way with drywall and sheetrock dust, where the FQ couldnt hardly handle it at all. The TriStar also ate up every bit of sawdust, and wood shavings,,,no problem what so ever.
The FG did not spew any dust back into the room however,,,but then neither did the TriStar. I checked the post motor filter on the TriStar,,it had a very slight amount of drywall dust residue, but none hardly at all.
Was really supprised at that,,,so the lession i learned was that an FQ is great for everyday household dirt and dust,,,but if you really want some power, and have a room full of drywall dust, or a horrible mess to clean up, get a TriStar!
(or at least i will from now on!)
Cant help but love the Filter Queen tho,,,they really are an excellent vacuum cleaner.

 

[tolivac]

I know of a vacuum dealer that tries to "round up" TriStar-Compact "Pigs" for drywall contractors.Since I have a small collection of Shop type vacuums use these instead.If you use a Shop Vac machine-put in the large YELLOW multilayer paper bag and its amazing how much drywall and demolition litter the thing will pick up before you have to change the bag.And the vacuum drum inside stays clean.If you need to use the Shop Vac for a wet mess-remove the bag and HEPA pleated motor filter.At work I have obtained a supply of the paper bags-and ask other folks here NOT to use the pleated filter alone.It clogs quickly and a mess to clean.With the TriStar-Compacts-they won't pick up as much as a shop Vac-but work if you don't want to get a shop Vacuum.I hate using my nice vacs for remodeling messes-because the dirt can be hard to clean off the machine,hose and attachments.also My NSS Model M "Pigs" can gobble up a lot of demolition mess before bag replacement or emptying-use one of the old cloth dump bags for that.And some of that stuff makes such delightful "dings" as it goes thru the M's fan.Its surprizing your FQ clogged so quickly-that was another some drywall contractors liked.If you use it for drywall-plaster dust-use TWO paper cones instead of one.then the drywall-plaster dust doesn't get into the motor.For the mess you had-I would have seriously thought about buying a shop type vacuum to collect that mess-and another vac for your collection!

 

[aeoliandave]

Excellent report, Brian.

Now that's a real world experience that tells us a lot.

Every vacuum I have gotten at the local Restore and many others had their bags stuffed with reno materials - nails, washers, screws, sawdust and of course, plaster powder. It seems to be their fate that their last task before turfing is cleaning up after Mom's Son's worthy home project.

I too have noticed that sturdy battle scarred Compacts are in high demand on jobsites when a Shop Vac just won't do. Bob the Builder knows a thing or two. As in, the Compact is more portable, bounces off studs without tipping and is not easily clogged.

I have used my shopvac to finish sucking out water from my 'motionless' waterbed (it's filled with a fibrous matting) to the point of flat collapse making it possible to roll up and move by one person.

Dave

 

[collector2]

Having serviced vacuums for years I would NOT recommend using any vacuum that does not have a bypass motor (like a shop vac) for drywall dust. It is extremely fine and does get through pretty much any bag. When it gets into the motor it acts as an abrasive and literally eats out the motor. I have replaced a rediculous ammount of motors simply because someone used their normal vacuum for drywall dust. It is one of the worst things I have seen (lol - besides water) for destroying a motor. It's much cheaper to buy a $99 shop vac and keep emptying it than a $200+ replacement motor for your good vacuum.

 

[electroluxxxx]

I usually use my shop vac with a Filter bag and the Hepa Filter inside it so I get triple the protection. and double the suction power
Mike

 

[briankirbyclass]

Thank you for the excellent advise,,,you guys are right,,,id rather not destroy the motor in my TriStar,,,will get a shop vac ASAP! Thanks again!

 

[normvac]

Well, guys I learned the Compact/tri Star lesson way back in the 80's. I had a friend who cleaned new builds for a local
builder. She had more work and more vacuums then I could keep repaired for her at the time. In fact she roped me into
help clean new Condo's before closing. I kept trying to tell her to use a Compact. No cheap, rebuilt vacs was her gig ! Then I took my own Compact (from the shop) when I started cleaning and showed her how well, and cheaply they handle Plaster dust, wood dust, as well as Cement dust in new basements and garages !!! She had actually started using Newer Kirbys with paper bags. They actually did quit well too.
Just my experience,25 years ago, when the Legends first came out!
Norm

 

[hoovercelebrity]

I had a similar experience...

I was hired to clean a gallery space that a friend's father rents, a few years back... It's an old factory building in Milwaukee - built in the early 1900s. Lots of dust, old hardwood floors.

Anyways, I brought my Lux LX thinking it would do the trick. Nope, nada. It started out strong, but as the bag got a bit of dirt in it - the cleaner very quickly dropped off performance-wise. So, I grabbed an Air-Way, and that did the trick, much like your Tri-Star. I was very impressed how it maintained it's performance through all of the fine dirt, dust and grit that I was picking up.



~Fred

 

[briankirbyclass]

Opps, i see where i made a mistake,,,,my Tristar isnt an EXL,,,,its a DXL!

Was telling a friend that cleans houses for a living about my experience with the TriStar,,she had never heard of them,(always uses whatever the homeowner has) so, i showed her mine,,and she is excited and sold on getting one!

(i'll make sure she dosent get swindled!)

 

[compactc9guy]

Compact are awesome

I own a Compact C9 vacuum i use enviro-care micro liner paper bag whit the cloth bag motor filter and love it never loss suction. And i even tried it for picking up dry wall dust off my carpet when i was fixing the base board woow! what a clean rug that was !! I also own a 16 gallons Shop-Vac whit the wet and dry bags cartridge filter and long hose love it so much for big jobs a shop-vac is a must! Also whit the wet/dry pick up bags(they make bags for wet and dry now) its a breeze suction is awesome whit my 24 foot hose (3 . 8 foot hose end to end ) 2-1/2 inch attachments area breeze to use .Compact Electra C9 whit paper liner cloth bag motor filter and exhaust filter are hard to beat i looove my C9!

 

[n0oxy]

compact tristar

Compacts are great, I love my compact C6, I also have a miracle mate which is a clone of the Tristar, it uses the same bags but I think it may use a more powerful motor. I think Tristar went down hill when Aerus purchased them, they now use a Chinese one stage motor which sounds very similar to the motor that is used in the Aerus classic, and the hose and wand ends are nonstandard. They were great machines when they were made by Interstate Engineering. Another interesting Tristar clone is the patriot.
Mike

 

[real1shep]

Sheetrock dust is problematic like Douglass said. In a regular shop fact the dust enters the intake port and adheres right to the surface of the foam or paper over the foam. The setup I then discovered is the shop vacs that use the huge liner that encompasses the entire cannister. The stuff comes in, doesn't centralize on one spot spreads through the entire bag much better.  


 


House vacs are just not set up for the small micron size of chalk dust from sheetrock......you'll ruin your expensive and/or vintage vacs with the stuff.


 


Kevin


 


 

 

[huskyvacs]

Not the fault of the vacuum, fault of the owner. Drywall dust mixed with water turns into a cement-like mud and like other posters said, it's also abrasive dust. This is why it's very bad to breathe it in if it gets into your lungs.

There is a reason why shop vacs were invented. I cannot tell you how many household vacuum cleaners I pluck off garbage piles on the curb or out of the reject dumpsters behind the builder's thrift store from people's home renovations that are 5 minutes from the grave from being used to suck up construction debris. One bagless vac I found had a 2" splinter of wood and a nail pierced through the cyclone filter!