madman
Well-known member
35-50 cents per bag? That's a steal compared to shop vac bags at $5 each! Honestly I'm guilty of using shop vacs 'dry,' but mainly because A, I didn't even know you could get bags for them, and B, I've never had a nice shop vac. 8 or 9 months ago, I started remodeling my friend's kitchen, and he had a cheap crap, but brand new little shop vac and it had bags with it. I love the bags, and I gladly paid HIS money for many replacement bags. Luckily, it's a small unit, so the crappy paper bags from Harbor Freight work just fine.
Now I've got my super duper Fein shop vac, it's much bigger so the Harbor Freight bags are not big enough. So $15 for a 3 pack from Home Depot is what I'm stuck with. Probably can get them cheaper online for the next big dusty project I undertake. But being a nice piece of equipment, I intend to keep it that way. And not to vacuum up so much plaster dust with no bag or filter that it cakes up the fan blades and unbalances them...
As for bagless house vacs, it's a very different story, because they're cyclonic. The filters don't become choked with dust after 5 minutes. And if you have the right vacuum, the filters are washable foam... not like a shop vac's $20 pleated paper filter that you have to beat the dust out of inside a garbage can outdoors, or blow out using compressed air, also outdoors, and then have to wash your clothes and take a shower afterwards. Not really apples to apples, I think.
Now I've got my super duper Fein shop vac, it's much bigger so the Harbor Freight bags are not big enough. So $15 for a 3 pack from Home Depot is what I'm stuck with. Probably can get them cheaper online for the next big dusty project I undertake. But being a nice piece of equipment, I intend to keep it that way. And not to vacuum up so much plaster dust with no bag or filter that it cakes up the fan blades and unbalances them...
As for bagless house vacs, it's a very different story, because they're cyclonic. The filters don't become choked with dust after 5 minutes. And if you have the right vacuum, the filters are washable foam... not like a shop vac's $20 pleated paper filter that you have to beat the dust out of inside a garbage can outdoors, or blow out using compressed air, also outdoors, and then have to wash your clothes and take a shower afterwards. Not really apples to apples, I think.
