# Washing Shopp Vac filters



## jjrbus (Dec 6, 2009)

I was yaking with a friend and he mentioned washing pleated shop vac filters. I know they can be blown out, vacumed but I never heard of washing one. They are paper and washing paper does not seem doable.

A bit of time went by and I had run out of pre filters. they sell pre filters and I normally use them but I had run out and used the vac anyway.

http://www.shopvac.com/shopvac-accessories/products/pre-filter-for-cartridge-filter__903-49-00.aspx

So with great trepidation I washed the filter, I was gentle with it, let it dry and reinstalled it. No problem.
HTH JIm


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## firehawkmph (Apr 26, 2008)

Jj,
I have 6 or 7 shop vacs, lost count, mostly rigids. I have been washing the paper filters for almost forty years, back when I had a couple of Sears shop vacs. I grab the filter by the ends and tap it inside a garbage can while slowly rotating it around. That gets rid of most of the dirt stuck between the pleats. Then I take a hose with a nozzle and aim the stream at an angle at the inside of the pleats, slowly rotating the filter so I get all the pleats. This is all done on the outside of the filter. It flushes the dirt right away. Set the filter out in the sun for a few hours and it's good as new. Don't hold the nozzle right up against the filter, especially if you have high water pressure. Stay about a foot away. I have filters that are around twenty years old.
Mike Hawkins


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## TS3660 (Mar 4, 2008)

I also wash them with a hose. No problem. They are too expensive to buy all the time.


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## Sawdustguy (Dec 30, 2008)

I wash mine also.


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## rrich (Jun 24, 2009)

I replaced my filters with HEPA ones from Clean Stream.
http://www.cleanstream.com/

Because a I have a couple of shop vac, I clean them with the shop vac. 

Never thought about nor saw the need to wash them.


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## jjrbus (Dec 6, 2009)

Well you never told us about it:laughing:


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## Sorrowful Jones (Nov 28, 2010)

I never thought about washing them. I figured they would just fall apart. I have a Ridgid vac and I have been using the inner bags which keep a LOT of sawdust from the filter.


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