What vacuum for plaster dust? Henry with hepa bags sufficient?

[alligatorlizard]

Is a Henry hoover, used with "HEPAFLO" bags, sufficient for containing the fine dust created from sanding plaster? Specifically, I will be smoothing out some recently plastered-in chases in walls (after a full rewire of my house, so quite a few chases)

There are plenty of threads and info websites which say a Henry or similar is ideal for this sort of thing - and plenty of others that say you need at least an L class vacuum. Obviously L/M/H class vacuums get a lot costlier...

What I'm not clear on is if using a non L/M/H class vacuum, but with bags, will still result in fine plaster dust being thrown out of the vacuum's exhaust - i.e. do the bags prevent this from happening??

And if a Henry is fine, what about the £40 wet-and-dry one from Wickes - is that just as good, or is worth shelling out a bit more for a Henry? Or something else?

Essentially, what's the best non-expensive vacuum I can buy that will contain plaster dust as opposed to just blowing it all around the house?

 

[RrogerD]

Use anything it's fine.

 

[robinbanks]

Or buying a longer hose and putting the vac motor outside, with as basic filtration as you can get. You'll find that the fine dust clogs any filter quickly; it might be better to form an extractor that gets dust outside and doesn't try to contain it all, than trying to contain all the dust inside a thing inside the house

 

[Burnerman]

The genuine Hepaflo bags are just fine for this......that's the white cloth base ones in boxes of 10.
The Henry is a mighty fine machine.
However, you may like to consider buying one of the Henry range that does wet vacuuming too - I forget the name but it might be Harriet or something?
So much more useful for other jobs.
John

 

[DAZB]

I always use Henry / James / Charles vacs as they are just so good and cope with anything I throw at them and dust is never an issue. Use the white bags and you will be fine.

 

[lostinthelight]

Compared to a vac where one can reverse the air to shake the dust off the inside of the bag, ive found a Henry very disappointing

 

[robinbanks]

I use my compressor for that..

But the vac that blows was super for getting the hobo bin blazing before I invested in a leaf blower

 

[lostinthelight]

I use my compressor for that..

But the vac that blows was super for getting the hobo bin blazing before I invested in a leaf blower

Not referring to a vac with a suck and blow port but one that has a button that blows internally

 

[Notch7]

Is a Henry hoover, used with "HEPAFLO" bags, sufficient for containing the fine dust created from sanding plaster? Specifically, I will be smoothing out some recently plastered-in chases in walls (after a full rewire of my house, so quite a few chases)

yes it will Ive used it for doing that

just bear in mind the fine dust will blind off the bag so every so often give open up your henry and get hold of the bag still in the machine and just get hold of the bag by one thickness of the bag and give it shake, repeat around the bag a bit

and dont allow the bags to get very full

 

[alligatorlizard]

Thanks for all the tips - will most likely order a Henry in the Black Friday sales.

Re. the suggestion of long hose and putting vac outside, I do like that idea, but it would complicate this task a fair bit, and I'd need a really long hose for some areas. As I shouldn't have too much sanding to do other than the plastered-in chases, I'm just going to trust the HEPAFLO bags to contain it for now - good tip about shaking them btw

Still mulling over cheaper options (Wickes wet-&-dry/Titan/Karcher) but the Henry does seem to get the most praise - probably worth the investment.

 

[blup]

Nilfisk wet and dry very good for bits of brick and similar rubbish

 

[RF Lighting]

I've used a Henry with the hepa-flo bags for years and it works brilliantly. The hardest task it has to deal with is when it's connected to my wall chasing machine which creates a huge amount of very fine dust. it can keep up for about a metre of chasing and then I have to turn it off, give it a bang on the floor to unclog the bag and then carry on. I don't think you'll find anything better for the price.

 

[alligatorlizard]

One other question - now the Henry is decided upon - which Henry??? Have decided not to go for the wet and dry one - hopefully won't have much use for this, and if I ever do need a wet hoover maybe the cheap Wickes one would do.

But the the decision is between the regular one (HVR 160), and the "clean air" or "allergy" version with the HEPA filter.

As I'll definitely be using the HEPAFLO bags, does the added HEPA filter really make much difference? If it does mean less fine particles escaping then might be worth it?

And what's the difference between "clean air" & "allergy" version?? Other than fact that the "clean air" one is currently much cheaper in the sales, seems like the same deal - both claim to trap particles 800 times smaller than human air - so same filter? is the difference just the attachments?

 

[mrrusty]

You are far better off getting separate dry and wet vacs, if that's what you need, Good filtration is incompatible with wet vacs without swapping filters for float valves etc. It can be done, but is not ideal.

L Class is to all intents, just a standard vac. M class demands a better filter, and H class an even better one. However, there are other differences between M and H with regard to testing and certification, and in reality you will often find exactly the same filters in both M and H versions of a particular machine.

Henry's are a great compromise between price and performance.