ShopVac - need quiet

[Drbraunsr]

Running vacuum on a 5" RO sander. Who makes the quietest unit ?
Looks like the Fein unit is fairly quiet ? $ 300 or so. Anyone have a unit that is whisper quiet ?

[Iciclehead]

I have a Rigid, good capacity, thing really sucks....and is reasonably quiet. I have the 5 gallon size......

Dennis

[Drbraunsr]

Can you hold a conversation while next to the unit ? As I've gotten older, the quiet part is getting more important. I ran the search, but couldn't find anything at all. Running the RO sander with a vacuum is something I never had until now and now I can't sand without it. It's great. Thanks

[Iciclehead]

Originally Posted by Drbraunsr

Can you hold a conversation while next to the unit ? As I've gotten older, the quiet part is getting more important. I ran the search, but couldn't find anything at all. Running the RO sander with a vacuum is something I never had until now and now I can't sand without it. It's great. Thanks

Yes, not a problem to hold a conversation. It is not silent, of course, but it is quiet enough to have on without having to shout or wear ear protection. I replaced another one that was just plain deafening and this one has made me quite happy for a number of years.

I insisted on opening the box at the store and having them run it before I bought.....I would suggest the same.

Dennis

[robdiver]

I have a Fein. Have used it for years. It is quiet, but not super quiet. I use it instead of all the loud shop vacs, as I to hate the noise. I even bought my father in law one.

[Drbraunsr]

Good advice. Thanks guys.

[Patrickprice]

I have a festool CT Mini that is very quiet and portable as well. I also have a Nilfisk branded as a Clarke that I picked up at a Home Depot rental center on clearance. It is much larger but still very quiet. Both units are variable speed as well as having an automatic start feature,

[Danimal16]

wap alto

[Tbone425]

What I did, and this is without a doubt overkill, was build my shop vac in to a 1/4 in plywood box with casters on the bottom and a hatch on top. I lined it with acoustic matting and the eggshell foam, I put baffles of PVC through two sides to keep the air moving. I ran it at 45deg, one up and one down with 75% of the tube in the box. This also allowed me to run dryer tubes out the door to get fresh air in and out. Ended up building a similar setup for my 30gal compressor that sat on a 1" rubber pad.

Only way I could keep the mother of my children from going to prison for murdering their father. Necessity is indeed the mother of invention.

[NY65912]

http://www.amazon.com/Ridgid-72927-VT2525-Noise-Muffler/dp/B0000302TY