menichcr's Full Review: Craftsman 17713 Wet/Dry Vacuum
Well let me start by saying I wanted a Wet/Dry Vac that I could carry from my garage or basement without having to strain myself. So after seeing this rather small vacuum on sale at Sears, I picked it up.
WHAT I GOT
Vacuum, 4 ft lg hose, 3 attachment (Angled, brush, and floor piece)
MY EXPERIENCE
FINE PARTICLES
Well at 1st things seemed great as I attempted to clean my pellet stove. Though the vac is a little loud. After about 10 minutes of cleaning up the fine ash, the filter was already clogged. I chalked this up to the fine particles from the stove were just too fine. Well after doing some drywall work in my garage, I also found that the drywall dust quickly clogged the filter. Which resulted in almost no suction.
I started getting discouraged already, and after cleaning off the filter with my larger shop vac, I was back in business. The filter on this one is a basically a gray bag, along with a rubber band to hold it on. Fine particles collect on the outside of this bag, and don't allow air to pass through it, thus taking away the suction that you need. For Fine particles I'd give it a 3 out of 5. Though it does suck them up, it quickly clogs the filter.
LARGER DEBRIS
I gave the vac another chance on cleaning up some wood chips about 1/2" to 1" in size from the electrical work, and those quickly clogged the 2" diameter hose. After unclogging that for 10 minutes, I tried again, and got the same result. I Found it works best when you only suck up a little debris at at time. I'd give it a rating of 2 out of 5 on larger debris, because the hose just can't handle it.
BLOWER
It also blows air at a high speed out the back side, make sure there isn't any light loose objects in the range of the blower, or it will end up some place else quickly. Also the blower side versus the vacuum side are not clearly marked. You can easily mistake one side for the other. That could make your mess ever worse. Though I have found the blower to work well. I give it a rating of 4 out of 5.
WET CLEANUP
Though I have only had a chance to use this one time on a water clean up. I had very little problem with suction while cleaning up some water. The only thing that I had a problem with is any fine particles inside the hose or the base of the vac, later hardened and had to be scraped out of the unit. I would give it a 4 out of 5, because I should have cleaned out the vac before using it on water.
ATTACHMENTS
Here are a couple more things that I found to be troublesome to me with this vacuum. It also blows air at a high speed out the back side, make sure there isn't any light loose objects in the range of the blower, or it will end up some place else quickly. Also the blower side versus the vacuum side are not clearly marked. You can easily mistake one side for the other. That could make your mess ever worse. The 3 attachments that come with the vac, don't have anywhere to be stored. They basically hang around loose. There are two clamps on each side of the vac, but that only holds the hose. So, unless you know where you left the attachments, you will find yourself looking for them. Though I do like the attachments that came with it, I give Craftsman a 1 out of 5 rating for finding a place to keep them on board.
MY SUMMARY
Though the Vac works well on small jobs, I do not recommend it for bigger jobs or anything with fine particles like drywall or ash. For only $10 more you can get yourself a mid size vac. Which is what I wish I would have done.
Light and portable 2 gallon Clean-N-Carry wet/dry vac Easily move throughout workspace with 10' cord MLI>Blowing port for added versatility Friction f...More at Sears
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