shop vac question, vacuuming water.

No, the vac needs to be closed to suck up the water, the drain is for just that, Draining the water

Searcher

I think there is one fancy rather big model of Shop-Vac that has an output pump (not just a drain but a pump). I don't know if it runs simultaneously, but probably.

None of the others I know even have a drain, and I'm sure Shopdog is right about those that do. (After all, his father was Shopvac and his mother was Poodledog.)

see grainger and search for immersible pump:

Shop Vac makes 10 models with a built-in pumps:

Sears has had this feature also, although I couldn't find one in their current catalog. They sell an accessory called the "Pump Out" that attaches to the drain of any wet/dry vac and converts it. If the link doesn't work go to sears.com and search for "pump out".

I have a 12 gal Shop Vac that has a built in pump. You can vacuum water and at the same time be pumping it out (via a plain old garden hose). The vac can suck up water at 10 gpm and it pumps out at 5 gpm. When it completely fills up (about 2 min) it shuts off and then you just pump to empty the tank Nice product. MLD

Every craftsman wet/dry vac that I owned has a cover on the bottom of the canister to let out water. You could get away with sucking up the water and simply letting it drain out of the vacuum.

I guess it also matters how much water you want to get rid of too.

Tom

It also matters if you are in a basement with no drain and a lot of steps to climb.

Just don't do what a teacher at my high school did years ago. He decided to drain the remaining water out of an above ground swimming pool by using a shop vac. And I guess he saw the problem with the vac quickly filling up too. So, he took the top part of the vac off and decided to stand there holding it while it sucked the water out of the pool. Needless to say, he is no longer with us.

Yeah, that's it, and that's not very big. I fear I made it sound bigger than it is when I called it "rather big".

Definitely sounds good. (I just fill up the five gallons and then lift it up and pour that in the laundry sink, splashing water all over the place. But I don't use it much, and have no space for even a slightly bigger vac.)

I'd find some space for it--I went through the lift it up and dump in a shower routine--- It didn't take too many trips before I was pooped out and had to give up. I've only had to use it once and it was a life saver. MLD

they only sell to other companies.

Jason wrote in news:Xns9914CED2051EBxzpqsw@140.99.99.138:

Thanks for all the replies. I thought that they would have some sort of ball float valve for draining of water. tank fills with water,ball floats up and lets the water flow out the garden hose drain.

Jason

There's generally some sort of ball float valve to prevent the water level getting so high that water enters the fan area. But that wouldn't do what you want.

If you have the drain open when you start up the vacuum, the drain will suck air into the tank. This will reduce the vacuum on the vacuum hose, so it will be less effective. If you did have a float valve on the drain, then it would be closed at first, but as soon as the float valve opened you'd get air coming in the drain, not water going out, since the pressure in the tank is so lower than atmospheric pressure.

There are a couple of ways of getting around this. One is to use a mechanical pump to pump water from the low-pressure tank to the outside; some Shop-Vac models have such a pump. But without a pump, you're just expected to manually cycle between vacuuming and draining.

Dave

Just got this asking about the feature.

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You would need to look at our new pump vacuums. Just click on the VACS heading, then on the next screen go to Browse Extras and click on "Built in Pump". These vacuums will suction up the water then pump it to another location or drain.

The regular business hours for Shop Vac Corp. Customer Service & E-Mails is Monday - Friday from 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM. EST (570)326-3557

Customer Service

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They have real people answering the phone.

So you look up the pump, call them & tell them what you want, and ask who you can buy it from retail.

[also some branches will sell to anyone with a business card. If you're sitting in front of a computer and can't figure out how to get a business card then go to Home Depot and buy a bucket and broom]

Jim