[MittensCat]

Is anyone out there familiar with HEPA Vacs and using them for abatement or workplace hygiene?

I've been using a typical Ridgid shop vac for all of my vacuuming needs. My house is under destruction for renovation and I also have a number of pets, therefore my shop vac gets used on a daily basis. I use a "hepa material" filter and a bag inside to hopefully keeps dust from escaping. I realize that it's probably not even close to the effectiveness of a true HEPA vac.
I haven't had to use my vac for anything "nasty" until just recently scraping lead paint from an exterior. I was planning on cleaning it, replacing the filters, and running it outside before bringing it back into my home.

I work as a maintenance man and have my house to renovate. I'm working around asbestos, silica, and lead paint enough that I think it would be nice to have a HEPA vac. I'm unfamiliar with the vaccums and the protocols for dealing with hazardous materials collected by them. I'm not planning on doing professional or large scale asbestos or lead abatement, but inevitably you will disturb it if you want to accomplish anything in these spaces.

I tend to be hyper vigilant when it comes to workplace hygiene. Especially at the school where there are kids working and playing while surrounded by asbestos. We perform maintenance on boiler components, acoustical plaster, and tile. The vacuum would at least offer me some peace of mind when we disturb these materials.

I've seen some pretty bad reviews of Ridgid's 400 dollar HEPA vac. Most of them say that it lacks suction. I imagine a good one is going to be close to a $1,000. Does anyone have model recommendations and or guidance on using these tools? Thanks for any help.

 

[MittensCat]

Would an air scrubber be more appropriate or used in conjunction with the HEPA Vacuum when indoors?

 

[ratherbefishing]

I don't have any direct experience with HEPA. But I own a Fein Turbo wet/dry vacuum. It is one of the nicest power tools I own. (And I don't own crappy tools.) Works great and SO quiet. They do make a HEPA model. That's where I'd start.

 

[SPS-1]

Here is some reading on the FESTOOL HEPA vacs. You can search the model numbers at the bottom of the page for more info on the particular models. Pretty sure you can get both HEPA and non-HEPA bags.

I just glanced through it but seems that the biggest difference other than the filter is that a true HEPA vac is known to be airtight so all air goes through the filter. Festool is good stuff, and very quiet. But prices are pretty high. And check out what you will pay for replacement bags or hoses.

 

[carpdad]

Check Cleanstream brand and you may have to buy from homedepot or such since there are more copies and third party seller such as amazon does not check for real or fake. This is not 100% endorsement of homedepot.:smile:

I did a lead paint abatement once and that was for father in law and never again. I was worried about the legalities in nyc so crossed all t's. Being qualified was applying, do at home written test and getting qualified. An inspector did visit. All I had was my cheap sears shopvac and cleanstream barrel filter. Don't know now, but at the time, cleanstream was claiming that it filters to one micron and I think (memory not good) 1 micron was good for lead abatements.