QUESTION FROM jim t cuff

I have an oil-fired furnace/with hot water baseboard for my ranch house. I am quite handy, and would like to vaccume out the soot from the inner furnace. is their any special type vaccume/shop-vac i need to use and bag. thanks

ANSWER FROM HOME-WIZARD

Dear Jim:

For difficult jobs where you need strong suction, like vacuuming out a sooted up oil burning furnace, I would suggest that you look at the "Sootmaster" furnace vacuum:

http://www.cgfproducts.com/prod5frame.htm#01

I've heard some good things about the DeWalt DC500 vacuum:
http://www.dewalt.com/us/products/tool_detail.asp?productID=6220

But I've heard many complaints about the Stinger brand vaccum.

Hope this is helpful.
Home-Wizard.com

FOLLOW-UP FROM jim t cuff

I have a regular 3 gallon sears wet/dry vac could i use that?
thanks

ANSWER FROM HOME-WIZARD

Jim:

The main concern that I would have with using a small Craftsman wet/dry vacuum for vacuuming out soot from a oil-fired furnace is that the filter system may not be fine enough to keep the soot from coming through and making a mess in your house. I've heard of cases where the tiny soot particles got churned up in the air and actually setting off the fire detectors in the home.

Part of the reason that the bigger (and unfortunately more expensive) furnace vaccums have more suction power, is so they can force the air through the finer filtering system.

Hope this is helpful.
Home-Wizard.com

FOLLOW-UP FROM jim t cuff

Great, thanks for your help.