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Wet Vac for Plating Shop

I am the Process Manager for a large plating shop in Toledo, Ohio. Although this is not a technical problem I'm hoping someone can help me out. We use wet vacs for a lot of various cleaning duties. From vacuuming out various tanks on the line,to cleaning spills on the floor and numerous other jobs. We usually buy our wet vacs from a supply house or the hardware. Unfortunately we go through these vacs like water. I know we need to invest in good wet vac and am hoping I can get some suggestions from other job shops. We need a wet vac that will hold up to the acids and corrosives of a plating shop. Is there a preference between an electric or air driven one. I'm sure a salesman would be glad sell me their ultimate wet vac but I'd really like to hear from some of you platers out their. Thanks In Advance, John Sartor

John
- Toledo, Ohio
2000

If you put an oiler on the air line, preferably at the vac, it will outlast several electric ones. This assumes that all contact points are either stainless or plastic and that you avoid strong nitric with the plastic ones and HF with the SS ones.

James Watts
- Navarre, Florida
2000

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John, We use a air-powered "barrel vacuum" Its available from either McMaster Carr, or Graingers, I forget which one. Its a really trick little vacuum. It screws into the small bung hole of a stainless steel, or mild steel barrel. With a vacuum hose attached to the large bung hole. Plug it into pressurized air, and voila, you have a vacuum that will suck anything up. I believe it was about $400, plus the cost of the stainless barrel (for acids) which, here in Idaho is about $600. It seems like a pretty large investment, but it will last forever, as none of the working parts of the vacuum come into contact with the solution. We've had ours in use for over 6 years, and the only thing we've had to replace is the vacuum hose. Hope this helps.

Marc Green
anodizer - Boise, Idaho
2000