Build a giant shop vac?

[redtom]

My son in law is gradually remodeling an old farm house. He is progressing to the second floor. It has rock wool and bird nest and all the usual crud in the attic. We will strip the plaster and lath off by hand but he was pondering if a mega shop vac could be fabbed up to suck up insulation. He mentioned using one of those plastic pallet tote tanks. He has access to free ones. But what kind of vac would provide adequate suction?

 

[tomturkey]

How about those blowers that they use for inflatables at the county fairs and such. I picked one up off the curb and put a piece of pvc pipe on the outlet and use it as a patio/garage floor blower. This is one for a much smaller inflatable but moves a lot of air so it has a great suction gobble

 

[DoubleO7]

My son in law is gradually remodeling an old farm house. He is progressing to the second floor. It has rock wool and bird nest and all the usual crud in the attic. We will strip the plaster and lath off by hand but he was pondering if a mega shop vac could be fabbed up to suck up insulation. He mentioned using one of those plastic pallet tote tanks. He has access to free ones. But what kind of vac would provide

Since he can get one for free, trying it won't hurt his wallet.
But since it needs a cage to support it's shape while full of liquid, I don't think it will work as good as a vacuum tank.

 

[Dusty MI]

Check to see in there is Asbestos in the insulation.

 

[showcrop]

A larger reservoir doesn't increase the blower output requirement. The load will be the friction loss of the suction tubing. I would look at building something like a DR Leaf Vacuum, and get the same type of blower that they use that chops the material. I would put it on the ground, sucking through an 8 inch pipe from the attic, with a 4-5 inch hose and wand to work with. Not sucking through a reservoir would make it a lot less complicated. You can set it up to blow onto a wagon or whatever. The eight inch pipe makes it possible to suck it some distance.

 

[tomturkey]

Could an old silage blower be utilized for a function such as this???????? gobble

 

[kencombs]

My son in law is gradually remodeling an old farm house. He is progressing to the second floor. It has rock wool and bird nest and all the usual crud in the attic. We will strip the plaster and lath off by hand but he was pondering if a mega shop vac could be fabbed up to suck up insulation. He mentioned using one of those plastic pallet tote tanks. He has access to free ones. But what kind of vac would provide adequate suction?

Maybe find and adapt a woodworking dust collector. Mine is a 2hp Grizzly and moves a lot of air. Intended to pull sawdust and planer chips thru a 4 or 6" tube and dump into a bag. The bag can be subbed with a plastic garbage bag. The big ones are either 39gal or next step is 50gal.

 

[mechanicfred]

Get a leaf vac and put a 6" plastic drain tile hose a hundred feet long on it. Sew up some old bed sheets for a bag to blow it into. I've been wanting to try that for a long time!

 

[da.bees]

I can't recall the proper name for system type but look at "Dust Deputy" dust collector for a miniature version. One of those would be straight forward to fabricate with stacked 55 gallon barrels, plastic bags in lower barrel.

 

[randyrenfro7]

My question is, how are you going to get the tote to the second floor and better question how are you going to get it down full of plaster? It is not going to go through a door!

 

[Aaron SEIA]

When I did flood/fire mitigation work we had just what he's after. It was called The General. Essentially a 10" 25 horse gas powered leaf sucker. Had large (pickup bed sized) bags we'd attach. Did a fantastic job on insulation. Maybe make some phone calls to mitigation services near you and just hire it done. I worked for one called ServPro, but other companies probably have them as well.
AaronSEIA

 

[Oregon Tractor Jack]

Contact your local insulation contractor, most should offer an insulation removal service. I had insulation blown in last spring and one of the questions during the bid process was do you want the old blown in insulation removed. They would have sucked out the old stuff is I had wanted it.

OTJ

 

[redtom]

My question is, how are you going to get the tote to the second floor and better question how are you going to get it down full of plaster? It is not going to go through a door!

We would set the the outfit in the driveway and suck through a long hose up through a window

 

[cjunrau]

My son in law is gradually remodeling an old farm house. He is progressing to the second floor. It has rock wool and bird nest and all the usual crud in the attic. We will strip the plaster and lath off by hand but he was pondering if a mega shop vac could be fabbed up to suck up insulation. He mentioned using one of those plastic pallet tote tanks. He has access to free ones. But what kind of vac would provide adequate suction?

find a grain vac that uses an auger and suck it up at low rpm of course. smaller hose

 

[showcrop]

We would set the the outfit in the driveway and suck through a long hose up through a window

That is what I had assumed. The "General" sounds like a good possibility.

 

[Mule Meat]

How do you control dust using a plastic tote and a blower motor from a silo?

Look into a Goodway Industrial vacuum or call the man.

 

[NoDakInMN]

They make vacuums specifically for that purpose that discharge into a disposable bag. Probably cheaper to rent one than going through the expense of making one.