How To Use A Shop Vac To Vacuum Water

How To Use A Shop Vac To Vacuum Water

Peter H. Hill
5 min readNov 11, 2020

For those who live in a house full of members and children, there is usually no specific category of mess in their house. It might be broken glass or wet leaves. Or it can be dust from your shoes or dirty paws of pets. You can clean these messes using a Vac very easily.

But when the mess is in liquid form, you must think about a shop Vacuum specifically. Because it’s not only a wet-dry vacuum but it also able to vacuum water like a Pro. So, for cleaning messy water from the floor, there is no other choice better than a shop vacuum.

And obviously, knowing how to use this machine is necessary before operating it. Here I will cover this topic for you based on my research. You will learn from this article about how to use a shop Vac to vacuum water.

Without wasting more time, let’s start!

Make Sure You Choose The Right Vac

Vacuum to clean dirt or water is a part of our daily life. But if you are new to this job, you need to know exactly what kind of vacuum you need to clean the water. So, ensure that you pick the right type of vacuum.

Wet-dry vacuum is usually recommended for vacuum water. And if your vacuum is a shop vac, then you have no reason to worry. This is because all types of shop vacuum are wet-dry and are suitable for suck up water.

If your vacuum is in a category other than Shop Vac, you must check the user manual to see if it can be used to clean water. If it is not and you vacuum the water with it, there is a strong possibility that it will spoil very soon.

Is The Shop Vacuum Safe To Use?

With no doubt. If you are wondering if it is safe to use an electric machine like a vacuum for water cleaning, I confirm you, you can use it safely.

A shop vac is a convenient cleaning solution that is able to suck up any types of water. Water, sticky liquid, milk whatever it has, you can easily clean it with this handy Vacuum cleaner. Read more about the best portable shop vac for more info.

Sometimes there may be unwanted incidents can happen in your home, such as — a broken pipe may spill water into the room, flooded toilet, the water tap of the house may be broken etc. Having a shop Vacuum at home will be very fruitful to solve all these problems quickly.

A Shop Vac To Vacuum Water — User Guide

Before using any electric tool, you need to know how to use it properly to avoid any types of accidents and damage. A shop vacuum cleaner is not very much different from a regular Vac.

The function is simple. A shop Vac comes with a hose to absorb water. There is a built-in water tank or container inside the machine in which the hose stores dirty water.

Now, let’s have a look at the entire process of vacuuming water with a shop Vac.

Step 1: Remove The Vac Lid

To the begin, you need to remove the vacuum lid to check the internal storage compartment. For a portable shop vac, the lid is the storage area of all electrical materials. There are two snaps on each side of the lid to lift it up. Just dispel both snaps to remove the lid properly.

Step 2: Storage Compartment Checking

After removing the lid, the internal storage compartment area is open for you. Now, check the compartment to make sure that this is empty and clean. After you are done, put back the lid in its place again.

Step 3: Attach The Hose

You will found an empty hose on the internal storage container. You need to fit the intake hose in this hole and must seal it perfectly. To confirm it is sealed, make sure that the hose end is sealed with rubber.

If you are not doing it before plugging the hose, there may be a big chance to leak the liquid from the container. And also ensure that the hose is plugged in its place firmly.

Step 4: Remove The Vac Plug Stopper

A shop vacuum has a plug stopper on the back part of the machine. This is the door to allow pass-through the dirt or water into the container vacuumed by the hose. And this plug stopper hides the exit valve. So, the exit valve will open after you remove the plug stopper and now you are allowed to attach the second hose.

Step 5: Attach The Second Hose

You can use a garden hose as a second hose that you need to set to the exit valve. And it must be held in place with leakage proof guaranty. You can use tape or thread to wrap over the hose to make sure that no leakage will happen.

After securing the hose perfectly in its place, now you can move the exposed end of the hose towards the water you want to vacuum.

Step 6: Let’s Move On!

After you confirmed that every part of the shop Vac is installed correctly and your vacuum is ready to roll on, switch the power button and turn the vacuum on.

After starting vacuuming on full mode, run it for a little time to check if there is everything Ok and no leakage found. If there is any issue, turn off the Vac and check the settings again. And if it sounds good, feel free to run the vacuum.

Safety Tips

Sometimes it may be hard to notice that if the internal storage tank is full or not. But you may hear a sudden unusual noise from the Vac motor. Immediately after you heard this type of noise, turn off the Vac and check the container. If this is full, clean it before you start vacuum water again. Also without any issue, check the vacuum after a certain time to increase its longevity.

If not, there is a high chance of destruction of the Vacuum motor. And it's not only for a shop vac, but also you need to clean all types of vacuum regularly for long-life usage. You will found some informative articles on wikihow.com about this topic.

Final Quote

Okay, I think this guide is enough for one to know about how to use a shop Vac to vacuum water. Before starting your cleaning work, must read this entire article again to do your job perfectly.

Happy cleaning!

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Peter H. Hill
Peter H. Hill

Written by Peter H. Hill

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Howdy, I’m Peter. I am a consultant about cleaning, writer, and DIY cleaning worker. I am a fan of DIY cleaning and electric cleaning tools.

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