Anybody ever suck water with your CT vac?

[AlexThePalex]

Just wondering, are there any people who use the CT22 with the special water container and filters to suck water?

If you do, does the vac stay clean, does all the water go into the container, or does it become a mess?

Reason I'm asking is that somebody's offering me a container for little, and I'm wondering if I should buy it or not. I'm not planning on using my CTL22 to suck up water, but perhaps it might come in handy if the need arises. It's just that I can get a really nice price on it, unused for only 42 euros, together with 10 dust bags. Retail value of 184 euros.

So far I haven't had any use for dust bags though, because I go the long life bag. Was just thinking a couple of bags might come in handy too, just for back up. Does anybody here who got the long life filter bag ever use plain filter bags?

I'd greatly appreciate to hear your experiences, thanks.

 

[Bob Marino]

If you use the dirt trap, the vac stays dry. It is way easier to empty the trap than emptying a fully water  loaded vac. You also need to get the wet filter elements when using the vac for water pickup.
Yes, the filter bags are very useful, even if you have the long-life bag. Since you are geting it at such a good price, I would use them when doing a lot of fine dust pickup.

Bob

 

[Aspiring FT Owner]

Yep bought it as part of my initial kit with the Rotex sander.

Ended up using it for carpet cleaning when the other vac failed and left a wet mess.  The CT-22 was great, got the carpet drier than the rug doctor when it was working.  I paid retail for it a few years back, and still think it was worth every penny.  Another use that came up was when my upright washer failed and needed to be drained when the drain stop valve was bad.  Sucked out all the water thru the upper hose connection, no mess and only took a few buckets to dry it out so it could be opened and fixed.

Like everyone said, get the sponge inserts for the filters with the bucket, it should serve you well for random stuff like this.

Worth it especially at a discount.

 

[Allen Akin]

I use mine for water cleanup fairly frequently.  I just remove the standard filters, and insert the bucket-and-screen assembly.  Works great.

Dust in the hose tends to cement into crud, though, so if you use the CT for water as often as I do, you might find it worthwhile to wash out the hose from time to time.

Allen

 

[tbellemare]

Alex:

Like Bob said, the "Dirt Trap" is designed to make it easier to remove the water you pick up from the CT. The CT is designed to be a dust extractor but is a phenomenal shop vacuum.

Shop vacuums come in various configurations and flavors and Festool has made a system that eliminates dust while working in normally dusty situations but is also probably as good as any shop vacuum.

The Dirt Traps that Festool sells for their CT 22 and CT 33 are designed to not only collect the water that the "dust extractors" pick up in "water extraction" duty but much more...

The Dirt Traps allow you to transport the water from your really nice machine to an appropriate place to pour it out (like a sink or the outside). They also allow you to strain the flotsam from that which you pour out so you don't have to pollute if you don't want to... Or plug your drain. That's why they call it a "dirt trap".

You can use the Festool CT's without the Dirt Trap but it is a convenience. The fact that they are only available for the 22 & 33 in the U.S. is evidence of that.

The Festool CT's have an electronic mechanism (contacts to detect high water or bubbles) so they can't get "swamped" under normal use. They will shut down to protect themselves.

Oh, as was mentioned, don't forget to change to the wet filters.

On the other end of the CT, there is a Spark Trap. I was recently scared by a friend of mine using my CT while cutting metal without one...

The purpose of the spark trap is to stop embers or hot metal from entering the CT directly. 'Ever heard of a grain silo fire??? or explosion... BOOOM!!!

I learned to drive in a grain truck next to a combine. I have...

Tom

 

[AlexThePalex]

Bob, Aspiring FT Owner, Alan and Tom, thanks for the reactions.

I was mainly wondering if people ever use their CT's for water, and by judging your answers I think that is confirmed. I see there might always be an occasion where you need it. I was just thinking to myself for a moment, what if I buy this and it ends up unused in my attic? That's what happened to the guy I can buy this from, he bought it plus all the filter bags years ago and never used his CT22 enough to need it all.

Yes, the filter bags are very useful, even if you have the long-life bag. Since you are geting it at such a good price, I would use them when doing a lot of fine dust pickup.

Bob, I mostly do fine dust pick up. I think 90% of my CTL's use is when I hook it up to my 3 sanders, for painting prep, and about 10% on my circular saw and router. Also got an old Holzher planer but I think that gets used just once or twice per year.

Is this fine dust not good for the long life filter bag?

I do see that when stuff gets too dirty, I don't want to vacuum it up with the long life filter bag, to spare it. Was thinking of getting a couple of bags for that anyway.

Dust in the hose tends to cement into crud, though, so if you use the CT for water as often as I do, you might find it worthwhile to wash out the hose from time to time.

Good tip, will remember that.

They also allow you to strain the flotsam from that which you pour out so you don't have to pollute if you don't want to... Or plug your drain. That's why they call it a "dirt trap".

Hm, that's a nice feature.

The Festool CT's have an electronic mechanism (contacts to detect high water or bubbles) so they can't get "swamped" under normal use. They will shut down to protect themselves.

I was wondering how this would work in the CT. I have used shop vacs before, and most had a floater in it that would seal of the motor if the water level became too high. Didn't see one in my CTL22.

On the other end of the CT, there is a Spark Trap. I was recently scared by a friend of mine using my CT while cutting metal without one...

The purpose of the spark trap is to stop embers or hot metal from entering the CT directly. 'Ever heard of a grain silo fire??? or explosion... BOOOM!!!

I was also wondering what this thing was meant for exactly. Now I know, thanks. Don't think I'll be getting this item soon. Costs 205 euros over here.

 

[Bob Marino]

Bob, I mostly do fine dust pick up. I think 90% of my CTL's use is when I hook it up to my 3 sanders, for painting prep, and about 10% on my circular saw and router. Also got an old Holzher planer but I think that gets used just once or twice per year.

Is this fine dust not good for the long life filter bag?

It is perfectly ok, cept' when the longlife bag is filled with all that fine dust and you go to empty it , it may not be as "tidy"as when using the standard filter bags with the cap on them.]

Bob

 

[AlexThePalex]

It is perfectly ok, cept' when the longlife bag is filled with all that fine dust and you go to empty it , it may not be as "tidy"as when using the standard filter bags with the cap on them.]

Nah, that's ok by me, that's not gonna bother me. I was thinking that maybe you meant that the pores in the long life bag would fill up too quickly with fine dust or something, but I see that's not the case. Been sanding away with the CTL for a good month now and so far I think it's for only 5% filled up, so you can imagine how long it would take to fill up completely. I'll just whip out the good ol' dust mask when emptying it.

But I think I'll use the bags for some nastier dust when I encounter it. I had to de-rust a couple of square meters of metal plate last week with the angle grinder, and I thought, let's not get all that rust in my nice long life filter bag.