Vac hose cleaning?

[Jason W]

Anyone have a good method for cleaning out vacuum hoses? I have a feeling mine need it. I've done both wet and dry vacuuming with it and when I walk into a new job, it's kind of a bummer to see saw dust falling out of the ends after I've proclaimed my cleanliness.

Also, my larger hose has a bit of a kink in it. Nothing major, but irritating just the same. Any good ways to straighten these out? I'm thinking of making a connection splice there if there's no other way to straighten it.

Thanks,
Jason

 

[Holzhacker]

Don't know about the kink. As far as cleaning, I hold my hose straight up power on full speed, wiggle it and place my thumb over the end on and off to create some resistance. Only takes a few seconds. Not very scientific but it does suck that last bit of residue into the vac that otherwise falls on the floor when messing with the hose. I ran my garden hose through the vac hose once during the summer but it didn't seem all that worthwhile.

 

[WarnerConstCo.]

You could try stepping on the kink and squishing it the other way.

Worked for me on one I folded in half.

I have never cleaned the inside of my hoses, nothing more then shaking them with my hand over the end while the vac is on.

Still get a little dust dump now and again.

 

[AlexThePalex]

A little leftover dust inside the hose is normal and has nothing to do with it being dirty.

 

[Ken Nagrod]

I believe Jason is talking about caked up dust trapped in the hose from repeated use of both wet and dry pickup.  My personal feeling is to dedicate a separate hose for wet use.  I also think it's going to require high pressure water repeatedly blasting the inside of the hose, but not any sort of pressure that could do damage.  More like a 2 man operation, one holds the hose the other with a pressure washer and low pressure wand nozzle attached.  then blow it out with compressed air and hang to dry.

 

[Michael_MA]

The last two postings of Ken and Alex are the most valueable here in my opinion..
i would like to add to ken's Method to soak the hose before in hot Water to dilute any baked up stuff inside the hose.
Then the blasting would be extremely effective afterwards.
The hot water will also re-shape the hose, where a kink was found.
Since the Hose is from food grade PPL, you could also take just the pat with the kink to boiling water and squeeze it to get it re-shaped.

But to keep a separate hose for liquids is to me the most effective solution - so there is not need for rough cleaning with baked up stuff.

kind regards, Mike

 

[Jason W]

A little leftover dust inside the hose is normal and has nothing to do with it being dirty.

My concern about this has mostly to do with EPA/RRP work, but I didn't want to turn this into a lead paint thread. I guess I could bag up the hoses when I'm walking through the customers house (either in or out).

Ken,

That's pretty much the gist of it. I have some caked up stuff in there, I'm sure. You think it would screw it up to soak it in hot soapy water first? Just dish soap or something, not strong chemicals.

Thanks for the reply's.

 

[grobin]

Regular dish detergent would work fine.  If you can after hang the hose so that the end is off the ground while it drains and dries.  I got cheap and got a 36mm non anti static hose; terrible I don't use it any more.