Ash vac or Shop vac?

Shop vac with a drywall filter. Ash vacs don't have enough suction.

 

ditto's all around, I have an ash vac, its in the garage hasn't been used in years. I use a "shopvac" from lowes (30 bucks) with drywall bag in it, drum type filter at home. I have two larger shopvacs in my shop at the plant also equipped the same way.

only way to go IMHO, I clean out more stoves than probably anyone in America as I refurbish units for AMFM pretty much year round. I actually hook up one of my shopvacs to the exhaust port (homemade adapter made from a section of rigid pipe that came with the vac and a pellet vent adapter and some silicone, works great!

while its hooked up I take the baffles and cleanouts out of the unit and vac it out with the other vac, then switch on the first vac and the exhaust blower on the stove and blast it out with high pressure air (don't do this in your home! it will result in a rolling pin to the back of the head ) my shop is equipped with a serious exhaust setup I actually have had stove siting in there burning with no exhaust hookup and you literally cant even smell them burning unless you are right in the back of them so flying ash isn't too big a deal.

at home I just roll my stove out on the deck and do this outdoors (have doors just a few feet away to get outside so not a big deal.