I am sadly disappointed with this vac. We bought it to clean our pellet stove, however I have also used it to clean our car. In both applications, the moment you place the nozzle onto the ground or onto the surface your cleaning, the full indicator comes on in the motor gets a lot louder almost like a whining sound. We have made sure that we have cleaned the vacuum out each time we use it. The problem seems to be that even though the filter is supposed to act like a HEPA filter and grab very small particles, the small particles of Ash or dirt clog the filter so quickly that there's not enough air flow into the motor. To be fair I have not contacted the company just yet but I will be doing so soon. With that said, this may be a faulty unit. However the only way to fix it right now, is to turn off the vacuum each time the full indicator is filled with red, and then turn it back on. So with that said, it is rather frustrating cleaning your pellet stove, and stopping very often to turn off the vacuum and turn it back on. When you turn off the vacuum, the lack of pressure seems to drop off some of the ash. When you turn it back on you now have a bit more air flow but guess what in about 20 seconds or less it's back to showing it's completely full again. I am not vacuuming a huge pile of Ash. The other negative to this vacuum, is the small nozzle that comes with the brush on it. When you add this nozzle to the actual hose, the vacuum power is almost too much and the full light is constantly staying on. Also when you use the brush, because of the vacuum pressure being so strong, sometimes the brush will flip back into its original position which is really annoying. One other negative is that you have to take out the filter and be very cautious as you're taking the lid off or the ashes will spew on you. So you almost have to open the lid and at the same time quickly get one hand in on the filter seal holding it down as you pop off the rest of the lid to avoid a mess. We read the entire manual and made sure that we are using this vacuum properly. The one positive is the vacuum pressure is really great but only when it works and doesn't set the vacuum into full mode which overworks the motor and causes the motor to get hot quickly.

I was hesitant after reading some of the reviews, but I gave it a chance and after a few months of using it weekly it works great. So much power. Some people stated that the motor stopped working for them but this is a thermal protection feature to prevent the motor from over heating. Once the motor cools down it is ready to use again. This has only happened once since I've had it and it happens only when using vacuum attachments that restrict the air flow to the motor for long periods of time or also it should be expected to happen after vacuuming warm Ash because the motor gets it air from the vacuum hose so obviously the more the air is restricted or the warmer the air is being taken in the faster the motor is going to get hot and trigger the thermal protection. This is completely normal and you'll be happy it has this feature as it will prolong the life of the vacuum.

Junk!!!!! We waited until the weather warmed up a little before we used this vac to clean up the ashes and other things around the house. It ran for a whole 10 minutes before it shut off and never started again. Needless to say the return window closed. I WOULD NOT recommend this Item. I have a brand new piece of junk.

Purchased in 2014, used about times and the motor quit. I was not able to get it started again. This happened in early December, 2016. I contacted Power Smith about mid -December explaining my problem and seeking a solution. I am still waiting for a reply from the company after about 2 weeks. They did state they would get back to me, but have not yet. The motor seemed to smell like it was burning a number of time as I used it, got hot so I shut it down for a while. Same thing happened until finally I could not get the motor started again. Good machine, lousy motor.

I used this *maybe* 10 times. I live in San Diego County, and it failed within a couple of months.

When it worked, it worked great. The filter did a nice job of keeping the ash in the tank, and prevented ash from shooting out the exhaust. This is basically a shop vac with a really nice filter and product finish.

Today, with a clean filter and an empty tank, I started to vacuum the fireplace. Within 10 seconds, suction started to really fall off. I unplugged the unit, confirmed the tank was empty, took out and cleaned the filter, and put a broom handle thru the hose to clear any debris I couldn't see. I re-assembled, and restarted. Again, suction was weak, and suddenly the unit turned itself off. It would not restart.

I called Amazon for a refund, they were awesome, refund with no issues. (Thanks Amazon!)

After receiving confirmation, I decided to take the unit apart to see what happened. The fan mechanism itself is cheaply assembled, with thin wiring with no heat protection connecting the fan to the cord. It appears the unit overheated and melted the wiring, causing a short. Both the plastic underneath the fan and the wires connecting on top of it were melted. Despite the obvious care they put in to the finish and the filtering, the electronics are really crappy. I think the exhaust filter, which is only accessible if you take the thing fully apart, got clogged, causing the unit to overheat. Poor design.