What's the biggest can I can use with a shop vac?

[schreibdave]

I just built my first Thien seperator using a Ridgid vac and a 5 gallon pail.  It works very well at keeping my filter clean - and that was my first priority.  Banging that filter against a tree a few times a day during a Syracuse winter is enough to make me want to give up.

I have seen a small reduction in suction.  As in, before I added the seperator the SV with a clean filter would suck up screws from the shop floor.  Now with the seperator (and a clean filter) it isnt able to get most of those screws.  I can live with this loss of power since, in reality, my filter was rarely clean - so most of those screws got left behind anyway.

One area that I would like to improve on is the size of the seperator can.  I am using a 5 gallon pail and once you account for the 2" pvc and the baffle that go into the can, there is only about 7" of room at the bottom of the can for sawdust and chips. So it fills up pretty quickly.

If I were to move up to a 30 gallon garbage can would that be asking too much of my shop vac?  I am thinking that the volume of the 30 gallon can would further reduce the vacs ability to create suction and move air.

Anybody have experience in this area?  Thanks

[phil (admin)]

Unless you have a very small shop vac to start, adding the separator shouldn't reduce your ability to pickup debris like nails/screws.  I've been using mine to clean-up bits of mortar and the occasional nail/screw from a remodeling project I'm working on now.  I'd look for leaks.

In terms of a 30-gallon can, a good shop vac will collapse most garbage cans if the inlet gets closed-off for any reason.  If you're going to use a shop vac, I'd suggest finding a 30-gallon steel drum.