Tools, Sharpening and Power Machinery - Noisy shop vacuum

Does anyone have any ideas on reducing the noise level on shop vac's without impairing performance or portability?

where head phones. or ear plugs ;)

Or, if it is old, but a new one. The new ones are much quieter than the ones of 8 or 10 years ago.

sandy2000:

While in Sears this weekend I saw an exhaust muffler that will fit a vacuum I recently bought.
This got me thinking that if I put a short length of hose on the outlet, I could vent it outside.
I'm going to play with it soon and will let you know how I make out.

I use 22 Db headband type ear protection. Makes most power tools much quieter, hammering too. Only drawback is your ears get sweaty on hot days. The "stick in your ear kind" I tried, could never get them in my ear right. Good idea to use hearing protection above 85 db. well worth 20 bucks!-Josh

I'm hearing impaired and automatically put on 29 Db protection when using most of my shop tools, cut the grass etc. My wife & grandkids automatically head for the south 40 when I start the vacuum!

My Sears shop vac (I will consider no other in the this price range) came with the muffler GregH mentions and it cuts the noise a great deal. It costs about 15.00 and a side benefit is it lets you direct the exhaust up, down or anywhere in between....Mike

Originally posted by josh1
I use 22 Db headband type ear protection. Makes most power tools much quieter, hammering too. Only drawback is your ears get sweaty on hot days. The "stick in your ear kind" I tried, could never get them in my ear right. Good idea to use hearing protection above 85 db. well worth 20 bucks!-Josh



the ones you stick in your ear are supposed to be streched out so they are long and narrow. This is the proper way to use them.'

another type of protection is the custom made ones. they cost about 70 bucks for a construction type.