Ridgid WD1450 14-Gallon 6-Horsepower Wet/Dry Vacuum

by Ridgid

• Powerful suction to handle tough job-site clean-up
• Quick-release accessory storage bag keeps accessories close at hand but is quickly removable to make emptying debris from drum quick and easy
• 2-piece drum provides improved, more rugged construction to meet the higher demands found on the job site
• Tug-A-Long locking hose won't pull loose during use and the large carry handle allows easy lifting of vac into service vehicle
• 20-foot cord wraps neatly around carry handle

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Ridgid 18718 WD1450 14-gallon high performance set wet/dry vacuum has a 6.0 peak horsepower motor that delivers powerful suction to handle tough jobsite clean-up. Scroll noise reduction is a patented feature that provides quiet operation by precisely controlling the flow of air through the vac. The 18718 has 4 swivel casters which provides easy 360-degree mobility. Also features quick release accessory storage bag keeps accessories close at hand but is quickly removable to make emptying debris from drum quick and easy. The Ridgid 18718's 2-piece drum provides improved, more rugged construction to meet the higher demands found on the job site. 3-layer Fine Dust Filter captures fine dust particles such as dry wall dust. Tug-A-Long locking hose won‘t pull loose during use and the large carry handle allows easy lifting of vac into service vehicle. The Ridgid 18718 WD1450 has a convenient long 20-foot cord that wraps neatly around carry handle. The 18718 is equipped with a powerful exhaust airstream can be directed through the vac hose to blow debris from garages, decks, and sidewalks. The Ridgid 18718 WD1450 includes 2-1/2-inch-by-7-foot tug-A-long locking hose, 2 extension wands, utility nozzle, car nozzle, wet nozzle, 3-layer find dust filter and owner’s manual.

Product Description

Power head with new patented SNR Scroll Noise Reduction design. Tug-A-Long positive locking hose. Removable accessory storage bag. Filtration - 3-layer material treated with microban. Large built-in drain.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

130 of 132 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great vac overall, just one major drawback... June 17, 2009

By M. Hibbard

This vac hits just about every mark right on the nose for me.

PROS:
It has a ton of suction power (as long as you keep the filter relatively clean).

It has a large diameter hose that can suck up large chunks.

Well thought-out attachments. I didn't think I would, but I've used all of them for different applications, and found all to be very useful.

It is very quiet for how powerful it is.

Great carrying handle, and easy to use snap-locks to take the lid off and put it back on.

Long cord, long hose, quite portable.

Great casters, very stable.

CONS:
Just one, but it's nasty: The output blower blows with incredible force on the opposite side of the suction input. Some form of this is to be expected to a certain extent, as the air that is sucked in has to be pushed back out in some way with equal force; I've just seen other designs that manage this much better. This design pushes with equal force out of a hole equal in diameter to the input hole, horizontally out the opposite side. Like I said, the force is great. It is like a leaf-blower. This design is supposedly set up this way so that one could hook the hose up to the output hole and do things like blow leaves... but if you're not blowing leaves, you blow dust, dirt, debris, and other unwanted things out into the air to fly off and settle somewhere else. A nightmare for, say, cleaning up drywall dust after hanging, taping and sanding drywall -- by turning on the vac, you are effectively distributing all the dust on the output side out into the rest of the house.

Don't get me wrong; the suction is amazing, and what you suck up is sufficiently filtered and deposited into the base... It's just that anything that happens to be on the wrong side of the vac will be lifted up off the ground and spread off into the distance. The only way I've found to avoid this is to aim the output hole out a door and be mindful not to tug the vac in too far while cleaning. Seems like a serious nuisance to me.

Are most shop vacs designed this way? I guess I've only seen one other brand's design, which came out the top and somehow spread the "impedance" of the air so that it exited gently out of a vent that ran 360 degrees around the motor, instead of being concentrated into a tight, forceful air jet shooting out of one side.

Overall I really like the vac. It's the most powerful of any I've ever used and has really worked well for all the things I've used it for. I just have to pay close attention to where that exit port is and make sure it won't cause any problems.

60 of 62 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Mid-sized Wet Dry Vac at a reasonable price May 22, 2010

By G. Forcey

I've owned the the WD 1450 for awhile now and have used it in a variety of wet and dry applications. I initially bought it because my carpet got flooded and I used it to suck the water out of the carpet. It did a great job at getting the bulk of the water out. I still needed to tear up the carpet and let it dry, but the drying time was dramatically reduced because the vac removed gallons of water from the carpet. I bought the optional dusting brush and hard floor brush so I could use this vac for dirt on hard floors and spider webs on the walls and windows. I've also used it to vacuum up the ashes from my gas grill and for cleaning my car. There are so many uses for this vac, I could go on and on.

Other reviews talk about the powerful airflow out the back as being a problem. That's true so I bought the optional muffler to diffuse the powerful airflow out the back. This is less of an issue if you use it outside mostly, but I use it inside mostly so the diffuser is helpful for me. I also suggest getting the VF3502 bags for dry pickup. They make it a lot easier to clean the vac and make it easier to switch to wet pickup - just remove the bag and the air filter. If you are doing wet pickup be sure to remove the filter (and the dry pickup bag if applicable) as detailed in the instructions. Re-install the filter when returning to dry pickup; this is very important!!

Pros:

1) Lots of suction for both wet and dry pickup
2) Good variety of accessories available
3) While there is a lot of airflow out the back, the filter does and excellent job at reducing particle dust
4) Good accessory storage on the vac
5) It's less noisy that I thought even though the muffler does not reduce noise at all
6) The hose fits securely into the vac's body so you can pull it with the hose
7) Long 20 foot power cord
8) On/off switch is easily accessible
9) Large 2.5 inch hose means debris is less likely to get stuck in the hose
10) You can put the vac hose in the blower output and use the vac as a blower

Cons:

1) There are a lot of small crevices in the container which dust can get wedged in. You can get around this by using one of the dry pickup bags that I mentioned earlier
2) There is a lot of airflow out the back, but this can be reduced with the muffler accessory. Note that this feature is also a benefit because you can put the hose in the output port and the vac will double as a blower.

So would I buy this vac if I could do it all over? Absolutely yes! The cons are minor and can mostly be addressed by buying an accessory if you find them bothersome. This vac is an excellent choice if you are looking for a great mid-sized wet/dry vac. I would only choose another model of if you are short on space or looking for portability (I'd go for the WD4070), or if you are heavy user with big demands (I'd go for the WD1851). I chose the WD1450 because it's a good compromise between the two and an excellent choice for a mid-sized wet/dry vac!

Note that consumer reports rated the WD1450 as a best buy in their tests of wet/dry vacs

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Clean your gutters with ease! September 29, 2010

By Daisy

Purchased this vac and a Craftsman Gutter Clean-up Kit (Sears $19.99) and cleaned the gutters on my ranch house this afternoon. I am a 5'2" 66 year old woman, and with these two items I finished the job in just over an hour!

The gutter kit contains 2 extension tubes (identical to the ones that come with the vacuum) and a candy cane shaped piece for the end which fits into the gutter. All I had to do was walk along and vacuum up the leaves, twigs, dirt, etc. SO EASY!

The pieces did NOT come apart - stayed together much more securely that my little 5 gallon Shop-Vac. It was also WHISPER QUIET compared to the Shop-Vac even with 6hp motor compared to 1.3hp on my old one.

Assembly involved putting on the wheels. The top half was very easy to put on and latch with two side latches. Nothing spewed out as it had a good seal. Cord wraps neatly around the handle.

I have been paying $40 to $50 twice a yr to have my gutters done, so this will pay for itself in no time. I have had a problem with water running over the top of my gutters in heavy rain, so today was an interim clean-up, but the container is very roomy and will hold lots when the full fall clean-up happens.

Vac rolls nicely on hard surfaces, but must be carried over grass. I was worried about the size and weight, but even at my small size it was not a problem.