Customer Reviews

Shop-Vac 960-14-00 14-Gallon Wet/Dry Pump Vacuum

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I bought this unit for clean up while building a new house. With the rainy autumn I put the pumping function to some serious use pumping rain from the basement.

I think the switch that detects a full tub was malfunctioning. The unit just kept shutting down for no reason. Even when the tub wasn't full.

Then one day while sucking up some water on the floor the motor burned up (as evidenced by that familiar electrical smoke smell)!

Got it fixed locally under warrenty but still have the problem with the unit shutting down/not wanting to run some time.

Evidently Shop-Vac hasn't got the bugs worked out of the new features.

Disappointed.

The idea behind this unit is great and should have been made available a long time ago. The vacuum part is so powerful that it is almost dangerous. It will suck up anything in its path with lightning speed (be careful if you have laundry hanging in the basement). The pump also works well, once you get it primed. That is the only major problem with this unit. Once there is water in the tank it can be somewhat frustrating trying to get the pump started. It takes a few trys, but the end result is well worth it. Just be careful, the vacuum works faster than the pump can discharge, so you have to stop picking up the fluid occasionally to give the pump a chance to catch up.

I bought this unit after carefully reviewing the market. It does have plenty of power and it is quiet for it's size. I would however recommend buying the optional 1-1/4" hose kit in order to take full advantage of this vacuums horsepower. After assembling the vacuum, I was disappointed by how extremely large it really is. I wouldn't recommend anyone buy this vacuum with the intention of using it inside a finished home. It's just too big for that. You cannot easily carry it up and down stairs and it just barely rolls through a standard doorway.
The tools do not fit in the storage bin and the cord will not wrap around the hooks they provide....very poor design.
I am exchanging this vacuum for the 8-gallon size shop vac.

I bought it to suck debris from the bottom of our pond. It does OK, but will often stop b/c it cannot pump the water out as fast as it sucks it in. Perhaps the algae and junk in the tank make it harder to pump out the water. It can suck up a fair amount of algae, leaves, etc, but it is not an industrial size motor.
As a vacuum (dry) it does fine.
It's good.

Ordered this heavy-duty unit after torrential rains overwhelmed my consumer-grade unit. Confronted with world's worst instructions -- apparent attempt to cram multi-lingual instructions onto a single sheet of paper. After finally getting the beast assembled, pushed the switch to test it out and ... nothing. Switch seems to be faulty, but Shop-Vac customer service says to return the entire unit to seller.

Will update this review if I ever get satisfaction.

Wish I could change my rating to 3 stars. Shop-Vac came through with a new power unit to replace the one with a faulty switch.

The instructions still suck.

I highly recomend this for water pickup. I bought this after getting water in the basement after an early snow thaw this January. I tried at first to use a 5 gallon wet/dry vac but I found it not to be practical as I needed to keep emptying it out and after 20 times I was ready to give up. I bought this 14 gallon with the water pump built in and was able to pump it to a drain with a garden hose attached. This was so much easier and I was able to save my back and hours of time. I have not tested it as a dry vac so I can only give my opinion on water pickup.Also it is very quiet compared to the 5 gallon vac that I have.

After the mid-March (2010) deluge in New England, I ordered this unit from Amazon. The only reason I didn't give this five stars was because of the really really bad assembly instructions - in several languages, but probably equally bad in all. No easy parts identification plus the instructions were for several models which added to the confusion.

Nonetheless I did get it all together - although I wasn't sure until I tried it for real. At the end of March (2010) there was another multi-day rainstorm. The unit worked for nine hours straight (and is still working). This is perfect for basement seepage - incoming water too shallow to pump. For the most part, I was able to position the nozzle where the seepage was coming in - sit in a chair beside it and read my Kindle (!) while the unit sucked up the water and - most importantly - pumped it outside through its hose connection.

I just wish I had had it for the earlier storm.

I have had this vacuum cleaner for several years and decided to try the water pumping feature. Well, I hooked up a hose to the connection and nothing happens. It just fills up the tank and shuts off when full. So to final-empty the water bed I have to roll 7 tubs of water at 100# each over to the bathtub. Fun. By the way, the wheels are skinny, slick and useless so you basically have to pick up the thing to roll it - great for your back! Regardless the wheels will scratch and track all over your floor. The Shop Vac website contains no useful information other than a soundless demo of a guy pumping water from a pool, applying an attachment to the inside of the unit that it did not come with!

I've been using it for a month now and am generally happy with it. Based on some of the other reviews like "So powerful it's almost dangerous" I think are a bit of a stretch. I did quite a bit of research before buying it to replace my last shop/vac. My last one was a 1 1/4" that worked fairly well. But my needs have changed in the last 15 years so I really needed to get a bigger unit.

Pros: It has good suction power especially with an adapter and 1 1/4" tools. I've used it to clean dog hair out of cars and furniture with excellent results. I've used it as a dust collection system for woodworking and it works fairly well for that. A 2 1/2" union is needed for some tools. It also works well when cleaning debris from carpets during renovations.

Cons: I only have 2 complaints. First the top fits a bit loose on the tank base. Gravity holds it there, but when you lift it up or move it, it is quite noticable. The attachment organizer is a joke. It works ok as a cord holder and does hold the extensions. The rest of the attachments are sitting in a box next to it. The hose doesn't wind or store well.

This model shop-vac works great for cleaning out the pond of dirt and debris.

For continuous discharge and vac operation, all one has to do is give the pump time to catch up and empty the tank before fillings. Filling it to the max will shut the vac down and then you have to self prime [hold the on button for 12 seconds]. It's perfect for my pond needs.

This beats any pond vacuum out there as even the best ones just drain. This baby pumps and has larger tank.

You need to follow the instructions carefully for best operation. Skip a step and it won't work for you.

Thks