Workshop
Wattage tells you what the motor consumes. These four specifications tell you what the machine does.
Four specifications, in the order they matter.
L class covers sawdust, garden debris and household mess. M class is required for plaster, concrete and MDF. This is the one that cannot be fixed later with an accessory.
A socket on the machine turns a vacuum into dust extraction: the tool plugs into the vacuum, the vacuum starts with the trigger. Check the rating — Einhell’s 2,000 W socket runs a mitre saw, where a small socket runs only a sander.
Published by Bosch Professional (65 l/s, 200 mbar) and, for suction, by Einhell (225 mbar). Nobody else in this comparison gives either. Where a figure exists, use it; where it does not, our review says so.
Cable plus hose decides how often you move the machine — the Kärcher WD 6 P S gives eleven meters. A filter cleaning button decides whether suction returns mid-job without opening the machine.
The main case. Sawdust, offcuts and general mess that a household vacuum would choke on.
Where the wet capability is the whole point, and where removing the filter correctly first matters.
Where filter class and a good seal decide whether the dust ends up in the tank or back in the room.
Where the suction and the crevice tools do well, and where a smaller machine is easier to handle.
| Your work | What matters | The note |
|---|---|---|
| Workshop debris | Hose diameter and capacity | Wide hoses block less |
| Liquid spills | Tank and drain | Remove the filter first |
| Fine dust | Filter class and sealing | A health matter |
| Power tools | A power take-off socket | Starts with the tool |
These machines lose suction as the filter clogs, and a filter that has been through fine plaster dust will never fully recover. Water left in the tank after a wet job goes stale and rusts anything steel inside.
Dust, liquids and electricity together.
20 l · power take-off socket · 5 m (16 ft) cable · 2.2 m (7 ft) hose
The first WD with a socket for a power tool — which is what turns a vacuum into a dust extractor.
Best for: A workshop where a sander, a router or a mitre saw is used indoors
1,500 W · 225 mbar · 40 l · 9 m (30 ft) working radius · HEPA
Forty liters, 225 mbar and nine meters of reach — the only machine here that publishes its suction.
Best for: Building work, a large workshop, or anywhere the drum is emptied by the barrow rather than the bin
1,250 W · 65 l/s airflow · 200 mbar · HEPA filter
The only machine here that publishes both numbers that matter — airflow and suction.
Best for: Trade use, or a home workshop where the vacuum runs alongside tools most weeks
30 l · 8 m (26 ft) cable · 3.5 m (11 ft) hose · socket · filter cleaning
Eleven meters of working radius: the model where you stop moving the machine and start using it.
Best for: A big garage, a workshop, or a house where floods and building work both happen
Airflow, in liters per second, carries debris along the hose — it is what matters when the vacuum is connected to a saw. Suction, in millibars, is how hard the machine lifts material out of a crevice. A machine strong in one and weak in the other feels wrong in use, and wattage tells you neither.
If you will vacuum plaster, concrete or MDF dust, yes. An L-class machine passes a share of fine mineral dust through the filter and back into the room. Fitting a better filter to an L-class body does not reclassify it — dust class is a property of the whole machine.
You can, but they are loud, heavy and designed for other work. A household vacuum is far more pleasant for carpets and stairs.
On most machines yes, or fit the wet filter. Vacuuming water with the dry filter in place clogs it and can damage the motor.
One rated for fine dust, in a machine that seals well. Coarse filters pass fine dust straight back into the room, which is a health issue.
Not from a fire that may still be hot. A dedicated ash vacuum exists precisely because this is a fire risk.
Almost always a clogged filter, sometimes a blocked hose. Both are quick to check and are the first place to look.
A socket on the vacuum that starts it automatically when a power tool is switched on. On workshop machines it is genuinely useful.
Meant for: A workshop where a sander, a router or a mitre saw is used indoors
Where it is strongest: Power take-off socket: plug in a sander and the vacuum starts and stops with it
Where it is weakest: Price differences between markets are unusually wide on this model
Meant for: Building work, a large workshop, or anywhere the drum is emptied by the barrow rather than the bin
Where it is strongest: 225 mbar published — a figure most competitors leave out entirely
Where it is weakest: Physically large; this is not a machine for a small garage
Meant for: Trade use, or a home workshop where the vacuum runs alongside tools most weeks
Where it is strongest: Airflow AND suction both published — the only listing in this group that allows a real comparison
Where it is weakest: Verified absent from the US and UK stores
Meant for: A big garage, a workshop, or a house where floods and building work both happen
Where it is strongest: Eleven and a half meters of reach between cable and hose — the machine stays where you put it
Where it is weakest: Bulky to store, and heavy to carry upstairs full
$36 – $75
4 models
$98 – $175
5 models
$250 – $450
4 models
Lances, nozzles and detergents from the same aisle, at the price we read. Confirm the fit against the machine you choose before ordering: it turns on the coupling and the part number, which the listing gives.
Comparisons we have already run between two washers from this guide or this aisle.
The washers above come from the catalog of this site. Specifications are those the manufacturer and the Amazon page publish; prices are what Keepa reported for the date below, and both move. The order follows declared specifications, stated strengths weighed against stated limits, and price. No machine here has been put to work by us, and nothing on this page pretends otherwise.
Last checked on
Prices quoted in these summaries are dated readings. The live price is shown next to each product.
Pressure washers and floor washers swing by a hundred dollars or more across the year, and the biggest "discounts" often land at prices the same model sold for six weeks earlier. UniverTrack tracks the real price history across retailers, spots fake reductions, and alerts you when it is genuinely the moment to buy.
