Dropped my shop vac from the roof - still works! What's your 'abuse test' story?

So I was up on a roof yesterday doing some HVAC work, had my trusty 6-gallon Rigid shop vac with me to clean out some ducts. Slipped on some wet shingles and the whole thing went tumbling down two stories onto concrete. Heart sank, thought it was toast. Plugged it in today - still sucks like a champ! Just a few dents. Makes me wonder what other tools can take a beating. Anyone else have a 'survivor' story?

LOL Paul, that's nothing. My concrete crew uses shop vacs to clean slurry out of forms. We've had one submerged in wet mud for an hour, pulled it out, drained it, and it ran for another year. The motor finally gave out when someone dropped a cinder block on it. For vacuums, it's all about the sealed bearings and bypass motors. Cheap ones die if you look at 'em wrong.

Precision machinist here - we abuse tools differently. Dropped a $3K Festool vacuum off a bench once (was cleaning metal shavings). Housing cracked but it still held suction. Their German engineering is no joke. For car vacuums specifically, I've had a Milwaukee M18 cordless survive being left in a rainstorm. Pro tip: check the filter seals - that's usually the failure point after impacts.

Dan - submerged in mud?! That's hardcore. Larry, you're right about seals. My Rigid has a rubber gasket around the filter housing that probably saved it. Makes me think maybe we should start rating vacuums by 'abuse tolerance' instead of just horsepower. Who needs a warranty when you've got concrete proof?

Exactly. My rule: if it survives my jobsite for 6 months, it's worth buying again. That Rigid you mentioned? We've got three that are 5+ years old. Meanwhile the store-brand one lasted 2 weeks. Sometimes paying more upfront saves money when you're not replacing tools every season. Just don't tell my boss I said that - he thinks all vacs are the same.