Does vacuum dirt smoke or catch on fire?

[KansasPete]

Is it common for vacuum dirt to smoke or catch on fire?

Customer said the longer she used the vac the more her car smelled "yucky" like smokey . I unlocked, opened the vac clean out, and pulled out the big rubber dirt bowl; it had about 2 inches of black water above the 2" or 3" of well soaked dirt. Cleaned, rinsed & dried the bowl, and the inside of the vac seemed ok. The 4 filter socks appeared ok. Put vac out of service until morning. No rain since the vac was cleaned out. Days are above 100 degrees, low humidity, water wasn't from weather. We use a toilet brush to clean out the socks.

In 20+ years we haven't had vac dirt smoke, fire or have water in the cleanout bowl. Puzzled.

 

[Randy]

Is it common for vacuum dirt to smoke or catch on fire?

Customer said the longer she used the vac the more her car smelled "yucky" like smokey . I unlocked, opened the vac clean out, and pulled out the big rubber dirt bowl; it had about 2 inches of black water above the 2" or 3" of well soaked dirt. Cleaned, rinsed & dried the bowl, and the inside of the vac seemed ok. The 4 filter socks appeared ok. Put vac out of service until morning. No rain since the vac was cleaned out. Days are above 100 degrees, low humidity, water wasn't from weather. We use a toilet brush to clean out the socks.

In 20+ years we haven't had vac dirt smoke, fire or have water in the cleanout bowl. Puzzled.

Nope never seen vac dirt smoke or catch fire unless the person vacuuming sucks up some gasoline then it'll smoke and you'll get some fire. We get water sucked up pretty often. I've sen the black dirt catcher full of water more than once.

 

[MEP001]

It was probably the wet dirt that smelled "yucky." It can get really bad if you don't dump the dirt every day.

 

[JMMUSTANG]

Probably time to clean out your vacs and filters.
Every couple of months on a rainy evening I take out all filters and clean them with high pressure.
I hang them and use the high pressure air gun to blow off most of the water and install them into the vacs.
By the morning they are dry and working great.

 

[Randy]

I have extra vacuum bags for all my vacuums so about every 6 months, normally at the end of August or so I change all the bags, motor brushes, gaskets and wash out the vacuums. I turn the used filter bags inside out and wash them out and then hang them to dry, what a nasty job. I found some really nice smelling perfume so every once and awhile I’ll give the vac a good spritz when I test the vacuum, it smells nice for a day or so.

 

[MEP001]

Probably time to clean out your vacs and filters.
Every couple of months on a rainy evening I take out all filters and clean them with high pressure.
I hang them and use the high pressure air gun to blow off most of the water and install them into the vacs.
By the morning they are dry and working great.

I keep a couple backup sets and every so often (or any time the bags get wet, which is often) I thoroughly clean out a vacuum and put in clean bags, wash the ones I pull out the same way as you and hang them to dry.