Cleaning Up Powder

[Graveman]

How do you clean up spilled powder grains? I know you are not supposed to use a vacuum cleaner.....but has anyone had an event using one? Is it really that dangerous?

Tks.

 

[Trinimon]

I use my shop vac. Guys on Mythbusters tried all sorts of ways to get powder to burn using a vacuum cleaner and were unsuccessful.

 

[Qball-16]

Maybe I'm ultra cheap (the Scot in me) but my reloading bench is on a laminate floor, so when the powder spills (and it does, regularly, argh), I sweep it up with a dustpan and carefully pick the kernels out for re-use...

 

[daman2270]

Vacuum

 

[JayCarver]

I've been using a shop vac for about 10 years, maybe I'm a idiot, IDK.

 

[Kelly Timoffee]

Anything you would use on regular floors and dust.

The lint and other garbage you have sucked up over the years is way more of a hazard than gunpowder.

 

[redruns]

Dust buster.

 

[Kevin M.]

Zippo.

 

[jsquig]

Zippo.

 

[hend238]

I use a dust pan and brush. Afterwards I dump it in an old metal IMR can and save that powder for wet weather fire starter on camping trips. It's amazing how full that can gets by collecting minute quantities of powder now and again.

 

[dirtybarry]

I sweep up as much as I can and set it aside for night time pyrotechnics and suck up the rest with the shopvac. If I'm feeling paranoid, I spray the area down with a fine mist of water first.

 

[Eagleye]

I have been vacuuming powder off the floor of my den for 40+ years without incident.

Gosh knows how many different vacuums have been used in that time.

I'll just continue to use the vacuum to clean up the floor from time to time.

Dave.

 

[ripitup911]

Vacuum here aswell

 

[madcow]

if you are concerned, use a shop vac that has some water in it. Simple enough.

Never had a problem using a vacuum too in 30 years, fun watching the bag light up in the firepit though, especially if you suck up the odd primer

 

[Kevin M.]

Lol, that gift got me chuckling.

 

[pmt]

How do you clean up spilled powder grains? I know you are not supposed to use a vacuum cleaner.....but has anyone had an event using one? Is it really that dangerous?

Tks.

Whoever told you that should get a perma-ban.

 

[Armored Metal]

Spilled powder on the bench goes to the house plants.

Spilled powder on the floor gets vaccumed.

 

[Fontana101]

Zippo.

Same here.

 

[Boomer686]

Dirt devil vac. Been using it for several years. Never an issue.

 

[LUTNIT]

Primers, if you use a vacuum that sucks everything through the fan before the bag (like a Kirby), I could see possibly causing issues. I use a Filter Queen that is like a shop-vac where the fan unit is outside the filter so nothing that gets sucked in even touches the fan blades. Primers and powder both get sucked into my vacuum without incident.

Like others, I collect as much spilled powder as possible and put it in a jar marked "waste powder". It gets emptied every Canada Day.