8 Unusual Uses for your Wet & Dry Vacuum Cleaner

Your wet and dry vacuum cleaner can be a lifesaver to have around the house. But are you using your wet and dry vacuum cleaner to its full potential?

We’ve listed eight brilliant but unusual uses for a wet and dry vacuum cleaner:

1. Grooming your cats and dogs (through all stages of brushing, clipping, washing and drying)

Pet grooming can be a messy process and there’s usually cleaning up to be done post-groom. If you’ve taken your dog to the beach or on a muddy walk, you’re faced with a combination of wet fur, sand and mud.

Your wet and dry vacuum cleaner is the perfect tool for the job. It can hoover up excess water, sand, mud and hair trimmings, but also doubles-up as a hairdryer for your dog or cat - simply switch the setting on your wet and dry vacuum cleaner to blow.

2. Hoovering up Lego from under furniture and behind radiators

When sets of Lego contain hundreds of pieces, it’s not surprising that they seem to get everywhere. Your wet and dry vacuum cleaner is the perfect tool for getting lego out of nooks and crannies around the house, including under the sofa and under and between the radiator and the wall.

3. Condensation vacuum

Condensation occurs when warm air meets a cold surface. This means that in winter, condensation on windows can be a real problem as the humidity in your home builds up when your heating comes on and it’s cold outside; hence, warm air from inside your house meets the cold surface of your windows.

If left, condensation can lead to long-term problems such as damp and mould which can damage your walls and furniture - so tackle the problem early and vacuum up condensation with your wet and dry vacuum.

4. Drying your decking after hosing it down (stops it being slippery and protects the wood)

Power washing your decking can really bring it back to life. But too much water can also do more harm than good.

Before cleaning your decking, set your wet and dry vacuum cleaner to blow to blow away any leaves and debris (it makes a good substitute for a leaf blower).

After you’ve power-washed the decking clean, set your wet and dry vacuum cleaner to suck and hoover up any leftover water and residue or the dirty water will simply sink back into your decking.

5. Removing dents from your carpet

Rearranging heavy furniture often leaves behind unsightly carpet dents - an obvious clue as to where your furniture used to be placed.

To remove them, place ice cubes over the dents and wait for them to melt. This will loosen the carpet fibres. Next, vacuum over them with your wet and dry vacuum cleaner to return the carpet fibres to their normal position.

6. Clean your fireplace or fire pit

Fireplaces and fire pits can be a nightmare to clean out and there’s a high risk of making even more mess when trying to clean up leftover ash and soot. Some wet and dry vacuum cleaners come with a separate filter or tank specifically for ash. Make sure your fireplace and any fire remnants are completely cool before cleaning. Connect the hose from your wet and dry vacuum to the inlet on your ash tank and hoover up the soot.

Particularly with fire pits, if you have not cleared out your pit and are left with damp leftover ash, this could make your fire pit unusable until it completely dries out. Your wet and dry vacuum cleaner can vacuum up damp ash easily. 

7. Dry your car

A popular use among car enthusiasts is to use a leaf blower to dry their cars after a wash, but using your wet and dry vacuum cleaner on the blow setting is perfect for the job too (of course, your wet and dry vacuum cleaner is also perfect for removing stains from car seats).

8. Clean your hot tub

The suck function on a wet and dry vacuum cleaner makes it the perfect tool for emptying remaining water from fish tanks, hot tubs or small ponds when cleaning.

Most hot tubs will empty to a certain point, but you’ll be left with water at the bottom below the hot tub’s drain spout. This means getting into the tub and manually emptying the rest with a bucket – but a wet and dry vacuum cleaner makes this job easy. Simply set your vacuum to suck and remove any remaining water.

Browse our full range of wet and dry vacuum cleaners.