I had a Shop vac brand vac. While using it Friday it was behind me. All of a sudden it quitI looked behind me to see all the smoke in it was escaping.It burned up and kicked out the braker Now we all know it has a filter in the canister. But what they don't tell us is there are other foam filters inside the housing to filter the air cooling the motor. It was plugged up and the motor burned up. It would be a good idea to periodically flip the flip the top over remove the screws and clean those filters. I went to sears and bought a new Craftsmen 16 gallon shop vac. I believe the Craftsmen was made by Shop vac. The old one was 20+ years old.
Dave <*)))><

I have had 2 small Craftsman ones for several years. One I use as a vacuum, the other I use to run a sawdust catcher that I built from a Rubbermaid trash can and a blower/vac bag. Both work great. I like the smaller ones because they are easier to stash and carry and have plenty of power for me. I put a mesh bag over the filter years ago and it makes it easy to clean.