Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I used this *maybe* 10 times. I live in San Diego County, and it failed within a couple of months. When it worked, it worked great. The filter did a nice job of keeping the ash in the tank, and prevented ash from shooting out the exhaust. This is basically a shop vac with a really nice filter and product finish. Today, with a clean filter and an empty tank, I started to vacuum the fireplace. Within 10 seconds, suction started to really fall off. I unplugged the unit, confirmed the tank was empty, took out and cleaned the filter, and put a broom handle thru the hose to clear any debris I couldn't see. I re-assembled, and restarted. Again, suction was weak, and suddenly the unit turned itself off. It would not restart. I called Amazon for a refund, they were awesome, refund with no issues. (Thanks Amazon!) After receiving confirmation, I decided to take the unit apart to see what happened. The fan mechanism itself is cheaply assembled, with thin wiring with no heat protection connecting the fan to the cord. It appears the unit overheated and melted the wiring, causing a short. Both the plastic underneath the fan and the wires connecting on top of it were melted. Despite the obvious care they put in to the finish and the filtering, the electronics are really crappy. I think the exhaust filter, which is only accessible if you take the thing fully apart, got clogged, causing the unit to overheat. Poor design.