1200W Ash Vacuum, 20L Container, 16kPa, HEPA Filter, Blower

Ash is the material that ruins ordinary vacuum cleaners. It is fine enough to pass straight through a household filter and out into the room, and it is often still warm enough to melt a plastic hose. A dedicated ash vacuum is built for both problems, which is why anyone with a fireplace, a wood burner, a pizza oven, a jiko or a barbecue grill ends up buying one.

The hose is a metre long and metal lined, so it handles material at around 40 degrees Celsius without softening, and the container is 20 litres with quick release clips, so emptying is a matter of unclipping the head rather than wrestling with a lid. Suction is 16 kilopascals with an air flow of 25 litres a second, which lifts ash, cinders and fire debris out of a grate quickly. HEPA filtration is the part that matters most: it holds the finest ash particles instead of blowing them back out, which is the difference between a clean hearth and a room with a grey film on everything. The same 1 200 Watt motor also works as a blower, which clears a flue surround or a corner the nozzle cannot reach. A round aluminium nozzle comes with it. The machine weighs 3.8kg with a 1.5 metre cable.