Who Makes Harbor Freight's Vacuum Pumps & How Much Do They Cost?
Harbor Freight is consistently rated as a great place to get top rated tools for an affordable price. Whether you're an aspiring gardener or an at-home woodworker, the home improvement retailer has just about everything you could need. That includes lesser-used tools like a vacuum pump.
As the name suggests, vacuum pumps create a vacuum by removing the air from a sealed area. They are great for cleaning out your car's air conditioning system. You can even use the automotive-geared product in your home as an AC maintenance tool to help get ready for warm weather or to clean out the coolant tubes of a refrigerator or freezer. If you're in need of a vacuum pump, Harbor Freight has plenty of options from multiple reputable brands.
Like most tools, there are hand and electric-powered vacuum pumps, with the former generally being cheaper than the latter. For hand-powered vacuum pumps, Harbor Freight has two, manufactured by Mityvac and Maddox. There is also a standalone Pittsburgh Automotive air vacuum pump, but you'll need to attach it to a compressor. As for the electric-powered options, Harbor Freight sells two plug-in vacuum pumps from Pittsburgh Automotive and one cordless, brushless tool from Hercules.
How much will Harbor Freight's vacuum pumps cost you?
Ensuring your tools come from a trusted brand is essential, even if Harbor Freight's vacuum pumps are mostly from tool brands you might realize are owned by the company. The next most important aspect of a good tool is the price, and Harbor Freight offers a wide range of prices for their vacuum pumps.
For the hand-powered vacuum pumps, the Mityvac costs $47.99, while the Maddox tool is a bit more expensive at $69.99 but comes with many more accessories. Although they require some elbow grease to get working, you shouldn't dismiss either pump, as they both come highly reviewed. The Mityvac has over 1,000 customer reviews and a 4.2-star rating, while the Maddox product has over 200 reviews and an average of 4.1 stars.
The cheapest vacuum pump at Harbor Freight is the Pittsburgh Automotive Air Vacuum Pump, sitting at $14.99, and the prices get much higher with the electric-powered tools. The Pittsburgh Automotive 2.5 CFM Vacuum Pump is the most affordable of the bunch at $99.99, while the brand's 3 CFM Two Stage Vacuum Pump is the most expensive, costing $139.99. Hercules matches that price point, listing the 20V Lithium-Ion Brushless Cordless 2-Stage Vacuum Pump at $139.99. And, despite the increase in prices, they all also come highly rated, with each vacuum pump having at least a 4.2-star average rating and plenty of customer reviews on the company's site.