Shop vac

how "mini" is it? Blow back thru the exhaust shouldn't be a problem unless it is so poorly designed. Have you taken it apart yet to figure the capacity? See if you could cover the intake part of the fan/motor with a piece of cloth to protect it. Is there a brand name?

I believe what you need is a drywall filter for your vac.  I'm almost certain.

Buy the paper bags.  That's what I use and no problems.  They may be labelled for drywall use.

I'm accumulating parts to build a PRE FILTER for my 6.5gal shop vac.   The filters cost about 12$ each if I buy 'em 2x at a time.  

You can make a Very Effective dust collector out of Home Store stuff, starting with the cheap 5 gallon buckets they sell.   A trip down the PVC / Pipe isle should help and you may need some other goodies.

Here is the instructible, which while I haven't viewed it yet, should hit all the right notes.   Drywall dust should be pretty similar to the dust in your grill.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Drywall-Sanding-Dust-CollectorSeperator/

That is a simple solution but wouldn't the pipe in the water just suck water into the shop vac? 

I did see this in Norway. Do they make something specifically for ash here? 

$73 bucks??? Wowzer 

My "free" ash tool works just fine. I really don't have a lot of ash to contend with. Excessive ash must be a Royal Oak thing. 

SmokeyPitt said:

@DoubleEgger someone mentioned this one the other day:

http://www.amazon.com/PowerSmith-PAVC101-Amp-Ash-Vacuum/dp/B0060EUA32

I like the color  

Also this one at wally world for $51.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/31610949?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&adid=22222222227020969265&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=42531024992&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=81187719272&veh=sem

$73 for the vacuum is a bit much - but I do like that it's green!