I have 2 of the Craftsmen shop vacs. One's huge, ones small. The huge one will suck up 8 penny nails all day long. Had that one for @ 20 years. Time to replace the filter:-)

I have an old 5 hp Craftsman that has been to hell and back for over 20 years and is still running. It sucked up more drywall dust than I care to remember along with tons of popcorn ceiling debris. One employee sucked up half a gallon of oil based stain he spilled. I was surprised it did not blow up from that. Somehow its still sucking away today. I do blow out the motor and filter regularly with my compressor. And she's good to go...

does more horsepower always mean more suction ?