Central Vacuums

RBFC

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
5,158
46
1,225
Albuquerque, NM
www.fightingconcepts.com
How many folks have central vacuum systems? If so, do you find it convenient to use? Do you believe that it does as good, better, or worse job than stand-alone vacuums?

Lee
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
I have one. Initially the intake hose was passive meaning only vacuum from the unit. Mediocre at best. Then the hose came with a powered vacuum and rotating brush. Better but not great. It was a pain in the butt always having to stop and remove the hose one place and install it in another. Also with each input valve you also had to plug in the AC for the powered brush. Long and the short we haven't used it in years and have a Miele for the house. I use the central vacuum now only for cleaning the inside of my cars
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
We have one for each house. More importantly, bought the new one just last year. So you know we like it :).

Here is the trick: if most of your floor is hardwood, then central makes more sense. You don't need a contraptions like you do for carpet. And the noise and dust is in the garage.

We have some carpet in our houses so we have an upright we use for that. The combination serves us well.

BTW, there is a unit with a hose which pulls itself into the wall. The hose is long enough to span the entire house. Many people who have it love it. Complaints are the hose sock getting dirty and needing a powerful vacuum to suck it in. And the outlet is quite a bit larger (although you only need one per floor).
 

RBFC

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
5,158
46
1,225
Albuquerque, NM
www.fightingconcepts.com
We have central vac also. I was lukewarm about its performance until the hose developed an electrical short in it. The beater brushes in the carpet head wouldn't turn on. I got a replacement hose on the internet which was longer than the original, reducing the need for switching the hose to different outlets. The new hose is also slightly smaller in diameter (internal) than the original, which results in greater air velocity through the hose. Performance increased dramatically and I'm now pretty happy with the system. I was looking for others' comments as to the efficiency of these central systems.

Here's the place where we got the new hose:

http://www.thinkvacuums.com/

Fast service and $100 cheaper for the same hose than going to the local dealer.

Lee
 

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