Central Vacuum Recommendations? (1 Viewer)

[PAToyota]

A central vacuum for the house has been on my list for some time. With pets the larger capacity would be nice to deal with the fur and an exterior exhaust would certainly help with the dander.

The downside of online reviews is that you have to sort through all the positive ones on the one side that are either basically sponsored or immediately after purchase with no time to really find faults and all the negative ones on the other side that are either idiots, blow small issues out of proportion, or are actually the small percentage with a defect or fault.

So, anyone have a system they really like? Or am I overthinking it and just look for what is available at a decent price?

 

[TYM4FUN]

This system is 17 years old and running strong. I absolutely love having it. I have a hard floor and powered carpet attachment. You may also just use the handle without an extension or push on the traditional options like a bristled acc..

As an excellent extra, it has a port on the motor unit as seen in the picture below. Makes it great for vacuuming the cars in the garage. The hoses are all high quality and very flexible, one for indoor and one for outdoors.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

Isn't it going to be a bit difficult to install in a finished house? I put one system in a house we built and there is quite a bit of piping and electrical that has to go into the walls. FWIW I don't recall the brand but it was a very large, 220v system. Did a great job but to be honest I don't really miss it. It's just as much trouble to drag that long hose out as a Dyson canister - maybe more so.

If you do install one, have it vent outdoors. That way you don't get any of the ultrafine dust that gets past the filtration system in the house.

 

[TYM4FUN]

Isn't it going to be a bit difficult to install in a finished house? I put one system in a house we built and there is quite a bit of piping and electrical that has to go into the walls. FWIW I don't recall the brand but it was very large, 220v system. Did a great job but to be honest I don't really miss it. It's just as much trouble to drag that long hose out as a Dyson canister - maybe more so.

If you do install one, have it vent outdoors. That way you don't get any of the ultrafine dust that gets past the filtration system in the house.

Agree with the hose. But I love the trade off of how clean the air in the house stays and how quite it is using the non motorized attachments.

Definitely seems like a new house build option though....

 

[PAToyota]

Isn't it going to be a bit difficult to install in a finished house? I put one system in a house we built and there is quite a bit of piping and electrical that has to go into the walls.

I've got a 1.5 story bungalow, so I can run the piping and electric through the basement and then I have a chase opened up alongside the stairwell as I'm updating electric that I can run through to get to the second floor.

If you do install one, have it vent outdoors. That way you don't get any of the ultrafine dust that gets past the filtration system in the house.

A central vacuum for the house has been on my list for some time. With pets the larger capacity would be nice to deal with the fur and an exterior exhaust would certainly help with the dander.

Yep!

 

[PAToyota]

This system is 17 years old and running strong.

Beam is one of the brands I've been looking at.

 

[TYM4FUN]

And hopefully goes without saying, take extra time to map out the connection points so the hose reaches every corner of the home, and least intrusive.

 

[PAToyota]

Definitely. My house as a fairly simple layout, so a few strategically placed ports should give me access to all corners.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

We had one of the under cabinet dustbin outlets installed in the kitchen and I have to say we used it a lot. Not sure how difficult it would be to install in a finished kitchen.

Automatic Dustpan/ Vac Pan-Black | Midwest Vacuums | Erv's Vacuum

The automatic dustpan for central vacuum systems is an essential accessory for the kitchen and the bathroom. Easy to use, you simply have to open it with the tip of your toe by pushing the switch to start the vacuum system. Just sweep dust and crumbs away; no more bending down to pick them up!

kcvacuums.com

 

[Camotubebender]

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[Rugy]

If you install a CV system make sure that your in wall ports only start with a hard 90 degree fitting. This way should anything that gets plugged up is easy to get to and not somewhere else where you cannot get to it. Using a fishtape is no fun.
Having a long hose, typically 25' is a hassle to drag around especially up and down stairs. Extra hose for upstairs?
If you go the route of CV then gets a "sock" for the hose so that the hose doesn't damage your baseboards.
We used to include CV in all our builds but haven't for over 15 years. Most owners have installed Roombas in their homes.
Others use a Sebo or a Miele vacuum. The Sebo is topnotch for cleaning. That is the route we went on our own home, ditched the built in.
Good luck.

 

[PAToyota]

We used to include CV in all our builds but haven't for over 15 years. Most owners have installed Roombas in their homes.

Between the pets with pet hair dust bunnies hiding behind doors and such, transitions from hardwood to thick wool rugs, other transitions, and stairs, the Roombas just don't cut it.

The other thing is being able to vent the exhaust outside to cut down on the pet dander and such.

 

[Rugy]

Between the pets with pet hair dust bunnies hiding behind doors and such, transitions from hardwood to thick wool rugs, other transitions, and stairs, the Roombas just don't cut it.

The other thing is being able to vent the exhaust outside to cut down on the pet dander and such.

Central Vacuum venting to the outside here in Vancouver BC isn't permitted due to noise bylaw.
Lots are tight in the city and too many neighbors complained, therefore the bylaw.
This applies also to power venting of boiler/furnace and no heat pumps/ac in side yard.

 

[PAToyota]

I have to admit that I'd sort of favor such regulations around here. Although there are noise ordinances, they typically don't cover those things and you particularly hear your neighbors' ac/heat pumps all the time.

 

[PAToyota]

So I stopped at the local Beam dealer yesterday. They carry both Beam and Element - and the guy was sort of pushing me towards the Element. I know that often has to do with the dealer's relationship with the supplier - who he gets the best perks from and all - and not necessarily which one is really better.

Beam is owned by Nuera Air, a Canadian (Quebec) company, since 2018. They had previously been owned by Electrolux. Nuera Air's brands are Beam, Duovac, Husky, Soluvac, Smart, and Intervac. Unless it has changed again, I'm finding that manufacturing was moved to Mexico in 2010.

Element is owned by H-P Products, a company out of Ohio. Their brands are VACUFLO, Dirt Devil and Element. H-P Products says they have three manufacturing facilities in Ohio, but I question how much is produced there or just assembled?

The Beam systems that @TYM4FUN and @Camotubebender have predate the move to Mexico, so it is hard to say how the "modern" systems compare. Reading online both systems get fairly good marks from people, so I think it comes down to which one offers the best options for my situation.

They both use the same tubes and fittings, so my first step is going to be to do the "plumbing" through the house. While I'm doing that, I can finalize my decision on which unit to buy.

 

[knuckle47]

I know this was last year @PAToyota but, what had you decided to do? Installed one in our ranch house nearly 16 years ago so doing the basement spider was really easy. 5 gallon debris bucket and an outside vented muffler exhaust. We used 5 intake plugs with a 35’ hose. We trip over it routinely but this covers the entire house and the garage and basement. Power for the head unit is in the hose. Replaced the power head 1 time in all these years but could be ready for number 2.

We have two golden retrievers …as you said, they leave tumbleweed rolls of pet hair everywhere and when emptying the main 5 gallon can, it looks like well packed Cotten candy. On the hard floor surfaces…it works well but annoys me when a cheerio is directly under the floor brush and it stays until a direct concentrated effort is made to suck it up

this one was made by Imperium and has a separate motor and long collection tank

 

[PAToyota]

Unfortunately, I haven't moved ahead on this. Mostly just that other things in life took precedence. It is still on the radar and hopefully I can move it up the list this year.

 

[fjc-man]

We had a VACUFLO in our previous house of 13 years. Was plumbed in during the construction. It always worked great.