Budd Central Vacuums

[panofan]

Has anyone seen / heard of Budd central vacuums?

buddvac.com

I stumbled upon them last week. The idea of having a built in paddle to shake off the inverted bag filter seems quite smart! Does it actually work in practice?

Looks like they use 7.2" motors in all their models.

 

[sbakerde]

I have

Heard of them though I have never actually seen one. To my understanding they are mostly seen in the new jersey area. I believe their company base is in that area. A few on my customers here in Delaware have given rave reviews of them. Mostly all transplants from new jersey or new York.

 

[iann_nic]

Budd central vac

I have a Budd central vacuum system. I installed it in my hone about a year ago. One key difference is that they use the 1 1/4 inlet, same a some Kenmore. So it has different hose than most standard systems. Also a key difference is that the unit turns on when the inlet door is opened, Not when you plug the hose in the inlet. It has tremendous suction power! There company base is located in Wycoff NJ, not very far from where I live. Yes, they do have an inverted paddle to shake off some of the dust, but in all honesty it doesn't work too well. It only knocks off the loose dirt. But overall I an extremely pleased with my system!

 

[vacerator]

The nice thing

about a central vac is that the hose is the thinnest intake. All the lines in the walls to the power unit are larger in diameter so clogging is rare.
The best thing I put in my house besides better insulation.
No bags, just empty the dust bin every couple months and brush off the filter.

 

[tolivac]

The central unit at my Moms Florida home-NuTone would clog on occasion.You do have to be careful what you try to pick up---No bobby pins,pens,pencils,and so on these things WILL cause clogs in the homes central vac plumbing.I have had to clear those jams-potty roll or other paper items is another no-no.The central vac cleaning "cloths" are OK.I like the BAGGED central units better than the bagless ones-dumping several GALLONS of dust and dirt is no fun!The NuTone she had was bagless-she had me dump it each year I visited.Had to take a shower afterward.

 

[vacerator]

heavy objetcs

such as glass, pennies, et. collect in the bottom elbow before the power unit. They can't travel up the intake pipe. I disconnect it to clean them out on occasion.

 

[n0oxy]

central vacuums

I would stay away from any company that uses nonstandard components. 99 percent of the inlets use a 1.5 diameter, you might be able to use these standard valves with a bud vacuum, not sure, but if you can, I would suggest this. Using any component that is nonstandard limits your options. I much prefer bagged vacuums as well, emptying bagless units is a mess to say the least. Got several central vacuum units in my apartment, connecting a hose directly to a unit is awesome, you're basically cleaning with a super duper powerful canister machine.

 

[iann_nic]

The hose does not have a switch on the handle. But instead it has a nice feature. If you lift the inlet, the unit starts right away. But if for some reason you need to stop vacuuming you can just lift the inlet all the way up and it will just stop!

But yes, being a nonstandard company, it is a bit more difficult to get hoses. Almost all hoses use the standard 1 3/8 end but this uses a 1 1/4 end. But I just called the manufacture and they gave me all the parts I needed.

A while back I broke the power head, I had before.(I dropped it down the stairs, they're not built to survive that!) So I just used my power head from my elextroulux special edition and it works even better than the original one.

 

[tolivac]

Since I have my Volt powernozzle-don't need the central hose that plugs into a wall outlet to work the powernozzle.The Volt has a rechargeable battery powered motor-and is own suction fan beside the brush to make your system tandem air-recommend the Volt highly-will work with any of your central machines like with mine.I also use my central units as giant "canister" vacuums.The MD unit I have uses the large open "Hyper-Flow" bag-you can convert it to use the closed top bags if desired.But you can't use the suction inlet on the central unit machine.The main inlet is equipped with the bag horn to put the closed bag on.Would love to see pictures showing the details of the Budd unit.Is it bagged?

 

[vacerator]

Mine has all

standard diameter inlets. I like having a total control hose that turns on the power unit, and powerhead. I don't have 120 volt inlets though. I just plug the hose power 120 volt pigtail in the wall next to the inlet.
I use mostly one inlet for the entire main floor with a 35 ft. hose.

 

[iann_nic]

In my beach house, I have a total of 7 inlets on the first floor of my other home, and 6 on the second floor. Making a total of 13 inlets!!! Same thing, the unit turns on when I lift the inlet door. I needed the most powerful unit they had, which was I believe the Budd 9911 power unit. The hose is the same as the one above. But I have a different powernozzle. It was the on that came with it when we were building our home. Over the course of 16 years, I have only had to make one small repair to the system. Change an inlet valve.The spring broke and wouldn't close.They were pretty hard to find (before I found the Budd website) and very very expensive. Like 25 dollars. Newer inlets for different systems were like 5 dollars. But this power unit was installed in the basement and is very loud! But still very strong!

 

[vacerator]

Noise

was why I installed the power unit in the garage, not the basement. It does have a muffler also. This location also gave me a more central inlet location on the main floor. Our house is perfect to retire in. Not too big, not too small. No need to move to a condo.
We remodeled our bath's barrier free with higher vanities and toilets and low threshold shower.

 

[n0oxy]

nonstandard inlets

That's another disadvantage of nonstandard components, you pay more for them. The volt is an awesome power nozzle for sure. The MD vacuums default to using open bags which allows very good air flow, you can configure it to used closed bags but the air flow will be more restricted, and you also disable the utility valve this way, really no reason to do this.

 

[ocscott3085]

When our Dirt Devil Pro Series 990 bit the dust we replaced it with a MD Flomaster and I told the gentleman I preferred the closed bag because I always found cleaning out my parents' Silentmaster a disgusting process. The Dirt Devil was fairly nasty to empty as well. I LOVE how easy it is to change the bags on the Flomaster.

 

[iann_nic]

I actually dont mind the bag less central vacuum. I empty it outside and as long as you do it carefully you barley kick up any dust. And on top of that I dont have to spend money on bags!

 

[iann_nic]

ok so I need your help. I dont know if I mentoned this before but the Budd system that I installed in my home, is only set up for the first floor. Until now I didnt know how to set it up for the second floor. So I have two options. I either can somehow run the pipe up from the basement to the first floor and to the 2nd floor/attic. Or right now, my friend contacted me and he has a refurbished unit, he fixed up. So im wondering if I should just install that unit in my attic and the just run the pipe down to the 2nd floor inlets? The second choice would be much easier, but the first choice would be less expensive! Help, what should I do?!?!?!?!

P.S. the pic below is the refurbished unit im being offered!

 

[tolivac]

Looked up "Budd Central vacuum" and they are still being made.Never heard of them before until now.I am going to keep my MD Silentmaster in the HyperFlow bag mode.Its like a giant TriStar -Compact bag.If you don't fill it all the way-just close the bag over the dirt and lift out.Mine is about half full or so now.The bags are Filtrete.The Disposable Filtrete bag sits in a reusuable cloth outer bag.A rubber collar goes around the top of both.If you go with the closed bag-you leave the outer cloth bag still inside for extra filtering-worth it so the stuff can't get into the motor.

 

[n0oxy]

md vacuums

I also have a flo master m85, I think they've actually changed their model numbers recently, but it was the top of the line 120 volt flo master model. They are good vacuums, a bit more expensive than some other brands, and they use flow through motors rather than bypass which some consider to be not as good. Regarding the question about cleaning the upstairs, I would connect another run of pipe to the unit you already have if possible, that way you are only maintaining and emptying one unit. I don't like bagless central vacuums, like any other bagless unit, they are a mess to empty. One of my units was bagless, the beam classic 275, I got an adapter to convert it to use bags, much better now.

 

[iann_nic]

personally, I really dont like the bagged central vacuums. They tend to be more expensive, and opperate at higher costs. With my vavuum, its completely free to own. I dont have to worry about buying bags or filters! With me I just unlatch the bucket dump it out and thats it! I dont need to replace filters or bags. But thats just how I feel