Burned Out Central Vac Motor

[ocscott3085]

Next month I'll have lived in a new construction home for exactly four years. The builder put in a Dirt Devil Pro Series 990 central vacuum. Yesterday when I came home from running an errand I noticed my garage smelled like smoke. I came in and I could hear the cleaning lady "vacuuming" upstairs. Apparently at some point she had burned out the motor but hadn't noticed due to the noise of the powerhead. I cleaned the filter, reset the GFI and the machine still won't turn on. I noticed last week the motor sounded unusual but the suction was fine. Anyhow, I plan on having a repair man come out at some point this week. I figure the motor is shot and I don't want to spend several hundred dollars investing in a new motor and service call on a filtered cyclonic unit that will most likely fail again. Up until now it has worked wonderfully with very powerful suction. However, emptying the unit has always been a disgusting mess. My parents MD Silentmaster is a bagged unit and slightly easier to clean but still messy with it's open bag. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with the Vacuflo Maxum 7 power unit that takes a closed bag? I think this would be a much better solution.
Also, I'm considering purchasing a relatively inexpensive upright vacuum for my cleaning lady to use in lieu of the central vac. I know I'll have to replace it a few years down the line but not sure if there are any $200 anyone thinks are a good deal. Tools on board and the ability to clean frieze, hardwood, wool rugs and wall to wall carpeting would be a plus. Thanks for any advice!

 

[sharkcar19998]

For the upright I would recommend the Kenmore Peohressive Red Pepper Bagged Upright. Panasonic is going to be stop manufacturing vacs which means the Kenmore Elites Progressives and I forget the other one are going to stop being made! Anyway get a Kenmore Progressive BEFORE December as that is when it is rumored to not be manufactured anymore.

 

[panasonicvac]

I always recommend folks to take a look at Carpet Pro as one of the best budget uprights ever made. It's got a steel handle, bottom plate, and steel brushroll with replaceable brushstrips. You could also purchase an extentable crush proof hose to fit in the back to use to vacuum floors with that feels exactly like you are using a central vac. Thare are some Panasonics that are like that as well I would also recommend as well but they are a little too much for the price and yes Panasonic will be discontinued by later this year but the parts will still be available for them.

For Central vacs, Vacuflo makes units for Dirt Devil (It's the same thing) and both Dirt Devil and Vacuflo has a closed bag filtration model that is Overall really awesome and I highly recommend those better than the filtered cyclonic units. MD does have an option where you can also use them as a closed bag filtration. There's a video from MD that shows how to do that.

And if are still interested in looking, take a look at the Riccar or Simplicity units as they are not only powerful but ridiculously super quiet and it's got it's best warranty on them

 

[tolivac]

I would replace the Dirt Devil central unit with the MD Silentmaster-MD sells a kit that allows you to convert the machine to use a closed top bag.This would be good if you want the closed bag.It would involve fitting the closed bag feed horn into the unit(Please note the utility outlet can't be used if the closed bag is used)And putting the closed bag into the units cloth bag where the orig open bag would go.I think it would be better to spend the money on a new central power unit rather than having the DD unit fixed-this was provided by the builder when the building was built.

 

[vacerator]

regardless of the brand of central vac unit,

the low end Lamb motors have a plastic horn, or exhaust housing, as I call it.
These are cheap motors with cheaper bearings, thus a shorter life span.
Can-a-Vac explains this on their youtube videos.
Either replace the motor with an upgraded metal horn Lamb motor, or replace the power unit with one which has the 5 or 10 year motor warranty.
I got my CV back in '96. It's a two stage Hoover unit, 11 amps, and is still running fine. When I replace it, I'll likely get a Beam, or Can-a-Vac. Not the low end, not the high end, a mid range model which needs no bags. My Hoover has no bag, and I like just having to clean the polyester filter and canister. It's located in my garage, so it's not an issue with dust indoors when I clean it.

 

[dysonman1]

My 1984 VacuFlo (thank you Owen Perkins) has the two original motors. They will run forever. Owen replaced the carbon brushes once in the unit's entire 'life'. It's a true cyclonic, vented outside. I will never have a different brand, as the VacuFlo is easily the most powerful machine I've ever seen or used. It IS a commercial unit though, built to clean a church or a school. I've used my VacuFlo to clean things no vacuum should ever have to clean (don't give your dog taco salad - not a pretty sight coming back up). The VacuFlo just soldiers on and on and on......

 

[n0oxy]

bagged central vacuum

I've seen the vacufflo maxum 7, was not impressed. It's a bagged unit, bag empties from the bottom, and, at least the one I looked at had a loose cover on the top. Also, there is no manual power switch on this unit. If you want a good bagged unit for a decent price, I would suggest the Aspria Flomentum. It uses the Ametek 6.6 inch fan bypass motor, I have this unit in my collection and think it's a very good unit, here is the link if you want to purchase it. The silent masters are good also but quite a bit more expensive. You can get the flomentum now for $489

http://www.aspria.systems/power-units/all-power-units/aspria-cpu6629iq-flomentum-bagged-power-unit

 

[n0oxy]

one more bagged unit

Here's one more bagged unit, this one uses the Ametek 8.4 inch motor, it's the most powerful motor you can get that works on 120 volts, note that this unit does not have a manual switch, that may or may not be important to you.

http://www.centralvacuumstores.com/central-vacuum/powerunits/power-units/imperium-cv800b-power-unit

 

[n0oxy]

one more bagged unit

Here is one more unit you might consider, this one uses a flow through motor rather than a bypass motor, 5.7 two stage.

http://www.centralvacuumstores.com/central-vacuum/powerunits/power-units/imperium-cv300-power-unit

 

[ralph123]

If you're a costco member, you have this Husky as an option. The reviews look pretty good.

http://www.costco.com/Husky-Storm-C...lectric-Power-Head-Kit.product.100161400.html

 

[ocscott3085]

Thanks for the advice guys. I reached out to the gentleman who retrofitted a hide a hose outlet in my home and he recommended a MD Flo-Master 650. He's installed them for several years and never had anyone require a service call. In fact, he actually has them privately labeled for his company. The price seems reasonable so I think I'm leaning in that direction. In terms of an upright for the cleaning ladies - they need something with a hose so I guess I can just pick up a Shark.

 

[panasonicvac]

GET THE FLO-MASTER

That's a really good system too. Very powerful, very quiet, and excellent filtration. I'm actually uploading a video right now of my Uncle's Flo-Master that's overall really awesome. And if you do go with Shark, make sure they empty the canister outside instead of inside the house.

 

[n0oxy]

flo master

Not sure what the specs are on the 650, they changed the models recently. I have a flo master m85 which I think is the most powerful 120 volt model you can get, it's good, uses a flow through motor instead of bipass, but if you can live with that, they are good units.

 

[vackid]

FloMaster F650t

The Flomaster F650t is a wonderful unit. Yes it was the replacement to the former model "M85". I've put in dozens of them in new and existing homes. We use the FloMaster F650t for homes up to 10 inlets and for more than 10 inlets, we put in a SilentMaster S900r (Formerly S5).

In terms of Thru-Flo vs ByPass, I feel that there are more factors in longevity than just "This one has a cooling fan and this one doesn't". The FloMaster units all have an air-relief valve built into the side of the can that opens up after about 10 seconds of a complete seal with no airflow. Although the motor is rated at 130 CFM, once you have the tubing, the hose and the attachments on the end, you're probably getting closer to 60 CFM that's actually going through the motor. That CFM Is the amount of air that is cooling the motor and that 60 CFM is probably much higher than the amount of air a small motor cooling fan on a by-pass can move by itself. I'm not saying that a Bypass design is inferior, I just think that both motor designs have their own merits.

For example, you could never efficiently use a thru-flo motor in a True Cyclonic unit because the fine dust that is not filtered out by the cyclones. In these true cyclonic units, only a by-pass motor will work and it needs to be a bypass motor with "Non-Loading fans". These fans are designed to not allow dust to build up on the fan blades. If you look at the performance spec of a Vacuflo 566Q compared to FloMaster F650t, you'll see that the Vacuflo makes about 530 airwatts out of a giant 7.2 Bypass motor, while the FloMaster F650t makes 650 out of a 5.7 thru flow motor. The reason being is you can only make the blades so efficient (Think Miele Vortex Motor fans, curved bottoms) and still retain the "Non-loading" design. However, because there is no filter on these units, you would make up for the lower spec performance with the consistent performance. If you were to put a high-efficiency by-pass motor in a true cyclonic units, it will sound like a thrashing machine after a few uses.

Besides the air-relief valve, because of the MD HEPA Hyperflow bags, there is absolutely no dust going through the motors, further extending it's life. The surface area of the MD bag is significantly higher than that of a H-P Cartridge Filter, plus because the HyperFlow bag is supported by the Cloth bag, there is no dust leakage around the bags, unlike the cartridge filter models.

 

[tolivac]

The MD Flowmasters are the most common selling machines at the dealer I use.He doesn't install central systems anymore-he sells the units and parts to builders or folks that install their own.Guess Mike got tired of crawling in attics and under buildings to install systems.He incorporates a Flowmaster unit in his "Port-O-Vac" machine is mounted on a janitor cart with a 50Ft cord and 35 ft hose.I ordered two of these for my workplace the machine stays out in front or behind the transmitter and you bring the hose and tool inside.These units do have Bypass motors.There were problems of overheating and the unit shutting down.Mike replaced the motors in ours and no problems now.Run it as long as you like-we picked up a lot of fine dust from the transmitters and that would clog the bag causing the orig flow-thru motors to overheat.So the Bypass ones are best.My Silentmaster uses the Hyper-Flow Filtetrete bag-GREAT system!!!The inner cloth bag,filter stays snow white clean!I just replaced the bag-it held several GALLONS of debris-the unit was still going strong.Mike will install a replacement power unit in an existing system-though.

 

[ultralux88]

I feel you can't go wrong with anything MD makes, everything they sell is quality, and they are a very good company.

 

[tolivac]

That is a reason why I like MD-built in the US and they back their machines!They are top quality-and SIMPLE-no unneeded gizmos and gadgets-just a powerful vacuum unit.

 

[kenkart]

If money was no object!

There is only ONE! A Spencer! Still made and still EXPENSIVE!

 

[tolivac]

A Spencer unit would be GREAT-but remember these are for commercial-industrial use-not in a home.You would probably need 3 phase power to run the unit.