Central Vac vs Portable Vac

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Dust Storm---that's why I DON'T like bagless central machines-will take BAGGED everytime!!!My Mom used to have a bagless NuTone-hated dumping the thing-had to take a shower after.Good the central unit Tom has is holding up-at the vac shop here they get many DEAD units-mostly 'Lux-the dust kills their motors.
 
I absolutely love our central vacuum with hide a hose. Like Tom, we have a hybrid system with about 9ish standard wall outlets and a centrally located hide a hose outlet on our main level. Unlike most people, we really don't use the vacpan in our kitchen island as often as I thought we would. It's too far back under the toekick to be useful with a swiffer or broom. The Vacuflo Edge attachment kit with its Wessel Werk nozzle does an incredible job on wall to wall carpeting. Most of our house is hardwood floors and wool area rugs so they usually get cleaned with the HAH and Volt combination. Love just being able to pull out the hose, clean quickly and suck it all up back in the wall. I grew up with a central vacuum system and missed it when I bought my first home without it. When we built this home, central vac was a non-negotiable. As other posters have mentioned, I still do use an upright on the carpeting if I'm only doing one room because it can be a little faster.
In regards to bags vs. bagless - I've had both and strongly prefer the bagged option. My parents Silentmaster has the open bag design and my Flo Master has the closed bag. Definitely prefer the closed bag!
I think it's so much faster to clean hard surfaces and above the floors with the central vac than a canister. In my first townhouse my parents let me take their Miele canister which was a powerful machine that did a nice job. I didn't love the short hose but it worked well for my needs. In our new house, I supplemented the central vac system with a Miele Cat and Dog and there's just no comparison - the central vac is just a lot easier to maneuver around the house when cleaning dog hair off the sectional sofa, dusting the table tops, fireplace mantle, dog beds, etc. I ended up selling the Miele Cat and Dog because nobody in the house would use it. However, I did purchase a Miele C1 Homecare Compact canister vacuum for our beach house because it has mainly hardwood floors. I just took it down there last weekend and it did a great job. The hose seemed longer than the stock Olympus hose and also seemed more flexible. We will still keep the Sanitaire upright there for the bedroom carpets but the Miele is fantastic for everything else.
 
Mark:

You should have been there the first time I emptied the Vacuflo. OMG. I dumped the 30 gallon full dirt container into an empty trash can in the garage. Talk about a dust storm. I had to go inside and take a shower and wash m hair. It was god-awful.

When we moved to our new house almost two years ago, one of my best friends, Evan Rogers, to whom I sold my vacuum shop when the Vacuum Museum was built, was doing the install of the old Power Unit into the "new to us" home. He had all kinds of trash from the installation, pieces of piping, bags that stuff came in, etc. We tested out the installation by sucking up damp paper towels (the same thing as Tornado Cloths). Since he also put in three ElectraValves, as well as a garage valve and two Wally Flex units, we decided to test the machine out with dirt.

I have other vacuums in my home that I also use. Some take disposable bags, like my Kirby. We tore apart those bags, and sucked up the dirt into the Central Vac. It took the dirt like a champ, but then we decided to empty the Vacuflo.

Since the trash can was 9/10 full of other trash, emptying the central vac didn't result in a dust cloud. I kind of 'poured' the dirt on top of all the stuff in the trash can, and not even my hands were dirty after. Maybe because the dirt didn't 'hit' the bottom of the trash can.

At a vacuum convention two years ago, many people came over to my home for a Cocktail Party. Half way through, I got the bright idea to have all my guest go outside, and watch the exhaust vent as I sucked up three full vacuum bags of dirt "at once' as fast as I could get the dirt to go into the Hide-A-Hose. Which of course is NOT what the system was designed to handle. It belched all kinds of fine dust outside, many of my friends caught the expulsion on their cell phone cameras. Like demons escaping from hell, the black cloud of dust just shot out the eves of the house, where the exhaust vent was. Everyone came back in laughing, (or was that chocking, I don't remember), and had another drink. Good times. In good fun, they ripped me apart for my 'dust belching' central vac for days. Gotta love your friends.
 
Haha sounds like fun Tom. Can I come to your next cocktail party? I'll have a "screaming orgasm" 😁

I'm seriously considering fitting a central vac. We have Modern Day available in the UK.

Wish the Volt was available over here I wouldn't need an electrified hose then.

Not sure how many people have a central vac in the UK but I've yet to see one on my travels 😊
 
I like my central vacuum quite a bit when I'm really doing a deep clean of the house top to bottom. I typically use it to do the whole house whenever I mop the hard floors, and I use an upright every other day or so for general cleaning.

Like someone said earlier, it's nothing like using a portable. You can suck in anything dry that will fit through the end of the hose. I've sucked up towels, plastic shopping bags, napkins, etc.
 
Towels,plastic bags,shopping bags,napkins???The central vacuum is NOT for trash these CAN and WILL eventually clog your homes vacuum plumbing!!!Don't do it!!Put those in your trash can.Also if these make to the unit-they will fill up your bag or bin quickly.
 
the volt in Europe

Sebo4me, I bet you could get the volt to work there, Tom could probably say whether or not this would work for sure, but the charger is a switching power supply and those can usually handle voltage ranges of 100 to 240. The only thing you would need is an adapter to convert the U.S. plug to the shape of your outlet. If you want to try to get one, they are great nozzles for sure.
Mike
 
Sounds to me....

like there is no downside to a good CV system if you have the time to put it in yourself and/or the $$$ to have it put in.  From what I'm hearing they will last nearly a lifetime.


 


I know nothing about installing them, but I am a plumber and was horrified at the slap-stick way the CV system was put in for my parents. Granted, air is different than water when it comes to drainage and flow...especially when forced through piping by large motors. Still, I noticed bends/fittings that could have been made easier for air to flow with less restrictions if the installers really understood how bends and fittings work together. Using two 45's, for example, can make all the flow difference in the world compared to a short 90. And a combination flows a lot better than a san tee etc. Maybe it's not critical with motor driven CV's.


 


It seemed like the fitting used were ABS sanitary plumbing/vent fittings or something very similar. PVC is probably used more back east as in the plumbing trade.


 


Kevin 
 
Thanks guys for all your help. I am going to fit an MD central vac in the cupboard. I'm looking forward to using it.

Hope I don't drill through a metal pipe or electric cable! This happened to me in the past. The metal and live wire detector I used was as much use a pork chop in a synagogue!
 

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