Central Vacuums with Hide a Hose

[kirbyvertibles]

So for a large home would one need to install multiple HAH systems?

 

[countryguy]

According to the HAH website, the hose comes in 30, 40 or 50 foot lengths so if the outlet was in the centre of the house, the maximum reach in any direction would be 50 feet. Also, an outlet would probably be required on each floor.

 

[vacerator]

CV hose reach.

Correct Gary. Before I installed mine, I measured a line from where I wanted the outlet to each ceiling corner with a long tape measure.
Once I determined a 35 foot hose with two wands would reach cobwebs, I went and bought one.
My house is roughly 1,450 sq. feet, with the main living room in the center, and adjoins a garage wall. I have no tubes concealed in walls. One inlet to the unit in the garage. I could add one for the basement, but it would be at the top of the stair well above the bottom step.

 

[dysonman1]

When Donnie and I bought our house this past August, I insisted we install a Central Vacuum. Not just 'any' central vacuum, but a Commerical Vacuflo. It was designed so three people could be vacuuming at once. I didn't really need all the suction and airflow it has, but I still wanted it 'just because' I can't have a Spencer.

My good friend, Evan Rogers, owner of the Vac Shack in Festus, Missouri installed it for me. Because it has two motors and is vented outside, it sounded like the tornado sirens were going off outside the house by the exhaust vent. A "cherry bomb" car exhaust muffler quieted it down to where it sounds no louder than a dryer venting outside.

I not only had three electra-valves installed so I could use my 35 foot Riccar hose and premium power nozzle - I also got a Vroom, a VacPan, two Wally Flex units and the brand new design Hide A Hose. The new design has a 60 foot hose and makes cleaning outstandingly simple and easy.

Donnie's favorite part is the Wally Flex in the laundry room. He liked it so much, he had Evan install one over the workbench in the garage as well. The Vac Pan is nice, but I rarely use it. We also had a Vroom installed under the kitchen sink, which we use all the time.

Tacony is making a power nozzle (cordless) that is similar in thought to the Air-Way power nozzle of 1970. It's a fan first cordless Ultra Light upright vacuum made without a bag provision, but instead has an extension wand to hook to the hide-a-hose. When in use, the motor is driving both the suction fan as well as the brush roller. Turning any central vacuum into a Tandem-Air machine.

As a vacuum collector, it will be AWESOME to have for my vintage tank and canister cleaners. Imagine a model XXX Electrolux with a power nozzle, or a model B Rexair with a power nozzle. So exciting.

 

[vacerator]

Vacu-flo

Thats some high end system for sure tom!

 

[ocscott3085]

I am glad I'm not the only person who never uses my vac pan. All of my friends with kids love it and think they are the best. In hindsight I'd rather have vroom installed in my kitchen island than the vacpan. We have also toyed with the idea of adding a second HAH outlet for the bedroom level of the house but for now our cleaning lady just uses the electric hose up there and we use our Miele. I had purchased a Riccar Supralite from Tom for the bedrooms but my mom fell in love with it and took it off my hands.

 

[n0oxy]

hide a hose and miele c1

Tom, that vacuflo set up you have sounds awesome. How can more than one person vacuum at once though? Usually the instructions say to only have one valve open at a time since you want all the suction to come to the valve the hose is connected to. That cordless power nozzle sounds interesting, how's the battery life on that? That would be good for hide a hose users, one disadvantage of those is that the hoses are not electric. I thought all of the Miele vacuums were made in Germany, I have a Miele C1 olympus, wonder if it was made in China.

 

[dysonman1]

The commercial VacUFlo has two motors, and more than enough suction and airflow to allow for up to three hoses to be used at once. Sometimes when we are in a hurry, Donnie is vacuuming with the Riccar Power Nozzle and 35 foot electric hose, while I'm cleaning the back bedrooms with the Hide A Hose (I use an Air-Way rug nozzle with "S" wands - no Air-Way ever had 130 inches of water lift)

This is the NEW style Hide-A-Hose. Mine is 60 feet long.

 

[dysonman1]

Hose completely retracted.

 

[dysonman1]

The Vroom. It's awesome. Donnie was a cosmetologist in California (he worked on Movie and TV sets), so he cuts my hair every two weeks. The Vroom is AWESOME for quickly cleaning up the hair that falls to the floor. It's installed under the sink.

 

[dysonman1]

The very powerful Vacuflo cyclonic twin motor cleaning system. I had this in my previous home for over 10 years. Storage for 7 more, now reinstalled in our new home.

 

[dysonman1]

Donnie loves the Wally Flex in the laundry room. Cleans the lint filter in two seconds.

 

[dysonman1]

Evan made sure to get a Cherry Bomb car muffler from the auto parts store - to quiet the tremendous exhaust.

 

[dysonman1]

We have four Electra-Valves in the house, to run the 35 foot Riccar electric hose and Riccar Premium Power Nozzle with Dirt Sensor and triple-row brush extruded aluminum brush roll.

 

[dysonman1]

Evan Missy Mae, our 100 pound Border Collie, approves of the central vac. With no noise in the house, she'll even let me vacuum the loose hair off of her. It also keeps 'her' chair clean.

 

[vacerator]

Missy;

Good Girl! Awe, she's so sweet.

 

[n0oxy]

cleaning carpets

I'm assuming the tandom air uprights try to offer the advantages of the dirty and clean air uprights. I know the clean air uprights are better with attachments, and when using any kind of canister with a power nozzle, it's similar to the clean air design. When it comes to cleaning carpets, does one design offer any advantage over the other?

 

[vacerator]

n0oxy,

who makes a tandem air upright?

 

[sptyks]

Vacerator:

As far as I know the only Tandem Air upright vacuums are made by Tacony Corp. in St. James Missouri. The most popular models are the Riccar and Simplicity lines. The Tandem air design is almost unmatched in carpet cleaning performance except maybe by Kirby. When cleaning carpet both motors are running. When using the hose for above the floor cleaning the dirty fan motor is turned off and only the bypass air motor runs. Watch the Demo video below to see it in action.


 

 

[vacerator]

Tandem air, cont.

Ok, I thought you meant one fan in the base, and another suction motor up behind the bag chamber.
Miele also makes them like Tacony. Not sure about Sebo.
A true tandem air design would be the old Airway Sanitizor with the old style steel Eureka upright used as a power nozzle, still retaining it's fan, but not the bag. The wand tube is in place of the bag.