Central Vacuums with Hide a Hose

[ocscott3085]

As I was cleaning today I forgot to post pictures of my Hide a Hose outlet I had retrofitted to my home two years ago. As you might recall (it's been awhile) my home was built three years ago with the standard builder-grade central vacuum system. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to choose the unit or the tools - it was either YES or NO to the central vacuum upgrade. Growing up with my parents' awesome Silentmaster system, I was initially hesitant to own a Dirt Devil brand unit. I must say it's actually quite powerful. My house is just under 5,000 sq. ft. and the 990 model is designed to serve homes up to 8,000 sq. ft. It came with the Vacuflo Edge powernozzle kit. While I had grown up with the standard hose setup, I noticed that I was only using the central vacuum once a week because I hated winding the hose up at the end of a quick vacuuming session. I reached out to a local dealer and had a HAH outlet installed on the main level of my living space. At 40ft, it reaches most of the main level of my home which is primarily hardwood floors and wool area rugs. My family room is a thick frieze carpet which the Turbocat doesn't clean as nicely as I like. I read somewhere on the Gardenweb forums about a guy who rigged an electric powernozzle to run with his HAH system. I was able to use the old Nutone powerhead from my parents' basement kit because it came with a 30ft extension hose. Now, I can use my HAH outlet to effectively clean all surfaces on the main level of my home. My cleaning lady is the only person in the house who uses the Vacuflo edge kit. Do any other members have a Hide a Hose system in their homes?

 

[scottg]

I put in a HAH in a previous house.. I loved it for the same reasons you do.. Central Vacs are great, but the big hose always wound up sitting coiled up in a room somewhere because I was too lazy to hang it up. The HAH was great, no complaints at all.

I moved into an old farmhouse and wound up purchasing a Miele because I wasn't ready to go through the effort of the central vac install. I have a feeling at some point or another I'll cave and put in a central vac with a HAH. I love the Miele, but I'm still pulling around a vac behind me. The HAH is so easy.. It's just that convenient.

 

[n0oxy]

hide a hose and electric power nozzles

If you want to use a hide a hose with an electric power nozzle, there is a 35 foot cord you can purchase, one end plugs in to a standard outlet, the other end has a mini female connector that you can connect to most power nozzles. Granted, you have to be careful not to run over the cord, but it should work. An electric power nozzle will clean better than any turbo nozzle, hands down, and they are much quieter.

 

[vacerator]

elelctric hide-a-hose

Do they not make one on a reel system inside the wall, with a pig tail connector at the end of the hose, so it also connects to a recepticale inside the wall, or is hard wired?
I'd rather keep it simple. The more inside the wall, the more difficult to install and service.
When cleaning another room, is there a need for a second hide a hose in the wall?

 

[ocscott3085]

I posted in one of the pictures how I was able to rig an electric nozzle to use on my frieze carpeting. We also have a Miele canister that we never use because it's a PITA to pull around behind us.

 

[vacerator]

Both Scott's;

Yes, convenient. The large wall receptacle is not very aesthetic to me.
I just hang my hose on the wall caddy.

 

[vacerator]

Miele, cumbersome to pull around?

Really? which one? The Chinese made Delphi C1 canister? Every other one rolls around excellent. The C3 Alize even has sprung air filled wheels. I think the first brilliant did as well, but they removed that feature on it last year.

 

[ocscott3085]

The Hide a Hose outlet isn't very noticeable when the door is closed. It's about the size of a panel of 3 light switches you'd find in a kitchen but is mounted vertically. Ironically enough, the only people that ever notice it are children...whose parents are then very intrigued by the idea. My parents want one now after having had a standard central vacuum system for the last twenty years. I do have 8 or 9 regular outlets throughout my house that accept the electric hose but it's just so much quicker to pull out the hose, attach the wand, clean and suck it all back up.
In regards to the canister, we have a Miele C3 Cat and Dog canister vacuum. Very powerful and lightweight(though I think my central vac gives it a run for the money)...but with the short hose it's right at your heels as you clean. I've only had it one month and actually have buyers remorse. Too late to return and I know I would never recoup the money on Craigslist or Ebay so it will just stay on one level of the home to use on the weeks the cleaning lady doesn't come.

 

[countryguy]

I had a Miele Capricorn and with the small wheels, it was very difficult to maneuver on my carpeting which is quite dense. On bare floors, it moved effortlessly. All the German made vacs seem to have very small wheels..I guess because in Europe, most homes do not have carpeting.

Gary

 

[vacerator]

Hide-a-Hose, Miele cont.

My cv hose inlet is in my living room. Center of the house. My 35 ft. hose reaches to the furthest corners through out the 1,450 sq. ft. house. Only on the main floor. The power unit is in the garage.
My house is done in shaker craftsman style.
It will stick out like a tiffany lamp on a mid century end table.
Is your's the white Meile cat and dog,or the red one?
I'd love one for my basement, but I have my two Eureka brandywine canisters, and an Oxygen Model 6997.

 

[ocscott3085]

Our Cat and Dog is the white one...just purchased it around Christmas.

 

[vacerator]

Miele

Nice! That runs about $900.00 yes?

 

[vacerator]

Miele continued;

I watched a Miele C3 demo video on you tube, and they say that the wheels and hose are designed to keep the canister close to you at all times, following so you can easily reach the tools and or speed/power controls if they are not handgrip equipped.

 

[floor-a-matic]

If I had a Central Vacuum System, I'd go for a XXX CentralX or MD SilentMaster because both use disposable paper bags (XXX uses Shop Vac 15-22 Gallon size bag) + Aerus/Electrolux tools (with the old style pistol grip handle & metal wands)


 


Years ago (around 1988-89) my family had a Sears Kenmore central CVS with Double Brush Power Mate; sadly the whole thing was left behind when we moved in 1993

 

[vacerator]

Erik,

I remember those Kenmore built ins. Sears always had beach balls juggling over the exhaust ports, and above their canister hose wands connected to the blower ends of the vacuums.

 

[vacerator]

Erik,

My C.V. power unit is a Hoover 10.5 amp 2 stage. Still going after 21 years.
I like the no bag polyester filter design. Just empty it, brush off the filter and can gasket, and clip it back on.

 

[scottg]

I've got a Miele UniQ.. I'm not saying that the Miele doesn't maneuvar nicely - it does.. It's just that a canister is trailing me wherever I go. I'm very careful with it as I don't want it banging into the walls and furniture - Less worried about marking up the baseboard and more worried about putting a mark on the vacuum

The beauty of the HAH is that you can pull out the amount of hose you need, go about your work, and then retract it easily - no need to worry about banging the canister into anything and then finding a home for it when you're done cleaning.

These of course are very small issues, basically a matter of preference for a specific vacuum type.. Everyone has their own. I've owned several Mieles and loved them all (except for my Silver Moon when I had to replace the hose with the "new" version which didn't have a swivel end). I've also had central vacs - with turbo nozzles and a low voltage hose, with a Lindhaus nozzle and a line voltage hose, and then the Hide a Hose. Since I've got mostly hardwood and area rugs, I can deal with a turbo nozzle again.. Having had a Hide a Hose, it's hard to go back to anything else, but again it's just a personal preference and it's different for everyone. I love my UniQ and am not ready to give it up, it's a beautiful vacuum.. I just have a feeling that one day I'll wind up putting in a central with HAH.

On a side note, they have new style valves which are redesigned and are much smaller than the original.

 

[vacerator]

Scottg,

Thanks for that info. I like the Miele Uniq as well. "Spitzenklasse"
Does yours still have the velvet lined tool compartment?
Isn't that velevet bumper softer also?
My old CV hose was more rigid than my current one. I never socked it, and it did wear some paint off my baseboards. I just touched them up.

 

[rugsucker]

very little is NEW

As we might learn at a visit to the Tacony Vacuum Museum very few if any of the 'new & improved' vacuum ideas are truly new.I have seen mention of in the wall CV hose reels from the 50s & 60s.Has anyone here seen or used one or seen factory literature???
On the subject of central vacs there is a special edition magazine on the history of the White House on news stands now.Among much information there is a picture of new mechanical equipment in a basement level as the WH was rebuilt during the Truman administration.Shows what seems to be a larger Spencer vac system in place waiting for piping to be run to rest of building.

 

[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.