Central vacuums

[gsheen]

So I recently acquired a vacu flow central vac unit. I am not familiar with this brand, I have never seen one before here in SA. While we do get them, I have one aswell, I am very familiar with Beam & Vacumaid, MD systems are also available here , They are Not  popular here because  our houses are concrete and brick here they are not popular as the expense of fitting them to a ready built home is massive. 


 


Here are my questions.


The unit is well used but in good condition. 


I was amazed as the unit is cyclonic but has no prefilter to protect the motor from fine dust. If it used a dirty fan motor like a convertible or Kirby I would not foresee any problems, But it uses a standard tangeltal by[ass motor like those found in 99% of portable carpet cleaners. These use the same style fans found in most standard twin stage through flow motors and if you have worked in the vacuum business enough you will know that fine dust that gets past filters or from burst bags causes these fans to get out of balance and vibrate the whole motor.


The cyclone set up on this unit is not very sophisticated and as such should cause fine dust to build up in the turbines. 


 


What I would like to know is what is the durability of these machines like ?

 

[singingrainbow]

Hi Gareth, at the vac shop I work for we do loads of central vac work and indeed repair many systems.
The vacuflow units do have a tendency to have motor failure prematurely. Although many people swear by them, we don't sell them and favor MD. Often its not really the fine dust that causes the problem, but hair that gets through the pre screen.
I know of several units that have been trouble free for years, but many still that need periodic motor replacements, plus with the fact that they recommend outside venting, I would not personally own one for myself.
Nice beam though! That is one of their better models.
Scott

 

[gsheen]

Hey Scott 


Thank you., Have you ever seen or tried retrofitting a filter into a vacuflo ?


 


Every central system I have encountered here in SA is vented outdoors. It just makes more sence as most garages are attached to the home, why vent any air inside. Even the MD ones are vented outdoors. 

 

[singingrainbow]

No, I have never actually heard of anyone trying that, you could be the first!

That's interesting that all systems are vented outside in SA, most all the systems we install are not.
Scott

 

[gsheen]

MD here state that their systems dont need to be but they still do it. 

 

[gsheen]

Here are some pics of the Motors between the Beam left hand side and the Vacuflow right . Both Using amatek motors. 


The beam using the newer curved fan Giving a bit more suction. 

 

[gsheen]

For those who don't or haven't seen, The view from the motor casing down to the bottom of the tank. For some one like me who appreciates cyclonic action this scares me a bit. That said, The motor shows very little dust build up inside and between the two the Beams silencer although bigger was dirtier  

 

[vacman1961]

Hi, I have been in the vacuum business for over 30 years, I have a VacuFlo model 560 in my 2600 square foot house since 1994. I have the original motor in it, it gets used at least 4 times a week, we have 3 kids and a lot of traffic in my house. We have approximately 80% wall to wall carpet. The trick with a VacuFlo is that you need to empty the dust container every 2 months, if you don't empty the container frequently, the lint will get sucked up into the screen and reduce your suction. In the 20 years that it has been installed I think I have cleaned the screen less than a handful of times. The people who don't clean the screen and constantly use the machine with a clogged screen do have premature motor failure. Most VacuFlo machines do have a lifetime warranty on their motors. I am not a fan of VacuFlo's power nozzles, I have yet to find a power nozzle and attachment set that has satisfied me, I constantly change my electric hose set up. 

 

[marks_here]

I was going to say

I hope they last a lot longer, I just had one installed in my house the 466Q which is simply amazing how much it picks up!!! I have a Maine coon cat that shed a lot & got tired of my Sentria so it is so much easier to put the hose in the wall & go. I had them install it higher on the wall so I can check the screen every 2 weeks, I was told the same thing, keep the screen clean & empty it half full, so far since the install which was 2 months ago it has 1/3 of the 6 gallons full. I still can't get over how much it picks up! Cheers!!!! Mark D.

 

[bimmer740]

I have had a VacuFlo 566Q for more than 7 years now and I love it! I actually bought it from Charlie's (vacman1961) vacuum store. I only empty the bin about every 5-6 months but when I empty the bin I simply vacuum the screen in the unit with another vacuum. My house is almost entirely bare floors with only 3 rooms having wall to wall carpet, which get vacuumed with a Kirby more often then the central vacuum, so my machine doesn't get filled with carpet fiber and fluff. I've had a Lindhaus power nozzle for a while now but I'm not crazy about it. It's nice to be able to mix and match attachments to whatever suits your own needs. My unit came with a lifetime warranty and its well cared for so I'm not too worried about any motor issues occurring. I do love not having to buy bags or filters and knowing all the dirt is leaving our living space. One other nice feature is the unit is quiet, it's rated somewhere around 66 decibels and with the unit being in the basement you can barely hear it running, you just hear the fantastic suction power. It's certainly the best vacuum purchase I've ever made!

 

[gsheen]

Vacuflow

Hey every one, Thanks for all the feed back. 


 


So I hooked this thing up in my workshop at the office. I could see the outside vented exhaust and noticed when I was using it to vacuum up the dust out of other vacuums it was making a huge could outside. Now granted this is would not be a normal household situation but its nothing my beam at home doesn't handle when I use it in my workshop to suck up my woodworking dust or cleaning out a old vintage vacuum. 


 


I like the idea of the cyclonic central vac, It means it wont clog and loose suction like my beam does when I suck up to much fine dust But I spend enough time keeping the dirt from outside my house from getting in( vacuuming my paving and stuff, The last thing I want is the vacuum to be depositing the dust I just vacuumed up just on the other side of  a wall.


The cyclone is just not efficient enough to remove fine dust( something that James dyson struggled with for a long time before inventing the dual cyclone ) 


 


Is their a filter option for the vacuflow 


 


Is their a filter option 

 

[tolivac]

Sadly central vacuums WILL clog-you have to be careful what you pick up-NOTHING bulky.Was having to unclog my Moms NuTone when she used to live in a house in Florida.The clog was always in the attic.It would be a huge wad of carpet fluff and dust,hair(hers).If you can use the hose plugged right into the central canister unit-then no clogs-they can suck the chrome off a trailer hitch in that case.But having to pull thru all of that plumbing in a home-different matter.The vac shop here has LOTS of clogged central vac system clogs.The vac shop man takes apart the plumbing and pulls the clog out with a Meile canister.Its sort of amazing what he picks up!Lots of "underthings".

 

[marks_here]

LOL

At the underthings and they got that far in stuck in...

 

[centralvacs1928]

Vacuflo has had enough of a presence in the Chicago area that I have seen quite a few systems from the 1970's and '80's...generally, the buildup is not an issue if the system is maintained.

The fans on Vacuflo motors are supposed to be a "non-loading" design (though I confess they look like regular ol' fans to me), and of course you couldn't use high-efficiency tapered fans on a machine that let any appreciable dust through the exhaust. When I've taken apart motors from these machines, the fans are most often pretty clean, but the deflector between fan stages can get jammed with debris around the fins. Usually not enough to cause a problem, fortunately.

This picture is how I found the motor in a Vacuflo I traded in from 1958...before Ametek developed the tangential discharge motor with Vacuflo's input, peripheral discharge was the only thing available. Still not bad considering the age, and it probably got like that only after the screen partially tore off. All fixed now, motor serviced and runs beautifully!

 

[DesertTortoise]

Simply amazing the durability of Ametek Lamb motors. The longest serving such motor in our family was in a forty something year old Kenmore canister vacuum. The bearings went bad about the time the brushes word down to the nub. No worries, the motor is out being rebuilt right now and ought to be able to soldier on another four decades. Judging from the inside of the motor compartment of the vacuum, it lived in plenty dirty conditions all those years. All it had for filtration was old paper vacuum bags and a cheesy foam filter over the fan on the motor. That caught the big chunks but that's about all it stopped. The rest blew through the motor.