Central vs. Portable...
As a vacuum retailer, it's best for me to sell whatever I think the client will be happiest with. This is the "ice cream" mentality -- we have all these flavors to choose from, which one would you prefer?
However, a person buying a vacuum cleaner is trying to get a job done. The cleaner is a tool, and our expertise comes into play in helping them select the "best tool for the job" even if it might not be the one they were interested in at first.
My interest in vacuums as a collector always focused on portables, mostly uprights. Central vacuums were only a curiosity. I still have a collection of dozens of uprights and canisters, and always a shop full of others for sale or repair.
Only in my late teens or early twenties (when I began to view vacuuming as a task performed to accomplish a goal, instead of just running my machines for fun) did I start to appreciate the benefit of a built-in vacuum system. After wanting one for several years I installed it in my parents' house as a teenager, and it quickly became my favorite type of cleaner to use.
Since then I have lived in several different homes, and my initial attempts to "make do" with a high-quality premium portable vacuum cleaner have always resulted in retrofitting another built-in system to the house.
These days, the only thing I ever use to actually clean house with is my central vacuum system. Over the years I have become more and more turned off by the idea of using a portable vacuum and still having the dirt (and the exhaust!) right there beside you. Not to mention the noise! Vacuums have gotten quieter, for sure, but nothing beats not being able to hear the motor at all. Combine that with the versatility of being able to clean debris from the workshop, cars, garage, etc and have it all go down to the big machine down in the utility room, only needing to be emptied once or twice a year. It's a wonderful thing for me.
Certainly the hose is the most consistent objection to the use of a central vacuum system. Many older hoses (the wire-reinforced type, especially with electrical wires inside) I have found quite clumsy and unpleasant to get out and put away. I can understand why someone would be turned off. However, even those heavier old style hoses in my testing weigh 12 pounds or less. Modern central vac hoses (all 30-35 feet of them!) come in closer to 8 pounds -- the weight of the lightest uprights when empty. The entire hose is only being handled before and after the cleaning job is done, unlike a portable where you are pushing and pulling the machine the whole time.
Today's buyers have the option of hoses that retract into and store within the piping (Chameleon and Hide-A-Hose). This is not only very convenient, and eliminates ever having to pick up and store the hose manually, it's also a super cool way to make your friends jealous of your house.
There's a divide between people (like myself) who find the central system much easier and more convenient (not to mention more powerful and hygienic) than a portable vacuum, and those who just find it pointless and cumbersome. Do some "get it" and others just don't? Or is it a chocolate/vanilla ice cream question?
One thing that makes a big difference is the particular system a person was exposed to. Did it have "suck the paint off the walls" power like it should/could have? Or was it weak and anemic as a result of being undersized or poorly maintained? Were the inlets in efficient, thoughtful locations to reach the entire house, or just where the installer could get them? Was the hose and tool set appropriate for the surfaces in the home? Had the installer mounted a hose hanger, or was the hose being stored in a tangled mess on the closet floor? Being able to pick up the hose in a neat coil of 4 or 5 loops, as opposed to gathering it like a pile of laundry, makes a huge difference.
Sadly with a niche product (moreso in the USA than Canada) an experience with a poorly executed system will often taint the perception of the entire concept. You can easily see how a person moving into a house might try their system out for the first time, find it unsatisfactory for some reason, and simply go back to their portable vacuum instead of looking more closely at what might be causing their poor experience. It's very rewarding for me to meet someone who was turned off of central vac systems, and show them how wonderful the right one can be for them and their home.
To me, if I'm going to make the effort to plug something in and move it back and forth, I'd really prefer the equipment to be transporting the dust and exhaust far away, instead of simply collecting it in the room I'm cleaning. For that reason alone a built-in vacuum system I feel will always be inherently superior to a portable.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk .
Interesting though, I heard from someone that Canada has a requirement to put in a central vacuum in newly constructed homes according to the Canadian health code.
