I have a question about Central Vacuum.

[matty0033]

When choosing a Central Vacuum, what is the most important thing to look for. Power? Water Lift? Air Flow?
Airwatt? Max Amp?

I am looking to replace my current Vacuflo 260, There is the potential of upgrading to a higher Vacuflo, Also
Cyclovac is another company I am looking into. I know that there is also Vacumaid, Beam, Electrolux, MD etc.

I am wanting something that is powerful that can handle med pile carpeting, and a lot of dog hairs.
Keep in mind that I am in Canada and there might be some Brands I do not have access.

Keep me posted and I would love your opinion.

 

[tolivac]

Do you want a bagged vacuum or a bagless one?If you think of bagless-can speak from experience--do you want to handle several gallons of the stuff you picked up???A bagged vacuum-just replace the full bag-put in a new,empty bag and you are good to go!NO mess!!Of course central bags and bins are going to be heavier than for a portable vacuum since they hold more.

 

[ultralux88]

Personally, I’d recommend a VacuFlo DB8000. Bagged unit with the 8.4 inch 2 stage motor. Extremely powerful! If you want to stay with bagless, I’d go with a 760, BUT, you’d need to have a second exhaust line run, as they cannot be Y’ed together.

MD is my personal preference, but I know they aren’t as readily available in Canada as the US. But should that be an option, I’d recommend either the M715h (same 8.4 as the DB8000) or the M965h or the S900r. Those last two are basically the same. I have the S900r2 in my house, the 2 meaning 240v. Both brands do also have other machines, but if you want the most airflow and water lift, these are the units I personally recommend.

 

[vacuumdevil]

Water Lift and Air Flow are both important numbers if you can get something that has high numbers of both you'll be good. @ultralux88 suggestions were on point I'd recommend that you follow them.!

 

[n0oxy]

central vacuum suggestions

The 8.4 inch motor is good, I have a unit that I believe uses the same motor, the Vacumaid SR800. Another Canadian company that makes very good central vacuums is Drainvac. They make a couple of different series and they use very good Domel motors. Another very Good Canadian brand is Duovac, you might check out their Star or Distinction models.
Mike

 

[luxflairguy]

Matty! There are a good number of wonderful Made in Canada machines on the market! CycloVac is my favorite, but there's also Husky (available at Costco), Allegro which also makes Ultra Clean (paper bag available), Drain Vac is out there, so is DrainVac and Cana Vac. CanaVac is a great machine! There's also DuoVac as well. I'm sure there are more! But with Canada's tax basis, sticking with a Made in Canada machine is your best bet! I'd recommend a CycloVac, but as always, the choice is yours! Enjoy the hunt and good luck!

 

[kirby519]

I used a Beam central vacuum about 15 yrs ago that was impressive.

In addition to performance.

Which ones are equal to one another in performance, construction and reliability at a price point that is cost efficient buy? I. E. the best deal for the money and or worth paying a little more for than the others.

 

[n0oxy]

I would avoid Beam

Unless this has changed since Duovac bought them, the Beam central vacuums are overpriced for their quality. Also they are bagless which I would suggest avoiding. It seems that a lot of the best central vacuums are made in Canada. Here is a video that shows why I would avoid buying a Beam unit.
Mike

 

[kirby519]

Mike

Good recommendation with out seeing the video. If there are performance or overall quality issues is good to know. A well informed buyer will have no regrets.

Unless you know someone with a built is system there is no way to "get some mud on the tires and test out the 4 wheel drive" so to speak.

With portable units you can use it in your own home and evaluate if this is the machine you really want.

It is why I still like the in home demonstration over try it out on our sample piece of carpet in our store.

The down side being often times you can't get the sale's person leave until you hand them a check or at gun point.

I have used two systems. One being the Beam with the standard plug into the wall jack configuration. The second being a power unit made by Dirt Devil with the hide a hose set up. Thankfully I used the Standard set up first. I was by far more impressed with that setup. I'm not sure what the performance rating of the Dirt Devil power unit was and taking into consideration of the difference in the sizes of the hoses The second one was respectable but no where near as impressive.

This was in the past 12 to 15 years. A different power unit on the hide a hose set up could or would certainly make a huge difference in over all performance.

 

[tolivac]

That Beam machine shown in the video has the same failures as the Areus bagless central units-fine dust getting past the filters and into the motor bearings killing them.I have a Beam from the local MD dealers trade in pile-it works-but MESSY!!!Anytime you dump the bin you have to use another vacuum-bagged of course to clean the so called "drop"filter.On the Lux unit there is a large foam filter that still passes the fine dust.The Beam unit I have had to have the motor cleaned of the fine dust.The Lux anytime the dealer here gets one in the trade in pile the motor is blown.Central vacs should be BAGGED all the way.Another thought the DIN AC cord connector on the machine---these DO NOT hold up under the heavy power draw these machines have.DIN AC cords and connectors should be used ONLY with devices drawing less than 6A.A central vac like that BEAM is going to be 12-15A.

 

[n0oxy]

trying a central vacuum unit

Actually it is possible to try a central vacuum unit without installing it. I use all of my central vacuum units this way, attach a utility valve to the intake and connect your hose, it works great.
Mike

 

[kirby519]

No doubt direct connect would offer the best performance. The shorter the air path the better the performance. In the words of Tim the tool man Taylor "more power"

At the moment I'm hanging on to the cash to apply to a home of my own. I'm out of room for anything in the rental unit I'm in.

Both are something I want and have for a long time.

I was on the Beam website just for kicks the other day. 18 pages of hoses and options in attachments or kits.

 

[vacuumfreak]

A great Canadian company

Is CanaVac. I used to sell them and actually bought one for myself. We used to sell Cyclovac and Canavac side by side. Cyclo had some issues with their motors - burning excessive carbon and we did some motor replacements after only a few years. CanaVac is very reliable, they have several different models for different home sizes. I have a LS650 in a 2200 square foot ranch. Suction power is awesome. It is paired with a Sebo ET1 German power head and hose kit. Don’t look at airwatts, focus on square footage. These are bagged or bagless (hybrid), although I would recommend using a bag- always, and they have a 10 year warranty as well.

Many manufacturers use cheap motors in their systems now that likely need replacement in only a few years. A great example is the Hoover centrals from Costco that you can buy... motor is tiny - has a lot of “airwatts,” but the quality and size of the motor doesn’t even compare.



http://canavac.com/signature-series/

 

[kirby519]

I would defiantly ask questions about the motor itself.

Which style is the most reliable. The pass thru or bypass motors. Bypass would certainly help keep dust out of the motor. proper cooling could be a possible issue with bypass as it uses a separate fan for cooling the motor.

Also is 240 volt more reliable over 120 volt motors or just the over all quality of the motor in general?

 

[luxflairguy]

Great answer!
A by-pass motor is more reliable than a flow through. A by-pass motor has a separate cooling fan so it's not pulling the hot air from the motor's operation through it's cooling system. Many systems using Lamb motors that use by-pass motors can last for 20-30 years with little to no maintenance. I know this from my days servicing systems.

 

[n0oxy]

motors

There is some debate over whether bypass motors are better than flow through, Drainvac uses flow through motors in some of their power units such as the Powerhouse and Viper, and the motors are designed to last 20 to 30 years. Many think that Domel's motors are better than Ametek's, from what I have seen they are both decent, I have several central vacuum units, some use Ametek Lamb motors and some use motors from Domel. And I have one unit that uses motors from a company called Electro Motor, I've never heard of that company other than in this particular unit.
Canavac makes good units, I have their CLS750, it's a bag only unit rather than a hybrid. At least in this part of the United States, there seems to be no way to purchase Cyclovac units, and they don't sell their units on line.
I wouldn't think a 240 volt motor would be any more reliable than a 120 volt motor, the 240 volt motors are probably just larger.
Mike

 

[n0oxy]

a couple more units

I'm looking at a couple more central vacuum units. These are 120 volt units but they sound really nice.
First up is the Drainvac Turbo.
https://www.thinkvacuums.com/drainvac-turbo-9-gallon-system.html
And then there is the Galaxie GA200
https://www.mycentralvacuum.com/galaxie-vacuum-ga-240-central-vacuum-power-unit-p/ga-200.htm
Since I use all of my units without pipes I will probably need to purchase a few more utility valves as well.
Mike

 

[ultralux88]

Bypass VS TheuFlo

When MD made their entire entry line use a thru flo motor, I was initially horrified and assumed that made the entire FloMaster line garbage. Well, was a wrong or what!! Apparently MD and Ametek have done testing, and in all of their tests the smaller they flo motors actually outlived the larger, seemingly more durable bypass jobs. Now, the bypass can handle much dirtier air, but in a machine such as an MD, either motor will stay very clean. I went from assuming I’d never even consider selling one, to once I started my central vac business, it’s the only type of unit I actually keep in stock! I can and do order the bypass motor units when needed though.

 

[kirby519]

The suggestion here has been to stay with a physical Filter of some type as opposed to the cyclonic separation models.

Which makes sense any particle not heavy enough to be spun out of the air stream will pass thru the system. Much like some particles don't wet easy and bounce off the water in a Rainbow or similar vacuum.

If I were to consider a cyclonic action machine I would want to go with the bypass motors and vent directly out side.