Since I am moving close to my parents

[marks_here]

Which are elderly, I thought I would get them a central vacuum system for their house. I can hardly wait for the estimate for the instillation & have been shopping on ebay for the hose & Turbocat . My late partner & I were going to do this for them before he passed so now I will continue with what we planned. CHEERS!!! Mark D.

 

[durango159]

While Centrals are very powerful, the hose is awkward for carrying around the house!! I am 31 and consider myself quite agile seeing as how I've done professional house cleaning for the past 18 years. However I did knock myself down the stairs once tripping over the awkward to carry 30' bulky hose!! I find it much easier to carry a canister vacuum up stairs than maneuver around a central vac hose. Also I hope you get good installers!!! Unfortunately in a house I lived in and cleaned for that was built brand new in 2003 with central vac installed at that time, there were a few areas of master bathroom and closet where the central vac hose would not reach. Once you're out of hose then that is it!! With a corded model you won't run into that problem!!

Central vacs are much more economical to install at time property is built. An existing house, especially depending on age of home it becomes much more difficult and costly!

I also would far recommend an electric power nozzle over the air turbine powered Turbocat!!! On the economical side the Beam Rugmaster is a terrific head. Getting more deluxe I'd look to the Riccar styled power head or Wessel Werk EBK360. You can pick a choice of having all electric for power head be wired down to central vacuum unit or have a pigtail corded hose with power nozzle plug at end of hose going to a standard electrical outlet.

As a former Filter Queen salesman of just leaving them 1 month ago I can honestly say that I don't think the Filter Queen power nozzle is very aggressive. However I did a demo of a Central Vac with a brand new looking TurboCat Zoom head. I ran the Turbocat Zoom with spotlessly clean brush roll and plenty of suction power from hose on an area rug for 100 passes over a fair bit of the rug. Then I ran the Filter Queen. The amount of dust and gunk that collected on the pads of the Filter Queen was worse than following just about any other vacuum system I had ever used, with exception of a few Bissell uprights with broken belts!!! I was so disgusted with what was on the pads of the FilterQueen that it puzzled me. So I decided to check the Turbocat Zoom further and ensure all suction valves in hose were closed and brush was spotless. I then ran the TurboCat Zoom again over the same area!!! The Turbocat Zoom groomed the carpet nice and sounded great. I reran the FilterQueen and pads were still loaded. This was a very very gorgeous home that was kept clean looking by its owners!!! I was EXTREMELY surprised to find that much gunk out of the carpet of this gorgeous easily $500,000+ valued home after running the TurboCat Zoom. I've done Real Estate before as well, trust me this home was definitely in the $500,000+ range!! It was not a home that you'd expect to find much dirt in at all!!!

A Riccar power nozzle is below. In the end you could save a lot of money over an installation of a central vac and get yourself a Simplicity or Riccar canister vacuum!! Filtration is excellent and they are manufactured in the USA. Or you could also invest in the Rainbow system. The Rainbow filtration is unbeatable. The unit has been certified as an Air Cleaner. So when unit is not running to clean your surfaces, the brush less Hurricane motor technology gives the unit the capability to run 24/7/365 as an air cleaner. While an air cleaner the machine is also a vaporizer, great kitchen exhaust fan, humidifier, carpet shampooer, floor mopping system, full accessories available for all your home cleaning needs. The filter is water. It is non porous so there are no pores to clog off causing a no loss of airflow cleaning power and no emissions from neither incoming dust nor carbon brush emissions that would come off of every other vacuum cleaning system on the market!!

Here's another video on agitation below too![this post was last edited: 3/1/2014-20:06]

 

[durango159]

Here's another video on agitation!

Wessel Werk EBk 360 power head is pictured below. When you search central vacuums you'll find many companies will use power heads from CenTec, and Wessel Werk. The Lindhaus Stealth heads are a TOL model as well. I'm not a fan of Sebo power nozzles. You could go to an Aerus power nozzle but with Aerus you'd be looking at the Aerus tool set only which most any other manufacturer has a universal fit hose handle end that will handle a variety of tools and not just that manufacturers line.

 

[nycwriter]

When the time comes ...

... when Mom really can't handle her own housecleaning, I'll just hire her a professional housecleaning studmuffin like Rob.

 

[durango159]

AAWWW!!

Thanks Matt!! That's too kind!! What Hoover will be awaiting my presence?


[this post was last edited: 3/2/2014-19:52]

 

[sleepdoc]

Riccar central PN

Rob, I have a Riccar central vacuum and have the same blue TOL power nozzle. It does an incredible job. I love it, along with the whole vacuum system. I've never owned a TurboCat. The only turbine carpet attachment I have is a Miele, which came with my Artico, and, even though it's the best turbine brush carpet tool I've ever had, I don't use it; it just doesn't have the effectiveness that a power nozzle has. For delicate rugs, I use a light power nozzle. Miele and Simplicity/Riccar offer them, and they're great. The power nozzle in your video is the most aggressive nozzle Riccar makes, and it's a powerhouse, for sure. I can recommend that nozzle without any hesitation at all. Thans for posting the video!

 

[veroroger]

Why, Rob....

A professional stud muffin can get any Hoover he wants!

 

[kenkart]

I Prefer

The lighter weight hose with the turbo cat...But If the truth be known, I use a straight suction rug tool all the time anyway.

 

[gottahaveahoove]

Roger...............

He might be a stud MUFFIN. how about an Irish scone???

 

[veroroger]

Well, if I'm correct...

Isn't a scone harder than a muffin?

 

[vacman1961]

If you want to go with a central vacuum for her consider a VacuFlo Hide A Hose, it is very convenient, the regular Turbo Cat is superior over the Zoom, it is very easy to use, since the hose is in the wall and also the power nozzle glides across the carpets with ease.

 

[durango159]

Scones are harder and firmer!!

Scones tend to be harder and I think have a tendency to crumble more when eaten. Where as muffins might be a softer texture and have larger bits breaking off depending on how big a piece one tears off or bites!! My favorite kind of muffin is Blueberry!! But so glad I'm a Stud Muffin!! I've been called Italian before but not Irish!! I do like Irish Soda bread, and love Irish potatoes!! Also one of my favorite beers is a Black and Blue. It's a Blue Moon with Guinness float, and Guinness is a famous Irish Stout beer!!

Back to the subject at hand. I really recommend a good canister vac!! You may find yourself a great used one for your parents too, like the Hoover PowerMax canister!! Canisters have the lightweight wand of a central vac but without all the bulk of hose to carry around. I think its much quicker and easier to get a canister out of the closet and plug into a normal outlet. Taking out a central vac involves grabbing hose off holder, untangling it all, grabbing separate wand and power head. If you need attachments you have to carry around a separate carryall bag or keep going across the house to the closet for them. At end of day, it's a nuisance to wind the bulky hose neatly back onto the separate storage rack.

 

[tolivac]

Do the elderly folks know what kind of vacuum THEY want-they might like something else other than a central system-can agree with others posted here-the central vac hoses are AWKWARD to handle-imagine how it would be for the elderly person!The elderly folks I know-my parents-have a cleaning service do their apartments in the senior citizen homes where they live-Dad and Mom.And if the central system is used-agree with other posters the powered powernozzles are best!You can put the central vacs motor system to better work picking up dirt loosened from the floor by a motorized nozzle-not one where power is "robbed" from the suction to turn the brush.My Mom used to have central vacuums-the things I dreaded about them were the long hoses,and emptying the dirt from the machine-bagged ones are best here-but careful-the full bag may be too heavy for the elderly person to handle.And the bagless central units are just too messy.I have dealt with both!!HATE the bagless machines-a mess to empty!!

 

[durango159]

I forgot that!!

Bagless ones are a mess to empty.

Bagged ones have the heavy metal bag compartment cover and the bags are heavy when full.

While central vacs have benefits of little to no exhaust in the home, lots of power and longevity in the central vac motor themselves there are NUMEROUS inconveniences!! I could be wrong but I don't think it's a good fit for elderly.

I would think something lightweight and VERY SIMPLE would be good. For an all in one machine to take care of the job with little excess weight you might even consider a Hoover Professional CH50020. Simple, easy to use design and familiarity with something from years back while also very inexpensive. They Professional series is recommended for use with Hoover A HEPA bags too so you won't compromise in filtration. Can always get a lightweight Panasonic canister for attachment use. But many of the elderly folks I know primarily worry about the main room and don't bother much with attachments.

For a canister that's lightweight, easy to use, great filtration I'd probably look to a basic Aerus Lux Classic. No extra bells and whistles or the Simplicity Wonder series that just emerged and there is a thread about on this site.

http://hoover.com/products/details/ch50020/wbd-hoover-professional-series-upright/

 

[gottahaveahoove]

I make a mean sodabread, too.

I was in "Odd Lots!" the otherday near Philadelphia. A man was standing there looking.......... He told me he wasn't sure what to buy. I fixed that right away. I told him I would never tell him what to do. butm he said, "But I'm so glad you spent this time helping me". And, off he went with his new purchase. GUESS what he left with??????? I'll give you a hint: It starts with "H" and ends with a clean carpet.

 

[tolivac]

Another thing that can be a strike against central vacs-clogs can occur in their "plumbing"-can the elderly persons deal with that?You know like crawling in the basement or attic,dismantling the plumbing and removing the clog-this has happened on one of the systems my Mom had-since I was the "Vacuum expert"I was assigned the task of unclogging,and dumping the unit-in another system replacing bags.Central vac filtering-these actually filter quite poorly-the motor unit MUST be in an area like a garage or such or where it can be vented outside.I haven't seen or heard of ANY cental vacs with HEPA filters or bags unlike portable machines.Of the two will take a portable anytime!!I have seen MANY blown central units go thru the vac place here from poor filtration and muck getting into the motor and blowing it out.Often its misuse by the owner!However I would like one of those older Filtex units for my collection-that has the external motor.Like this becuase the motor would be easy to replace or service.

 

[rugsucker]

central vacs

Above is good information especially on filtering and venting.One thing that does reduce clogging is that the pipe in wall is larger diameter than hose.But there is still the human operator that can pick up the small rubber 'Barney'toy that I spent 2 hours removing on a house call.Another local CV story involves a child who 'fed' Hot Wheels cars into an outlet.
I think my Filtex is long gone but may have a Black & Decker unit at warehouse that must be emptied soon.(the warehouse,not the B&D)

 

[tolivac]

You have a BD central unit--that was one of the types my Mom had-was built into a Levittown house in Upper Marlboro Md,outside of Wash DC.That unit used the bags-I showed Mom how to change the bag in her BD machine-like takes less than 2 min-and she could do it-but insisted that I did it on summer visits.When I did change the bag in that BD machine-it was packed.The BD unit she had was nice-liked it better than a later NuTone machine that had the lower metal dump bin-that was in her home when she moved to Ft Walton Beach,Fla.Hated dumping that machine--took the bin into the woods behind her house and dumpted it-then banged the filter sort of a conelike thing against a tree.Put those back into the machine and was good for another year-My Mom or Stepdad didn't like dumping the NuTone unit.I didn't either.Came with their house-she ordered a central unit-that is what the builder provided.

 

[bimmer740]

I have a VacuFlo 566Q in my house that I installed myself about 7 years ago and I love it! I bought my unit from Charlie "vacman1961" when he had his shop. He highly recommended the unit and after years of use I can't imagine not having a central vac, they are powerful, versatile, and you can mix and match nearly any attachment you want. I do NOT find the hose to be bothersome, nor do I trip over it, you adjust to how the hose moves and how to control it after a short amount of time.

As for the TurboCat, it cleans ok but it's nothing like using an electric power nozzle. I have direct connect inlets in my house which was a must have, even though 80% of the house is wood or tile flooring. If direct connect inlets aren't in your budget then I would highly recommend buying an electrified hose with the pigtail plug so you can use a power nozzle. I have both the TurboCat zoom kit with low voltage hose and the VacuFlo electrified hose with a Lindhaus Stealth power nozzle. And I can mix and match power nozzles, I use one from a Eureka Express canister too. Neither hose is heavy, much lighter then a portable vacuum so even an elderly person will be able to handle one with ease. Both of my hoses are genuine VacuFlo items made by Plastiflex, light weight and crush proof, not like the heavy wire reinforced Hayden hose. The central vac gets used more then any other machine and I can tell you that since I've had the system the amount of dust in my house has been cut down to next to nothing.

The VacuFlo is vented outside and I only empty it every 6-8 months and vacuum off the screen filter inside the machine with a Lux canister. When I empty the unit, simply unlatch the bin from the canister, lower slowly and place on the floor, place a large kitchen drawstring garbage bag over the top, then take it outside to empty it (its in the boiler room of my finished basement). Takes all of 2 minutes and I never have a dust storm or anything like that. It's just a matter of being careful and doing it the right way, plus I don't have bags or filters to buy. One of the best things about the system is that my housekeeper loves it! She was so pleased when I installed it, she liked our Electrolux machines but hated my Miele Blue Moon and Red Velvet.

One important thing is buy the most powerful unit you can buy within your budget even if it's rated for a larger home then you have. If you search the forum there was an long thread about this a year or two ago with some more great info too. Best of luck with your purchase!