Vacumaid P-125 Central Vacuum

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panasonicvac

panasonicvac

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Joined
Jun 25, 2015
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Location
Northern Utah
Everyone here shares their favorite vacuum cleaner, I thought I would share one of my favorites. I wouldn't call this one my favorite of all time but I vote this one as the most funnest vacuum cleaner that I have ever used.

This is my Grandpa's Vacumaid that my Grandparents had when their house was built in 1982. There's a total of 6 inlets inside the house plus one outside by the unit. And they later bought the electric kit somewhere either in the late 90's or early 2000's.

Overall, I love this vacuum. It is such a fun vacuum to use. I wish Vacumaid still made the exact same inlets, powerhead, and unit because this would've been the vacuum that I would get for my own house.

So here's some of the inlets inside the house:

panasonicvac-2017052713284701132_1.jpg

panasonicvac-2017052713284701132_2.jpg
 
Alex!

VacuMaid STILL makes those inlets! They are special order but I'm using them. I think they were about $40.00 each. They also still make the equivalent of the 125. It's I think the P-110. A bit more power and a far better color than pea green! One of the longest lasting central vacuums out there. I know of homes were they were installed in the 60's and with a little maintenance are still running strong and quiet!
Greg
 
I'm not a fan of the inlets that Vacumaid sells today, I don't like the brush finish on them. Similar thing with Aerus on how they changed the looks on the tank on the newer Centralux models. I'm also not a fan of new color and logo Vacumaid uses today, I was a bit disappointed that they went back to the grey color that they previously used before. But other than that, I like these older models the best because I like the old logo, I love that green color (Green is my favorite color on a vacuum), and I love the sound of the motor on this unit.

And I agree with you that Vacumaid makes really durable central vacuums and I also think that they are really powerful. My Parent's next door Neighbors owns a Vacumaid SilentPartner S-3200 and it's the best central vacuum that I have ever used.
 
vacumaid vacuums

Yes, that motor does have a very pleasant sound to it. Which power nozzle were you using? Couldn't tell by the sound on that, it sounded like something was loose in the power head but that may have just been the camera audio. Was the p125 bagged or bagless? I have 7 central vacuum units in my apartment, I just attach a hose directly to them, and without having to go through pipes, it's very powerful. Two of the units are vacumaid, got the SR800 which uses an Ametek lamb two stage 8.4 bypass motor, I think this is one of the most powerful motors Ametek makes for 120 volts. I also have the Vacumaid garage vac pro, this unit actually has the hose connection already on the unit, no need to attach a utility valve, it uses an Ametek lamb 5.7 two stage flow through motor. This motor is also used in one of the models that can have pipes connected to it. Both of these units are made very well. Vacumaid is made by a company in Oklahoma called Lindsay manufacturing. They also make the central vacuum stores brand called imperium, same as the vacumaid units I think but a bit cheaper. They are one of the two main companies that make the bagless cyclonic vacuums, Vacuflo is the other one. Both of my vacumaid units use bags, I'm not a fan of bagless vacuums, and the cyclonic units must be vented outside which I couldn't do anyway. I think some of their larger units actually have the motor unit and dirt canister as separate parts, not sure what the advantage is of that but that's how they're made. It sounds like the p125 has a separate power switch on the unit, that's the one thing that I wish was different on the SR800, you have to connect the low voltage wires for the vacuum to work, there is no override switch.
Mike
 
The powernozzle is a Centec CT14DX which was made by Panasonic but this one is privately labeled as Vacumaid. It's an older powerhead because it uses the older motor, brushroll, and belt that was used on the older Panasonic and Whirlpool canisters as well as central vacuums. The reason why the brushroll sounded loose was because the brushroll bearings were wearing out.

The unit is cyclonic, no bags or filters to ever have to buy and replace. Even though bagless isn't my favorite, true cyclonic is the easiest and the cleanest that I have ever experienced on bagless central vacuums. However there's no switch on the unit, that was just an inlet on the pipe that uses one pin instead of two.

The reason why Vacumaid makes two split units is because with the power unit separate from the dirt canister, you can place the two in separate locations. It is best that the power unit be placed in a remote location to further reduce any motor noise and place the dirt canister where it is easily accessible. It is also easier to get access to the screen because this screen can easily be cleaned by removing the top lid instead of reaching underneath it just like the single Vacumaid and Vacuflo units.

Lindsay Manufacturing also makes other privately labeled central vacuum units such as Silentpartner, Astrovac, Walvac, Valet, etc.
 
centec CT14

Actually, the CT14 nozzle used a cog belt which I think was part of the noise. Their newer nozzles such as the ct18 and ct20 use serpantine belts so they are a bit quieter. Their newest nozzles are the CT23 which is designed for soft carpets, and a nozzle I really like the CT10 which is actually designed for hard floors, it has a soft brush that helps to sweep dust from hard floors as well as polish the surface. Unfortunately now that Panasonic has left the vacuum market, the future of these nozzles is uncertain. Centec systems purchased all of the remaining inventory they could, but once that's gone, these nozzles may no longer be available.
I'm not a fan of bagless vacuums either, in this case you could take the canister outside and empty it but still, the dust would probably go all over the place. Much easier to just replace a bag.
Mike
 
I actually had 2 of these units, one was converted to use a bag and the other was the same as you pictured. I sold the one that was bagless and in good condition to a friend who owns a hair salon and gave the bagged one away which I got back on a trade for a Miele. It isn't in as nice of shape but the motor was rebuilt and it pulls a solid 95 on the meter. I actually look forward to installing it in my new house when we close on it in august. Other than that they are nice powerful and reliable units and hold up very well to lots of use and abuse.
 
n0oxy

Yes it does use an older geared belt, however that wasn't part of the noise because this usually sounds alot smoother than this so I'll have to take a look at the brushroll. The CT14 later used the kevlar belt and the newer motor that Panasonic invented, however I'm not a fan of the noise of it and that's one reason why I prefer this older powernozzle the best. Another reason is that I also liked when these older powernozzles were made in the USA at the time.
 
Panasonic nozzles

I really like the CT10 nozzle, for hard wood floors it works great and is very quiet. One other thing I forgot to mention, with these bagless cyclonic vacuums, supposedly more dust particles go through the motor in order to be vented outside which can cause motor damage. Also, I have heard that cleaning the filter screen on those can be quite messy, think I will stick with bags. I did actually clean my apartment yesterday with my vacumaid garage vac pro and the CT10 nozzle. That particular motor has 138 inches of lift and 138 CFM, very nice.
Mike
 
Nah, these aren't messy to empty at all. As long as I use a trash bag to clean out the screen and empty the dirt in it, it really isn't that messy to deal with.

Rarely I've seen these screens get clogged up, as long as there's a cyclonic cone inside the unit. The only time I've seen motors that go bad on these is when consumers don't take care of the screen like they're supposed to in the manual. Other than that, I still see these units that are over 20 years old and they still work like brand new.
 
I still see VacuMaid and Filtex units that are older than that and still running fine!
Alex, some more corrections: SilentPartner and AstroVac are registered trademarks of Lindsay Manuf. AstroVac was the "cousin" to VM, in the 70's was a gold/mustard color and was exactly the same as VM. Until about 2 years ago, for the last 8 years, AstroVac was the Lindsay "filtered" vacuum line meaning, paper bag, inverted bag, etc. SilentPartner was what VM used as marketing for it's first noise suppressed machines. "SilentPartner by VacuMaid" was the logo. Valet and WalVac are privately licensed, though, it's funny Lindsay uses the name Valet for it's intercom systems...

If it comes through, I've scanned the 1985 VacuMaid catalog which shows besides your grandparents textured valves the other choices there were, including the stainless valves. In my area--which includes your GP, plain stainless vales sold at about 90% of all installs. The tag for the VM distributor on the front was a great guy. Gone now!
 
Years and years ago I remember a whole house type of system that mounted between studs and the hose would unreal as needed. Is my dotage getting stronger or did it exist? I remember wanting one badly but didn't own my own place (we're talking a long time ago!)
 
Reply #14

Yeah I knew SilentPartner and Astrovac were really registered trademarks or at least that's what I was wanting to say from my previous post. I saw that from Vacumaid's website a few years ago before they came out with their newer models Vacumaid sells today. I've seen some of Astrovac's gold models before and I believe copper too if I'm not mistaken. Very cool looking central vacuum units but I still prefer Vacumaid's green color the best. And yes I'm also aware of Astrovac's filtered central vacuum units that they've sold for about 10 years like you said.

I think I've seen those Vacumaid catalogs that you shared once before. That was years ago but I think it would be cool to see them again.

This picture below was found online.

panasonicvac-2017060221502708367_1.jpg
 
vacumaid garage vac pro

Here is one of my favorite vacumaid models, this one has the 5.7 two stage motor, and actually is designed to give you the power of a central vacuum without the pipes, rather than a connection for pipes, there is a hose inlet right on the unit. It includes a hose, but you can use a central vacuum kit with it since the hose connection is standard. And it's very powerful, I have taken this to my girl friend's place and it actually almost sucked the table cloth off of the coffee table.
http://vacumaid.com/product/garage-vac-pro/
 

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