Vintage Central Vacuum

[briguy]

So the pic of the day got me thinking... It shows the Preco Power Brush attachment. I recall that when I was a kid, we had friends with a central vac that used this very turbine nozzle.

My question is, what brand of central vac they had. I don't recall seeing a name on it. I do recall that the power unit in the garage sat on the floor. Seems it was a tall rectangular shape, almost the size of a small chest freezer. I also remember it took a bag, as I got to help replace it once. The bags were a blue paper if I recall correctly. Anybody know, was this a Beam central vac??

The house was built in the 1960's. I read that the Beam was popular around that time period & many included the Preco with them.

 

[tolivac]

A Levitt house my Mom bought in the late 60's near wash DC had a Black&Decker central vacuum that was equipped with a Precor power nozzle-loved using that thing!

 

[kenkart]

B and D

Was probably what it was, their power unit was a big semi square thing with a black lid that lifted up, they used their own motor.

 

[briguy]

Hans, that sounds like the one they had. I do recall that the lid lifted up to change the bag, almost reminded of a small chest freezer by the shape & size it was.

 

[tolivac]

i liked that BD vacuum-its was so easy to replace bags-no bins to dump or filters to shake out.Just simple,straightforward and it worked well.One time the machine had a motor problem-so I lifted the unit from the bracket on the wall and took it to the local wash DC BD service center-few days later,was ready-and worked like new.Wish those BD vacuums were still made.

 

[vacman1961]

I grew up in a Levitt house also and it came with a B&D model 721 central vacuum and it also had a Preco power brush on it, when anyone in the neighborhood vacuumed, everyone knew it, they were loud. Eventually the local vacuum store put a kirby cord along the hose and made an adapter cord and my Mom used her Electrolux PN 1 on it, it cleaned great. The only bad thing about the B&D central vacuums is that the air was exhausted out the bottom of the machine, between the dust that escaped from the bag and filter system and what dust was already on the garage floor, my Dad's black car was always covered with dust, some fanatical neighbors built a small enclosure outside the garage and had the machine relocated there, we had the unit changed in the late 70's with a VacuFlo model 26 and that eliminated all the noise and dust problems. Oh, I love the childhood memories.

 

[briguy]

Since I originally posted this I have looked up pics of the B&D central vacs. They had a slanted bag door that lifted on the top. The central vac I recall in my parents friends house was an exact squarish/ rectangular shape. I have done some further research on 60's era central vacs & can't seem to find a pic of any that look like the one they had. ???

 

[jimbeckwith]

Central Vacs

Nemours, the DuPont Estate in Wilmington, DE has a vintage central vac system built into it, though I do not know what kind it is. I think the house dates to about 1914 or so.