Hi: Planning a new two story home and was thinking of installing a central vacuum system. Can anyone steer me towards the preferred brand and also let me know your opinions ( Pro vs, Con) on a cental vacuum system.
Thanks in advance
Cloudbuster
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Replies
My dealer sells 4 brands of CV's and says Beam is the best. We installed one ourselves during our home build. Wife loves it, I'm learning to sweep again, too.
Have heard it recommended to get a separate hose w/sock for each level of the home. We also put toe-kick inlets in kitchen and laundry, very convenient for a quick cleanup.
You might want to talk to these guys https://www.centralvacuumstores.com/index.htm
I started from scratch with their help and it turned out well. They're big into external vented cyclone vacs. They will tell you how to save some money with your design and have the fittings to convert vac pipe to 2" pvc. Nice guys. Quick shipping.
Rip
I had a Eureka system in my place. We used it moderately for 12 years, the motor just died or at least it was screaching and red hot. I imagine the bearings or something died. The motor warranty is I think 5 years on Eureka and 7 on Beam, so even if we had bought the beam system we would still have been in the same situation if the motor had died. I've talked to others who say that in general their motor lasts about 8 years. I've got to buy a new one so I'll be interested in what you find out.
If you otherwise like the unit you can get most often replace the blower.http://builtinvacuum.com/parts/vacuum-motors.html
http://builtinvacuum.com/faq/0069.html.
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
Thanks for the suggestion! Looks like a very good option, I had thought about repairing the vacuum but hadn't looked into it at all and would probably have decided that it wasn't worth the effort but taking out 2 or 3 screws and attaching a couple wires seems well within my tolerances for effort =)Might even consider one of the stealth upgrade kits, wife isn't very fond of the current heavy and somewhat awkward motorized attachment that came with the system. Not sure what the purpose of the hose sock is though.Thanks again,learner
The soak keeps the "rough" hose from dinging walls and trims. Depends on what the materials are and how many corners you need to go around.It really helped me with soft cedar posts..
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
Good point. I have those marks on my baseboards already =)
I installed a Nutone because that's what the local dealers stocked, and I've been completely happy with it.
Central vacs have several big pros. The most important, in my opinion, is that they exhaust outdoors, so all the fine dust (15% of dust passes through a standard vacuum cleaner bag) isn't redeposited inside. Second, they are so much easier to use. Thirdly, the tank is large. It was over a year before mine got full enough to empty.
I suggest getting a model with power in the hose so you can use a powered head for carpet. You'll need to install an electrical outlet within a few feet of the vacuum connection to plug the power into.
The sock is supposed to protect trim and furniture from abrasion from the hose, but the sock took what seemed like hours to put on and lint and flaky dirt stuck to it and got carried around the house.
we installed our Nutone ( now Broan ? ) in 1985... still going strong
finally bought a new hose last year... also bought one for the garage so Helen won't take the good one out there
any house i build for us will have central vac ( and a trash compactor )Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Yes, the sock takes forever if you try to put it on the hose directly. I did that the first time and was saying gosh and darn and other strong words the entire time.
When you buy the sock; save the box. Pull the entire sock around the box and then run the hose thru the box and play out the sock onto the hose. Makes it easy to do.
Sock on the hose is well worth the money; and time and effort !!!!
The Eureka is awsum, The hose sock for them has a 30' zipper makes on and off for the wash a snap. <!----><!---->
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I have a Hoover CV installed in my basement a dozen or so years ago. It doesn't vent outdoors. My basement is dusty (Who's isn't?). I can't remember if the installation manual specified exterior exhaust. Hoover says 'clean the filter'.
you should vent it outdoors.... that is definitely one of the big advantages to CVMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
My Beam system is main unit is in and vents to the garage. I don't find any evidence of discharged dust. And my garage is really clean - finished, trimmed, painted and epoxy floor, so I would notice if dusty. The Beam seems to collect 99.999% (???) in the bag.
there are a lot of things smaller than dust that you benefit from an exterior discharge
besides.... it also reduces the noise somewhat ( hey, not a lot .. alright ? )Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Mike -
Thanks for your input. Unfortunately, venting to the exterior is not feasible in case. I live in a rowhouse in downtown Boston and the vac is located in the subterranian.
Richard
I have a Beam, which was installed 21 years ago and is working fine.
The most important thing is to plumb it to pass solids without clogging. Think sweeps and cleanouts, straight and simple, just like DWV.
-- J.S.
I installed our Nutone system at least twenty years ago. NO problems with it.
I'll second another poster's suggestion to get the electric powered hose so you can get a powered beater bar plus the advantage of turning the vac on from the business end.
Also, they sell several narrow, 5"-6' turbo powered heads for stairs and upholstery. Well worth the $40.
Google Nutone Vacuums.
oldfred
"Also, they sell several narrow, 5"-6' turbo powered heads for stairs and upholstery. Well worth the $40. "NOT if you have lots of pet hair.You can also get an electric stair brushes, but they are kind of expensive..
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
We're down to one cat - works fine for us.
"We're down to one cat - works fine for us."
Down to one???? Check the bag on the vacuum!!!! It holds a lot of cats!!!!!
Shhhh, my wife reads these sometimes - don't "let the cat out of the bag"
I built my house 10 years ago and had a Beam in-house vac installed. (I installed one in my previous home as an after market item).
My current vac has the main unit in the garage so no noise or dust feedback in the house AND has a hose in the garage for cleaning my cars!
In house vacs are the best!!!!!! If installed while the house is being built, there is no need for a separate power outlet to power the head. The elect is built into the vac outlet.
Super strong suction!!!! No dust in the house!!! Quiet !!!!! The house keeper loves it!!! (Wife doesn't know we have one!!!!!!)
Edited 3/19/2007 6:47 pm ET by rwjiudice
Beam is my favorite for the vac motor.
Get the hand wand/fittings you like the best.
You can save a fair amount of beer money by using 2" stock PVC with transition pieces to the outlets and vac motor.
Outlets? Get the ones with 12v and 120v in them, so you don't also need an additional duplex outlet nearby for the powered attachments.
I put the vac outlets about mid-thigh height on the wall. Less stooping.
Do get a hose sock. Yes, they are a pain so get on, but when dragging a rubber hose around the house, the hose sometimes leaves marks on hardwood floors, but it'll surely mark up door casings and abrade the paint off the casing when it gets dragged around corners.
Use a piece of rope and drag it around your house to set your outlet locations and to make sure the vac will reach where it needs to reach. With the longer hoses today you can normally get by with one outlet per floor, I usually set two.
There are a couple of companies that make outlets that store the hose, one stores it in a cavity built into the stud bay, the other actually gets sucked into and is stored inside the vacuum's tubing.
For the latter, I presume a 30' hose would require a minimum of 30' of 2" pipe between the outlet and the vac motor.
Toe kick floor pans sure seem handy, but we never seem to use ours. We instead pull out the vac.
Mongo
I am going to disagree with you on one outlet per floor . I have one outlet per room . That way the hose never has to be dragging around trim or getting caught under furniture.
I think that the best place for the floor sweep/vacpan would be on the kitchen counter next to the fridge where the sandwich crumbs are generated.
I have a Vacumaid . Use it for construction cleanup ,works great. Look at the tag ,get the one with the largest AMP rating.
Don, that's cool.While you can <I>get away</I> with one outlet per floor, I find two per floor works out well. One outside the bedrooms, etc, one near the kitchen/living room.Having one outlet in every room would slow me down! But it would be an advantage in that you wouldn't need a very long hose, so your thought does have merit.In my own house I do ony have one outlet up in the finished attic, but that's a wide open space.
>>>Beam is my favorite for the vac motor.My understanding is that Ametek-Lamb makes all motors for all CV companies. Does Beam make their own?I've got a CycloVac 200 that has two motors in series. Works great.Scott.Always remember those first immortal words that Adam said to Eve, “You’d better stand back, I don’t know how big this thing’s going to get.”
I believe Lamb motors are in Beams as well.
What if one were being very cheap and could rig up a shop vac instead of the house vac on the end of the vac duct? Would they have as much power? No electric attachments but--??
Brant
People have used shop vacs, but I'm not certain as to how much air they move, or if the shop vac motors would have problems, performance or life-span wise, with long hoses.You can still use commercial outlets and have powered attachments with a shop vac setup. The 110v in the outlets that powers the attachments is wired right along in the same circuit as your regular wall duplex outlets. The low voltage would be wired to a relay to turn the shop vac on. Wouldn't be too tough to set up.The up-side? You'd have a wet/dry central vac!Mongo
Edited 3/19/2007 10:55 pm ET by Mongo
I am definatly looking for a shorter hose , I don't like the 30'er.
Very good idea to have an outlet in the attic.
I have a detached garage/shop and it will have a central sucker system in addition to the dust collector
I did this for years. Even built a 24V - 120V relay to switch on the vac when the hose was plugged in. It worked OK, but not at all in the same league as a unit designed for CV work. Nonetheless, it beat dragging a shop vac all over the house, and of course when you needed a shop vac for other uses it was there. I guess it's all a matter of priority...Good luck,Scott.Always remember those first immortal words that Adam said to Eve, “You’d better stand back, I don’t know how big this thing’s going to get.”
I thought about doing what you are suggesting with the rigid as it has a lifetime non-transferable warranty so I could have a lifetime warranty on the cvac and every 8 years or so when the motor dies just take it back in. The downside is the largest rigid shop vac has a motor that is a couple amps lower than the smallest cvac. It would probably work but I think the work of putting it back together and getting warranty service on the unit every 8 years would end up being more of a pain than the savings that and I'd have to make sure it was easy enough to hook the power relays up and put back together without "voiding" the warranty.
Edited 3/20/2007 10:05 am ET by learner
It would probably work but I think the work of putting it back together and getting warranty service on the unit every 8 years would end up being more of a pain than the savings that and I'd have to make sure it was easy enough to hook the power relays up and put back together without "voiding" the warranty.
Learner,
It might be easier than you think.
Connect the shop vac to the house's central vac trunk pipe with the shop vac's flex hose.
The transformer and relay get hardmounted in the basement and power a regluar duplex outlet that it also hardmounted on the basement wall.
The low voltage wiring from the house vac's outlets runs to the relay.
The shop vac plug into the duplex outlet.
When using the central vac, you flip the switch on the wand, it closes the relay, which powers the outlet, and the shop vac turns on, and well...Bob's your Uncle!
You want to lug the shop vac out into the garage? Unplug it from the outlet and disconnect the flex hose from the house vac pipe.
You won't need to do any alterations at all to the shop vac itself.
Mongo
Don't even consider a "shop vac" type arrangement. It's hokey and would be more trouble than you think. Do you really think that in 8-10 years you'll take it apart or go deliver it somewhere in hopes of a warranty fix?????
A good central vac cleaner is easier to fix, and probably faster and cheaper too.
Also, there is NO WAY you'll get the suction required. Do your homework first ie: checking amperage and suction using "inches of vacuum" measurements and you'll be amazed.
You wanna go cheap? Get a dirt devil!!!!!!
Just trying to be helpfull........
Yeah I am quite unlikely to go for the shopvac arrangement especially after BillHartmann sent me the link to the replacement motors. I'll see if I can get a higher quality motor for my system that will just last instead of breaking down after 8 years. It seems like some people here indicate that their cvacs have been going strong since 1985 so if I can find a motor that will be more likely to last 20 years then I'd much rather pay more upfront and just not have to worry about it.
3 points:
1) My Beam CV in my Mpls home has not failed in 21 years
2) My Beam vac in my current home is on it's 11th year, no failure.
3) I just checked the web and Beam motor assemblys cost between $110-$140
4) They are easier to replace than a shop vac! I have the manuals and have looke at my unit. 4 sheet metal screws off the top of the main unit. Maybe a 30 min job?
I think you are overthinking this!!!!!!
Get one and enjoy!!!!!
Good luck
My house has the clear plastic corners on walls where the hose could rub. They go up about four feet and extend about a half inch from each corner. You hardly notice them; but they do work. I don't know where they are sold or what they are called.
We have a beam unit with electrolux hose and accessories. It is much nicer to have a switch on the wand and 120v built into the outlets. I have several relatives with the same setup, some as much as 15 years with no problems. The electrolux hose is available with a "sock" that helps prevent abrasion of trim at corners etc. We installed a vacpan in the kitchen, but never seem to use it.
We replaced the Beam unit (original to the 1988 house) with a Eureka when we bought the house 3 years ago. Sucks the chrome off a trailer hitch. We had a Eureka in the last place too, liked it just as much.
Ditto the various comments about a hose on each level. Same for power nozels, accessories, etc. Worth the extra up front every time you don't need to go up & down the stairs looking for where someone left the power nozel.
I have a Nutone and a siberian huskey.
you installing or having it installed?
want to plan out the runs and locations.
Beam use to have their installation manual on line (haven't looked in years) gives ways how pipe should be run.
bobl Volo, non valeo
Baloney detecter WFR
"But when you're a kibbutzer and have no responsibility to decide the facts and apply the law, you can reach any conclusion you want because it doesn't matter." SHG