Can the best Central Vac system out clean the best upright?

[Moser Bros.]

I have bad allergies and am thinking of putting in a Central Vac system in my house, but there are so many options. Even though my house is only 1,900 sqft, I'm thinking the 18,000 sqft model by Vacuflo would clean faster and last longer than a smaller model, it might be overkill, but I'm used to the power of a truck mount.

 

[KevinL]

Someone once said, the best vacuum is the one that gets used. My sister in law's house and central vacuum system is 5 years old. I've used it several times. I don't like it. I'd rather park an upright in the closet than 25 feet of tangled hose and a power head. But then I prefer bagged vacuums too.

 

[SRI Cleaning]

I would never live without a good central vacuum. I have an electronics company as well. We install home theaters, security systems, and central vacs (when a builder's customer wants one). It doesnt matter how good a hepa filter claims to be, nothing filters better than a central vac when they are exhausted outside. We have installed many different brands and I would recommend a honeywell, or beam/. Beam actually manufactures both. They are excellent vacs. Once you get used to one, you will never look back.

 

[Shane T]

A good central is probably better but you still need to remember to clean the filter or it won't suck.

 

[Ron Werner]

I've cleaned behind central vacs many times. The ONLY benefit to them is that they exhaust outside.
They still leave a fair bit of soil in the carpet that could be removed.
Then its just a matter of whether you want to lug around all that hose, or just a machine.

 

[Royal Man]

Might be a better use of funds to take some allergen control measures for your home. Have you treated your mattresss + furniture for allergens? They can harbor many more living allergens than your carpeting.

 

[SRI Cleaning]

You have to remember though, the high quality central vacuum from today is far different from the ones made even 5 years ago. Especially with the electric beater heads.

 

[Bob Savage]

I would think since there is a great distance from the location of the central vacuum unit (usually the garage), you would have a lot of piping, bends, fittings, and hose friction to overcome with a central vacuum.

Whereas, a vacuum cleaner is only a foot or so away from the dirt, all the time you are vacuuming.

Kind of like the GTO Vac Pac out-extracts truckmounts using vacuum hose into the structure, because the vacuum in a Vac Pac is only inches away from the carpet at all times, and the truckmount can be 60 feet, to a few hundred feet away.

 

[SRI Cleaning]

True but the motors in these things are massive. Basically much like porty motors. And the piping is all very smooth with sweeping bends. You also have to consider the differenece between pulling dry dirt and heavy water. Im not saying they are the best thing out there. But the newest best ones, are impressive. Especially considering you can vac your drapes or furniture or even hard wood floor while still talking on the phone if you wanted. Most of the noise is out in the garage or basement and if you vent them out you can barely even hear them running.

 

[steve g]

the advantage as I see it for most home owners is that IMO they are less prone to problems, they hold a massive amount of stuff so there is less likely hood the thing will be clogged, they have more power, and will be less likely to not be working to full potential without the customer knowing it. and upright can do just as well, however the customer needs to change the bag, check the belts etc, this is many times unrealistic for most house wives

 

[Greenie]

to be fair, with 200+ cfm systems, if they would pitch the 1.25" hose and use larger 2" PVC or even 2.5' PVC through the walls, and use a 1.5" wire flex hose to a full 1.5" tubed powerhead, they would gain a lot more benefit from the investment.

Tony, what is the average fully installed system run a customer with say...a 2000 sq. ft. home?

 

[Ron Werner]

The Greenie pimped built in vac system! New in 2009!!

 

[SRI Cleaning]

Well we have 2 "system packages" that we have set up. The first one includes 4 inlets. Depeneding on how the house is laid out, 4 inlets will cover quite a bit of area, sometimes up to 3500 square feet. That package is $1600 with all of the bells and whistles. Now that is in a new construction home, while we have access to open walls. Otherwise old work can be double that, depending on layout and construciton.

 

[Ron Werner]

theres a good reason to stay with an upright!! $1600+ vs $500(or less)

WHats the life expectancy of a $1600 "system" before the motor needs replacing? I guess the pipes will last for almost ever!

 

[Askal]

I installed a central vac when I built my house and my wife and housekeeper uses the upright. Not enough power. I have thought about replacing the vac unit with a positive displacement vac but you know how that goes....

 

[Greenie]

I'll bet those vacs are set up in air-series Al, and i'll bet it's small pipes, so you probably have less than 50cfm at the wall socket, a few changes could probably save the unit. Does yours use 5.7" motors or 7.2"?

Btw: Anthony, what is the standard size pvc you run for all the plumbing? I know the tool vac hose is usually 1.25" wire reinforced hose, but what is the in wall plumbing back to the unit?

 

[Brian R]

100 bucks for a bissel and buy one a year. after 16 years do you think that house vac will be still working like when you put it in...

better yet...do you think you will be in that house for 16 years.

Go with the cheap vac that works great.

 

[SRI Cleaning]

It depends on what size you get, mine has a 7.2" lamb vac i believe. And remember, that is just pulling dry dust. If you use just the hose to clean furninture or wood work it has MUCH more suction than my 5815 sanitaire with the hose attachment. And the Sanitaire hose is only like 3 feet long! The unit I have says it draws 15.5 amps and requires a dedicated 20 amp circuit.

And yes, the one in my parents house is 18 years old, and the one in their old house is 33 years old and still runs prefectly (their friends bought the house). My aunt has one and on christmas day she asked if i could look at it and see if she should replace it. (I had just installed a brand new system at her daughters) I looked at it, it was made in 1973!! I did recomend that she change her hose and electric beater head. The old systems had a 30 foot hose and another 30 foot elect. cord that was taked to the hose to power the beater head. The new systems have the wire wihin the ribs of the hose itself. But the one she had still worked.

 

[Greenie]

In the wall diameter of plumbing?

and did you say your unit was a Single vacuum 7.2?

 

[SRI Cleaning]

Yes they are all single vac. The inner diameter of all inwall plumbing is 2"

http://www.cvac.honeywell.com/Products/powerunits.htm

My unit is the 803

 

[Greenie]

Hmm.....2 stage vacs?

BIG 2 stage, but 2 stage none the less.

Any reason you didn't go with the 240v system, to be honest that looks like the best offering there, with full 2" plumbing in the walls, the 211 cfm model would be the winner for dry soil recovery, water lift or not, I'll take that cfm.

Also with a 240v system you "could" use some big 3 stage 7.2 vacs and have the best of both worlds. Maybe just buy one of Les's Industrial vac units (positive displacement blower) and be done with it...lol

 

[SRI Cleaning]

Jeff, I always agree with you regarding bigger is better. But! That 240v model is rediculous! The model I have is way oversized for the size of my house. It is a different ballgame, they are not pulling heavy water out of a carpet like a porty. They are pulling DUST and fiber that the 3 amp beater head motor has already pulled out of the carpet. I have 5 sanitaires, a bunch of orecks and a bunch of bissels an not one of them comes close to the power of the central vac. If i am vacing a sofa or window blinds or drapes i have to open the relief on the handle as it is. And the beater head really digs into the carpet.

Also you cant compare the distance to that of carpet cleaning hose. The piping so totally smooth, even shiny on the inside.
AND! I am not saying all of this because I install them. I hate installing them! I dont mind pulling wires for audio and security systems, but I hate running pipes. I dont know why plumbers dont install them.

 

[Greenie]

well your real world experience is a lot more valuable than my theory on how it could be better.

but....that tim the tooltime man 240 sure sounds sweet. plumb in some hot water lines, and you cold wand with high flow from each room....now...that 2" port starts to sound sweet...not overkill right? lol

 

[Brian R]

Sheesh, just buy a 100 dollar vac and throw it away in a year.
People have to be so complicated.
Sheesh again.

 

[SRI Cleaning]

well your real world experience is a lot more valuable than my theory on how it could be better.

but....that tim the tooltime man 240 sure sounds sweet. plumb in some hot water lines, and you cold wand with high flow from each room....now...that 2" port starts to sound sweet...not overkill right? lol

Now your talking! A built-in HWE system!!

 

[Moser Bros.]

I wouldn't want HWE system in my walls, you'd have wet stinky hoses in the wall that would grow mold and the house would smell like a dump tank, nasty.

 

[Kevin. McCreary]

I have a central vacuum in my three story home. The house is about 3300
square feet. It is plumbed entirely with inch and one half pvc. I chucked
the power head that came with it and use a turbo vac, or I should say
the cleaning lady uses a turbo vac. It does a damn good job, and its better
than a hepa because the exhaust is vented out of the house. Now and again
something will get lodged it an elbow, so I take the truck mount and hook the
vacuum up to the wall plate ports and it always does the trick. It was installed
in my house when it was built in 1979 so its old but it works nice.

Like them or not, they increase the value and sell ability of your home.

 

[ksnyder]

We do alot of high end homes w/ central vacs. We run the dyson after they have vacuumed and get nothing up. They seem powerful to me. In other homes, the dyson picks up lots of stuff after they already vac.

 

[Ron Werner]

thats not a credit to the central vac, just a credit to the lifestyle of the highend homes.


Make sure you disconnect the central vac cannister and filter before you plug your tm hose into the outlet, you'll collapse the cannister!

 

[Moser Bros.]

We do alot of high end homes w/ central vacs. We run the dyson after they have vacuumed and get nothing up. They seem powerful to me. In other homes, the dyson picks up lots of stuff after they already vac.[/quote

That's a great sells pitch "Vacuums so thoroughly, that even a Dyson has nothing left to pick up".

Did you ask the home owner if their carpet is vacuumed by their central vac,only their central vac an how many hours a week is the carpet vacuumed.

Ron Werner would still spend a couple hours vacuuming that carpet ,and would get something that was left behind.