Central Vac

[Mayer]

We had a townhouse built this year and one of our upgrade options was roughing in central vac lines. We decided against it for some reason but now 9 months later want to look at putting it in. Does anyone have experience with this? I don't know if its something I can so myself or if I'd have to hire someone. Is anybody familiar with general prices for this kind of work? We would only need one plug in on each level given how small our place is.

Thanks

[Northendzone]

I remember my parents had it put into thier townhouse years ago, the only thing I remember is that they had a drop area where you could run the piping.

I'd think you have to cut away some drywall to be bale to anchor the pipe to a stud and then be able to drill they the bottom plate, floor boards.

[Slacker]

Go with a Dyson vacuum. They are great.

[Halfcreek]

My advice is - don't do it!!!!
I have not idea how much it costs, but have lived in at least 4 houses with it - and they are absolutely not worth the money.
I also love my Dyson - but honestly, anything is better than a central vac - including sweeping!

[Mayer]

Originally Posted by Halfcreek

My advice is - don't do it!!!!
I have not idea how much it costs, but have lived in at least 4 houses with it - and they are absolutely not worth the money.
I also love my Dyson - but honestly, anything is better than a central vac - including sweeping!

What don't you like about central vac? I grew up in a house with it and never really had a problem with it.

[speede5]

I put it in our house and absolutely love it. If the piping is all in place and the inlets are in the walls it is a real easy drop in installation that would take an average skill level do-it yourselfer about an hour.

The main unit connects to the piping with flexible couplers and worm clamps, the wires from the inlets need to be crimped with connecters and attached and the unit needs to be plugged in.

If you have to run all the pipes and put in the inlets it's a bit bigger job but not that hard. Easily done in an afternoon if planned well. If you do use the sweeping 90's rather than the tighter ones to avoid blockages.

I have hardwood throughout so I mainly use the hardwood attachment, But I have the powerhead for area rugs and the dustpan under the counter kick.


BTW, Dyson makes a CV. (NM, I thought I had seen one but it might have been the cannister style. )

Downside is the hoses don't last forever, at least the stock one didn't. It didn't swivel well and tore eventually, but the aftermarket one we bought is rapairable and seems swivel better. You need to monitor the tank and clean it more often than they recommend (it has lights to indicate how full it is). My first unit failed as dust got into the motor, but I use the hepa filter now and no problems.

[yads]

No comment about installation, but if you do get it, I highly suggest getting at least 1 vac pan put into your kitchen. They allow you to sweep crumbs/dust into your central vac

[red sky]

That is a pet vac sweep. Have to feed it lucky charms once a day or else it gets unruley.

[Ironhorse]

Those also work as awesome garages for Hot Wheels cars...

[Halfcreek]

Originally Posted by Mayer

What don't you like about central vac? I grew up in a house with it and never really had a problem with it.

They don't suck stuff up. I can go over the same piece of cat hair on a wood floor three times before it gets sucked up. Can go over the carpet with the central vac - and then follow immediately with the Dyson and pick up a bunch of cat or dog hair or dust or whatever.

Maybe I've been unlucky to deal with 3 that weren't installed properly or something, but I certainly wouldn't pay for it!

[darklord700]

I don't like central vac as well. The pipes got clogged easily and the suction blows comparing to a good vacume cleaner. For the lenght of hose you have to carry, you might as well push a regular vacume cleaner.

[speede5]

Dyson fanboys are just as bad as Apple fanboys.




If you want the best mass market vacuum available the Dyson is probably the way to go, but my CV gets the house clean and is convinient. The powerhead works just fine on carpet. The travelling salesman have the best vacuum's, Kirby's?, but they cost a fortune and the salemen are overbearing, to say the least.

[Rapidfire999]

So bad.. we have one installed at my house right now and don't use it because it sucks at SUCKING. Bought a dyson and the difference between them is two-fold.

[bootsnixon]

I'm another homeowner that has a centravac installed but does not use it. An upright vacuum has a heavier wand but my wife and I would rather deal with that than the big cumbersome hose on a cv. Agree with others that the cv does not vacuum as well. I believe all vacuums need to work of a 15amp circuit so both cv and normal vacs use motors around 12-15amps. It makes sense to me that with a similar sized motor, the one with less piping and outlets would work better. I did install a cv in my Mom's house though. She is older and prefers the light weight wand on a cv. The install depends on the layout of your house and where you need to put the outlets. We put in an outlet in the basement and two on the main floor that were pretty straightforward and easy. The upstairs one where we had to go up a wall was more of a PIA as we ran into blocking and had to go sideways through some studs.

[Ironhorse]

We have central vac, and it works great at sucking; but that was after I redid all the piping because the original builder's install "job" sucked arse, and had more leaks than a colander. Properly glued and supported, with swept tees at junctions and replacement outlets (the builder's ones were crap), I am quite happy with the three outlet setup in our house. I did also replace the CV unit itself with a high end one that cost about $900... The other advantage of course is that you don't have a howling vacuum unit right near you.