Whole house vac question

[blurrybill]

We have decided to have a whole house vac system installed in the new house. Anyone have experience with these including cost, which brands are better than others, application problems/suggestions? I learned a great deal about digital cameras from TBN members. Hope some of you can help with this one. Thanks.

Bill

 

[kevincook]

I had the vacuum system roughed in when we built our house and then I installed the vacuum a couple of years later. It works great and is much quieter than a standard vacuum.

I think I paid about $150 for the rough-in work and about $700 for the rest of the parts when I installed the vacuum.

I would find one that does not have any filters. Both of the links below are for systems like this. I did quite a bit of reading about this before I selected a system and both of these companies are about even. The hoses and nozzles that they both use are exactly the same. Neither of these systems requires an electrical outlet to run the beater-bar attachment.

http://www.vacuflo.com

 

[DVerbarg]

Whole house vacs! What a fun subject, its one of many items that "helped" our house budget overrun by 35%! /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

We have a VacuMaid unit with 15 outlets in the house. They do have advantages over "normal vacs" as well as disadvantages.

Pros:
-Quieter in the house, except near the main unit
-Dust/dirt container is large and only needs emptying every couple months
-Unit exhausts outside giving you cleaner air (as opposed to running through a filter bag and exhausting back into the room where you are vacuuming)
-Neat features available like the dustpan vac (mount under kitchen counter, kick a switch and you have a vacuuming dust pan that you can sweep dirt into)
-Cool toy /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Cons:
-High initial cost
-No reminders to empty dirt canister
-Drag long hoses around the house
-Can only vac in one location at a time

Our installer had many good ideas about locations and some installation features. One such idea was to have a short tight 90 degree elbow attached right at every wall outlet and all the rest of the elbows are long. This way any items too large would get caught at the wall outlet and not in a run in a wall cavity.

Prices vary for the same brand items as well as knowledge of the installers. Like all other aspects of construction you or your GC need to interview potential sub-contractors. Get an education from them, some of the best are willing to discuss ideas and teach you the basics.

Costs? We did it in two pieces. While the walls were open we paid $700 for the rough install, included 15 outlets in a 4200 sq ft house. After the loan was complete we paid for the final hookup and actual vacuum purchase with hoses, air powered carpet head, and vac tools. I think (don't remember the actual cost as it is not documented in the construction loan papers) it was around $2800. The installer lives and operates a business in Michigan and we live in Illinois. Local dealers wanted $4500 to $5300 for the same Vacumaid equipment with less outlets, and they were local! A savings of over $1000! /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

If you would like to install yourself, it does not appear to be hard, took them less then a day to do the rough and less than a day to do the finish, you can order from them. Liberty Supply <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.libertydev.com/cvacsystems.html>http://www.libertydev.com/cvacsystems.html</A>

Hope this helps as a starter.

 

[shade2u2]

FYI only... Here's another company.
http://www.galaxie-vac.com/features.htm
I only know that this company site exists, but don't know anything at all about the systems or this company...

 

[Anonymous Poster]

My house is equipped with a 3hp Spencer air turbine industrial unit, 3 16" turbine wheels, bought it right at an auction.
That baby will suck a golf ball thru a garden hose, so naturally, my wife hates it. She'd rather play with her kenmore junk and ***** because she has to dust so often. Her eyesight doesn't let her watch the dust blow out the back of her Kenmore. She also really blows a gasket when the bag in her prescious Kenmore ruptures cause she forgot to change it, but she's dammed if she'll drag the BIG hose.
I point this all out because it's much cheaper and easier on your blood pressure to give any woman the vacuum she wants than it is to install a magnificent system and watch it sit idle.
Installing central vac systems doesn't take a lot of talent, if you can glue PVC pipe together, you can install one. Any system worth a dam uses 1 1/2" pipe and if your hose will be longer than 10' you want that to be 1 1/2 also.
Air driven carpet brushes don't operate well because the turbine to spin the brush will use at least 2 air horsepower. Electric to the vacuum port is easy to install.
You can get most of the parts from Power Flite, www.powerflite.com, and you can also get just about any vacuum cleaner replacement part from them.
Central vac systems in a house are a HIGH markup item. If you will be installing in a 2 story house, roughing the plumbing in is easy when the walls are open, and you can do it yourself. For a single story house with an open basement the system can be put in any time.

 

[hwp]

We are in our second house with a central vac systems and wouldn't be without it. Much easier to drag a hose around than a canister or upright. I'm the one in our house that does the vacuuming so I get to chose. Our current house is two storey so I am thinking about getting a second hose and attachments for the upper level.

 

[DVerbarg]

I'd like to buy a second set of tools/hose for the second floor but still need to convince the CFO /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif ...

 

[DVerbarg]

<font color=blue>Any system worth a dam uses 1 1/2" pipe </font color=blue>

Be sure not to use normal plumbing PVC. The PVC made for vac systems is treated to reduce static. Was told by our installer that he has redone quite a few systems where someone used plumbing PVC and ended up losing airflow because dirt was sticking to the insides of the pipes.

 

[MReeter]

We are also in our second home equipped with a central vac.I put a plug in the garage this time so we can vacuum out the vehicles.We also installed a "Toe KIck" outlet that is in the toe kick of the Kitchen Cabinets.We have wood floors,so you can broom the crumbs to this outlet,open it up with your foot,this turns on the vac,close it and vac turns off.

We also have 2nd hose for our system,house is a full 2-story plus a finished basement.Thinking about a 3rd hose.

 

[Buck]

Here a pic of our VacuFlo 26 unit. It was in the house when we bought it. That's 1.5 inch PVC.

We loved it for the first 3 months living here. Now, however, after 1.5 years we almost never use it. Moving the hoses seems like more work than moving a portable sweeper or vacuum cleaner!

Just my 2 cents.

Buck

 

[TonyC]

My 2¢...I installed one myself 15 years ago when I built the house, an Electrolux. I've been very pleased with it and wouldnt't be without it. My life loves it as well which is more important. Cleaning the filter isn't too bad but it is another chore to do. I don't know anything about the filterless models but if they work well that sounds like a neat idea to me. Go for it!!!!!

 

[PhilNH5]

I have the galaxy unit that was sited in a link above. I have an open concept house and only have one outlet on each floor.

I assumed the vac was installed at the time of construction. The motor burnt up a year ago which would mean it lasted 18 years. I bought another galaxy unit because in those 18 years the unit DID NOT change one bit. So installation was a matter of using some hose clamps. I love jobs like that.

I would also put in a plug for the bagless unit. Ours is vented outside - as pointed out in an above post this means the fine particles go outside instead of recirculating in the house. Emptying the cannisterm is easy. undo 2 clamps and take it out to the compost pile.

The only option I wish I had is the kick plate in the wall for broom sweeping dirt into.

Phil

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Wow, I can't believe some of the prices in the other posts. I built my own central vac system for a fraction of the cost (under $400 for everything). The piping is 2" pvc made for vac systems and the outlets (5) were also purchaced. Total cost was about $85 for those parts. The vacuum itself was made from a 30 gal metal drum with a rubber gasketed top.($8) I mounted a vacuum motor ($75) in the center of the drum top and plumbed the discharge outside The inlet to the drum causes swirling around the drum that centrifuges the dirt out. A foam filter over the vacuum inlet in the drum has to be cleaned every few months. A HVAC solinoid and low voltage transformer ($20) turns it on when you plug in a hose and off when you unplug. The hose and electric beaterbar was under $200. It works great, I (my wife really) have been using it for 14 years.

Andy