Central Vac System

[LLSolutions]

Hey guys, this one's for my house. I have a few walls open and I am considering adding a central vac system. I've never done one before, but it looked semi-easy. Any brand preferences? My supply houses all seem to carry nu-tone systems. Layout considerations? 2 story house about 40x25 each floor. I don't want to need a 45' hose, but i also don't think i should have an outlet in each room.

 

[frankft2000]

A lot of vacs have a 30' hose. Take a 30' piece of string and make sure you can reach every part of the house from a inlet.

 

[Buck Parrish]

Yeah the average is 30 ft.
More importantly. Do you need a 120 volt motor on the vacume or just let the air turn the brushes.

I guess you know you can get one that plugs in to a wall outlet for 120 volts. Or you can run the 120 volts as you would the LV wire. So when you plug in the hose the 120 volt motor will cut on and the down stairs vacume, too.

Most people I've done them for just get the one that sucks and is turned on by LV wire. Thier pretty easy to install. Even in an existing home. You'll have more coupligs. But that not a big deal as long as the pipe is going the right direction.
Also use 90 sweeps instead of L'S
Your wife will love you if you get what they call a kick plate. You mount it under a kitchen cabinet. You kick it ( easy) and the vac turns on and the opening is about 12 inches.
Perfect for sweeping kitchen debris.

Only other thing if you use plumbing pipe be sure to use the purple stuff, too.

 

[Cavie]

Get the 120 vlot motor drive brush system if you expect to get the carpets clean.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

I installed a nutone system in my home many years ago, It works fine, Installation is pretty easy es. with a crawl space. They also make retro jacks which I used since my walls were finished when I did it.

Be careful with the pipe it is very thin and brittle esp. when cold- drop it and the pipe is no good.

 

[ActionDave]

Your wife will love you if you get what they call a kick plate. You mount it under a kitchen cabinet. You kick it ( easy) and the vac turns on and the opening is about 12 inches.
Perfect for sweeping kitchen debris.

Those things are sweet. I don't own one but have a good friend who installed one about ten years ago. They still brag about it.

 

[renosteinke]

Apart from the actual hose ports, you will need to run power to the ports; most central vacs have a motorized carpet head for the hose.

The systems do not come with any provision for running this power; often it's tapped from a nearby receptacle.

 

[roger3829]

Nutone works very well. The have an electricfied hose. I plugs into the vac outlet and it has the 120 connector built right into it. So you only have one motion of plugging it in. Another great thing Nutone has is an toe-kick/sweep inlet. Great for kitchens. Just sweep up to it, kick it on/open, and off the dirt goes.

 

[shockin]

I installed a very nice system when I built my house a couple years ago. I never use the system. I find it much easier and faster to use a traditional vac. The problem I have with the central vac is the hose. When you drag it around the baseboard (painted) it marks it up. I believe there is a sock you can put over the hose that is suppose to take care of that problem. The other issue I have is lugging the hose around and storing it. Also, I don't think it cleans as well as my dyson (spl?).

What I do love about the central vac is the sweeper pans. We use that all the time in the kitchen/dinning room.

 

[fishin' electrician]

ADI carries Nutone, Electrolux, and Honeywell. Nearly every month one of the 3 has a decent sale price. Worth looking into.

 

[LLSolutions]

Thanks gentlemen, I think I'm sold on it!

 

[dclauria]

If I may add a note, I have installed 3 systems over the years, and the last one I did I bought my wall plates (powered), adapters, and vacuum kit from this website http://www.centralvacuumstores.com/central-vacuums/index.php.

They sell adapters to attach to standard 2" sch 40 pipe which I bought locally.

I believe their website explains the benefits of using the slightly larger diameter and heavier duty pipe. It may not have been necessary, but I believe it was cost efficient when I compared it to the cost of Nutone pipe.

 

[dreamsville]

Had some experience with the Vacuflo system, maintaining not installing. I don't think much of there automatic coverplates. Not robust enough. Replaced many coverplates, good for me but not the customer/owner. This is an older system, not sure maybe they have improved?