We just moved into a new 1800 sq. ft. home with central vac lines in place. I have never had a central vac before and wonder what my main considerations should be. I also wonder what brands to consider. (I will do the install myself and am handy.)
Thanks in advance.
David
Replies
This is the one case where you want something that sucks.
Electrolux is the only kind I have seen here, and never any complaints about them
I have a Beam Serenity
I love our beam. The muffler makes it very quiet, and I like the bucket that I can sort of see into, so i don't have to open it to see if I need to empty it. I think ours is the 375C, and it has plenty of power for our large house with 5 vacuum outlets.
Most major brands are quality units, and my understanding is that most of them use the same motor (Amtek Lamb). the difference is in the finer points...
Questions you should answer before you start shopping:
Do I want bags? If your main unit is in a basement or a place where dust would be an issue, the bags might be handy, otherwise I think they would be a pain in the butt and just dumping the bucket in a garage garbage can is pretty easy. Mine is in the garage, and the only dust I get is from me being careless when I am emptying the bucket.
Is noise a major factor? Our garage is right next to some of the living area, so we wanted a quiet unit. Hence we went with the Serenity series. It comes with a muffler for the output, and when I installed it I ran it for a while without the muffler. THat muffler really quiets it down, and I am glad I got a quieter model.
Do I need a bigger bucket? Ours has a 4 gallon bucket, and I empty it about 3 times a year. We have a cat, a 3 year old daughter and my wife is a longarm quilter, so we get some pet hair, LOTS of lint (wife has to vacuum the quilting room every day) and a fair amount of dirt and spilled cereal... A bigger container doesn't seem necessary to me unless your main unit is in a place where you only want to empty it once a year. My Mother-in-law has a 7 gallon bucket and only empties it once a year.
Filter or cyclonic? Ours has a filter with some kind of goretex in it. THere is no dust coming out of the exhaust. A friend has a cyclonic model, and he get a small amount of dust coming out of the exhaust. Our filter has a weight in it so it cleans itself off well enough that we have never had an issue with the filter plugging enough to reduce suction.
Size of unit? with an 1800 sq. ft. house, you should be fine with pretty much any unit. Our house is about 2400 upstairs with a full basement.
I recommend making sure that the unit you get has an outlet on the main unit so you can plug a hose right into it to vacuum in the garage (or whereever the unit is). I think most of them come with this now, but I know when i was shopping, that was one of the questions that I was asked when choosing a main unit.
Now you can shop... THere are lots of online sources like ThinkVacuums and many others that will help you compare units and brands. Check out local vacuum stores, and don't overlook Ebay as a source for supplies. I got our main unit and our power hose and carpet head on ebay for about half what I would have paid elsewhere. Be prepared for some stickershock when looking at all the accessories, as a good power head can cost almost as much as the main vacuum unit.