<p>I’m considering having this installed in the house DH and I are buying.</p>
<p>Does anyone have this? Opinions?</p>
<p>We will also be adding central air conditioning to the house. Can these two installations be done simultaneously? Do they use the same ducts? Does the same workmen install both, or are there specialists?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>The central vac used PVC plumbing pipe and is a closed system. The walls have to be opened up to install (we had ours installled during contruction, after rough in inspection and before drywall installation). They will need to install wired plug in stations if you will have a power head. Make sure you install enough of these (will you need one in the garage or basement?).</p>
<p>Also, get the best power head you can. I’m on my 2nd one after 12 years, and this new one is so much better than the one that came with the standard package.</p>
<p>I’ve always had central vac but I prefer my Dysons. I have one on each floor. I’m sure the A/C and vac systems can be installed simultaneously but it’s unlikely that the same contractor would do both. They are different areas of expertise.</p>
<p>I had one in my last house (a Nutone) and wasn’t crazy about it. I have a very hairy hound and getting all that hose out and dragging it around every few days was a pain. I also prefer my Dyson.</p>
<p>Ours is Electrolux, and has worked perfectly for 21 years. We have the motor serviced every 5 years. They take it out, clean it, oil it and return it. I cannot imagine life without it. The canister is in the basement, so my allergic family doesn’t suffer. The suction is powerful. We have the power vac, but rarely use it. We have hardwood floors and oriental rugs. I think it is perfect for the stair runners. I remember dragging that canister vac up and down the stairs in our old house, and hoping I wasn’t going to drop it down the stairs.</p>
<p>You do need a good place to hang the very long hose. We have three, one on each floor. The only thing is that you will not be able to inflate an air mattress–no reverse.</p>
<p>And a/c is a whole different set of pipes.</p>
<p>We have a Nutone system that we don’t use at all. It doesn’t vacuum as well as our cannister model … plus the hose (or hose plus power head) are both more bulky to store and drag around than the cannister. Haven’t tried a Dyson (yet).</p>
<p>We rented a house that had central vac - it wasn’t very good. I found it necessary to re-vac w/ my upright vacuum cleaner. That was almost 30 years ago, I’m sure central vac is greatly improved now.</p>
<p>I like Dyson and I too have one on the main floor and one upstairs. In the basement I have an old Sears canister unit.</p>
<p>We have central vac in our new house and also had one 2 houses ago. I don’t use it much myself, but H and our housekeeper like it. I think it is convenient.</p>
<p>I have a central vac (Nutone) and really like it. It vacuums much better IMO than a ‘normal’ vacuum. One big advantage is that the unit is in the garage with the exhaust discharging to the outside so there are no particles of dust that get past filters flying about the room. I have some asthmatics in the house so this is an important point. The one I have has a ‘power brush unit’ on the business end that’s contacting the floor.</p>
<p>The motor on this vac finally died after over 30 years but I simply bought a replacement motor unit online and replaced it and it works as good as new again.</p>
<p>If I was to build a new house I’d definitely put a central vacuum in.</p>
<p>If you want to put a central vac in an existing house the difficulty of doing so depends on the design of the house. The house has pipes in the walls that lead to the ports one plugs the hose into and to the motor unit wherever that is (ex: garage). This probably wouldn’t be difficult if one had a full unfinished basement or maybe a large ready-access attic. Cost could go up a lot on an already finished house.</p>
<p>Really like our central vac. We don’t have ac because we haven’t needed it. Not sure this will be true in future. Might need to move to Greenland to avoid tropical diseases.</p>
<p>When we did a major remodel on our vacation home my husband really wanted a/c and a central vac, I wanted neither. We ended up with a/c and no central vac. I am delighted with how it worked out. Even in northern NE there are times when the a/c is welcome.
My Miele canister is almost as powerful as the central vac at the other house and much easier to deal with than the cumbersome hose that the central vac requires.</p>
<p>Central Air and Vacuum are two totally separate installations. You might be able to get the two firms to work together to minimize patching of walls.</p>
<p>Do you have central forced air heating already? If you do, then central air is just an additional unit on top of your furnace. If not, then you have 2 major options:</p>
<p>1) Run ducts all through your house (very expensive and disruptive).
2) Run cooling lines to the different rooms, with a heat exchanger in each room.</p>
<h1>2 has the benefit of being able to control each room individually.</h1>
<p>My mother’s house has a central vac. The trade is hauling out a hose, which can be big, or hauling out a vacuum cleaner, which also has a cord. I find that’s about even, hose versus cord. The other trade is emptying the vacuum more often than the central system. That goes to the central system; you don’t have to buy bags or change them as often. But overall, I’d say the central vac is not worth it to me.</p>
<p>We don’t have ductwork in our house (radiant floor heat). All the bedrooms are on the second floor so we ran ducting in the attic and just cooled the bedrooms with a heat pump. Our house is all brick and surrounded by mature trees so it stays fairly cool and this does an adequate job. (I don’t really like “chilly” air in the summer.)</p>
<p>My Dyson is bagless, which I really like.</p>
<p>Hmmmm. Here’s what I’ve learned:</p>
<p>*There’s minimal advantage to installing central air at the same time as central vac.
*The central vac hoses are difficult to manage
*Some of you said the central vac is not more powerful than your canisters or uprights
*Many of you are saying Dyson is great</p>
<p>The cost of two Dysons (one for upstairs and one for down) would be less than the cost of the central vac. </p>
<p>The bagless Dysons??</p>
<p>I’m going to have significant hardwood floors with area rugs. Do the Dysons manage well on bare floors?</p>
<p>I inherited a central vac system when I bought a vacation home. I hate it. The hoses are cumbersome; plus they use up a whole lot of storage space. My system works well, but it’s a gigantic pain to use. I find the canister vac a whole lot easier. I have a Sebo (canister type) and I love it.</p>
<p>We bought a house with central vac 16 years ago and it works great. I think it is a Kenmore. We have mostly hardwood and ceramic but a few large areas with an area oriental carpet. I rarely sweep anymore and always use the vac. I have two long hoses, one for upstairs, one for down. It is so easy to vac our hardwood stairs. I have one power vac attachment. I hate using a regular vac now. It is easy to change attachments on the central vac hose and I carry an assortment with me when I vac to do the moldings, furniture, blinds etc. I only power vac the rugs once a week and will just use the regular hose on them in between. Central vac is something I would want in any future houses I end up living in.</p>
<p>For those of you who are saying you have a Dyson for upstairs and one for downstairs. Can you clarify what that means?</p>
<p>I lived in a house with a central vac system four for years, and I liked it. I now have a Kenmore canister vacuum, and I love it. I have a mix of hardwood, tile, and carpet rooms and the Kenmore does an outstanding job on all three. It also has a telescope extend arm so no more putting together 3 pieces of tube, and the length is great for a taller person (I’m 5’9).</p>
<p>One of my fondest memories is when we rented a house in Washington state that had a central vac. My son, then 3 years old loved to vacuum. He would spend about 2 hours vacuuming the living room and kitchen and used all the attachments. I have pictures of him that I’m saving / waiting to show his future wife…whenever that happens. So far I’m still waiting for him to get a girlfriend. ;)</p>
<p>We now have a Dyson. I like both systems. The Dyson works great on my hardwood floors.</p>
<p>I hate my Nutone central vac. The hoses are cumbersome, it does not do well on my carpeted stairs or area rugs - lots of “back and forth” to get everything up. If I had installed carpeting, it would be completely useless. The hoses chew up my moldings, and I have to be careful around corners, so I’m constantly wrestling with the thing. I have those fabric hose covers, but they are forever sliding down and twisting. We’ve looked into retrofitting a better system, but we can’t find anything compatible with Nutone. Don’t buy anything made by Nutone - we’ve replaced the vents, fans, intercom with better systems - it’s all junk.</p>