# Central vacuum



## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

I'm thinking of getting a central vacuum installed. I have no idea about costs or how to get one.

Does anyone here have one? How much did it cost and how much do you like it?


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## Karen (Jul 24, 2010)

I once bought a house that had a built-in vacuum, and I hated it so much that I stopped using it and bought a regular vacuum. What I disliked about it was the extremely long, awkward hose that kept getting tangled around itself as well as me. Admittedly this was a very long time ago when the built-ins were quite new, so perhaps they have been improved.


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## OptsyEagle (Nov 29, 2009)

When I was a teenager I use to work in a restaurant that had a central vac system. I hated it as well. The long hose was a pain. I would never get one.


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## leoc2 (Dec 28, 2010)

I love my central vac. The new hoses are much lighter. This makes them less awkward. I recommend getting a 35' hose instead of 30'. After a lot of research I bought a beam serenity last fall. They go on sale every few months. Visit your nearest beam dealer and ask them the date of the next sale. My local dealer gave me the next sale and then I waited. 

Upon further review there seems to be a sale on now:
http://www.beamcanada.com/docs/promo/zone2.pdf

I bought the special edition canister from beam and then went online to buy a hose and attachment set here:
http://www.allegrovacuums.com/


Here are some links:

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/choosing-the-best-central-vacuum-cleaner.html

http://www.vacuumwizard.com/consumer-reports.html

Take care.


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## olivaw (Nov 21, 2010)

My wife and I were told that central vacuums are safer because they pump fine particles and germs outside the home. Nonetheless, we really didn't like our central vac and tended to rely on the Dysan ball vacuum. 

We found a better solution yet. We replaced our carpets with hardwood and laminates. Those are far easier to clean.


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## jamesbe (May 8, 2010)

I've been using a central for about 9 years. I find it convenient but not cheap to install. We were roughed in installed it myself but still the units are close to 600-800 dollars depending on what you want, not cheap.

We recently bought a shark navigator lift-away at CanadianTire, on sale $149. 

I vacuumed my carpet with the central, then used the new vacuum and was blown away by the thing. They advertise it as good as the dyson and I believe it. Easy to use, light, quiet etc. I'd never get a central again.


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

It really depends on size of the house , we have 4200 sq ft so we went with this one http://www.tascoappliance.ca/c136-vacuum-cleaners/p50992-vacuflo-960.html .We have a mix of hardwood ,natural stone and carpet in our home .Our builder did the rough in for the system in the new house not sure what is involved in install if your house is not set up for that.


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

Thanks to everyone for all the responses.

We have a 2-story - 1300 sq ft house. It's all hardwood with some tile (bathroom, kitchen) - the only carpet is on the stairs. There are area rugs in most of the rooms.

We need a new vacuum cleaner and I was planning to spend more $$ to try to get one that works reasonably well. My parents rave about their central vac, so I thought I'd look into it.

The house was gutted five years ago - we should have installed it then.


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## Sampson (Apr 3, 2009)

Hey Mike,

We looked into this a few years ago, but settled on a nice small, but powerful Miele canister instead. 

In hind sight, a central unit would have been handy, but we only have 1 outlet for upstairs and 1 for down stairs so as one commenter pointed out, a 30-35' cord could be a nightmare. One nice thing is that if you have an attached garage, you can set up the unit there (instead of the basement), and vacuum your car with all the power accessories also.

Pricing was anywhere between $400-$800 (list price) for decent units. Couple of suggestions/tips.

Look for innovative dust collection methods. Emptying the classic dust pan bottoms is a pain in the a$$.

Negotiate hard - 25-40% off list. These guys are still your classic commission based salesmen, they have a LOT of room to budge. Don't be fooled by their 'tricks' like the sound of things getting sucked up from super dense carpet, where all the crusties stay on top of the carpet and aren't really stuck inside.


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## jamesbe (May 8, 2010)

Your house is fairly small with little carpet, I wouldn't spend close to a grand for a fancy vacuum. 

I HIGHLY recommend the Navigator lift-away. Available at CTC you'll thank me.


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

jamesbe said:


> Your house is fairly small with little carpet, I wouldn't spend close to a grand for a fancy vacuum.
> 
> I HIGHLY recommend the Navigator lift-away. Available at CTC you'll thank me.


James - how heavy is the unit?


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

Sampson said:


> Hey Mike,
> 
> In hind sight, a central unit would have been handy, but we only have 1 outlet for upstairs and 1 for down stairs so as one commenter pointed out, a 30-35' cord could be a nightmare. One nice thing is that if you have an attached garage, you can set up the unit there (instead of the basement), and vacuum your car with all the power accessories also.


What do you mean by 'only 1 outlet for upstairs, and 1 for down stairs'? 

You can't be talking about electrical outlets?


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## jamesbe (May 8, 2010)

According to google 12.8lbs It's light as a feather you can lift it with one finger. 

The cool thing is the base comes off and that's even lighter, so you can do the stairs etc.


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## Sampson (Apr 3, 2009)

Four Pillars said:


> What do you mean by 'only 1 outlet for upstairs, and 1 for down stairs'?
> 
> You can't be talking about electrical outlets?


Vacuum ports.

Man, one electrical, our family is frugal, but that would be pretty extreme. 

Unplug the stove honey, the hockey game is on...


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

Our house came with fixtures for central vac, but we've never installed it. Two main reasons: 1) we have very little storage space, so I can't envision where we'd store the hoses, and 2) our little 20-year-old Sharp canister vac is still going strong. We have hardwood floors and use a broom and dustpan for daily cleaning; the vac comes out on weekends for a more thorough clean. 

The Sharp doesn't use a bag, which I think would be a criterion I'd use for choosing my next vaccum cleaner -- I'm not sure I'd even be able to still find bags for a 20-year-old vaccum. It has a filter that you can wash and reuse; I've been using the same filter for 20 years now and it shows no sign of reduced performance.


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

These responses are all quite interesting.

I think we'll give James' "the Shark" vacuum a try. It's pretty inexpensive and is certainly easier than a central vac project.


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## jamesbe (May 8, 2010)

Make sure it is the lift-away version they sell two.

Also it goes on sale regularly for $149.00 last time was December.

They also sell it at Bed Bath and Beyond for $179 if you have one of those around you.


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

jamesbe said:


> Make sure it is the lift-away version they sell two.
> 
> Also it goes on sale regularly for $149.00 last time was December.
> 
> They also sell it at Bed Bath and Beyond for $179 if you have one of those around you.


Thanks James. We bought this vac on your recommendation. Tried it out tonight and it is quite excellent. 

All the parts fit together very well and it's light enough that it should be pretty good around the house. 

Thanks for mentioning it.


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## dwyanec (Dec 29, 2016)

This might be an old thread but for those who are still looking, I want to take the opportunity of sharing the experience in using central vacuum cleaner that I bought few months ago. Got this Dust Care DCC-2000C Quiet Series Central Vacuum System. The unit is quiet, the canister is easy to empty, and the nylon filter/bag is easy to clean (bagless system). We paired it up with the Honeywell H300 Central Vacuum Elite Electric Cleaning Set, great combo so far. Must have!


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## cowolter (Jun 12, 2018)

Sure this old tried , but want to add . I installed my own system about 5 years ago after going through 2 high quality room vacuums. My total cost for all materials at that time was about $700.00. (I would imagine that price would now be $300.00 to $400.00 higher.) It included a high end, powerful canister, all piping, elbows and outlets,low voltage wiring, a beater brush, two hoses (one for upstairs and one for downstairs) and a kit of tools. It took me a leisurely two days to install. 

In the time I have owned it, I have replaced both of the hoses at a cost of $250.00. I have NEVER had to repair the main unit, any of the outlets, wring or piping. I keep the hose in a three foot long clear utility storage bin under my bed. I change the collection bag once every 6 months. 

It is extremely quiet and no dust is recycled into the rooms. It is much MORE powerful than any portable vacuum unit I have ever owned (I had always bought the most powerful, highest quality units available at that time). There is no loss of suction and the electric beater brush works great on all types of carpeting. There is no way I would ever go back to a conventional room vacuum cleaner


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