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QUESTION: Can anyone who has used a central vac give their opinion on 'em? I'm
wondering if it's worth the expense of installing in a new home. Mainly I
see the benefits as being quite operation, cleaner air, less bag
changing, and easy moving from up to downstairs.
ANSWER: I installed the top of the line Hoover central vacuum and I'm very
satisfied with it. In addition to the benefits you mentioned, you should
add that they are much more powerful than ordinary vacuums. They are much
cleaner too, since dust which is too small to be filtered is blown out of
the house instead of back into your house. A more subtle advantage is they
don't smell bad, at least I think vacuum cleaners with partly full cloth
bags smell pretty bad.
My old vacuum cleaner was a Kirby Heritage II. It was very well built and
I liked it, but it isn't nearly as good in any way as our central vacuum.
The cost of our entire system, installed by me, was $700.
If you are in doubt, go ahead and put in the pipes and wiring for a
central vac when you are building. You don't have to use it. When we built
our house, we put in the pipes and wiring ourselves. (The stuff is pretty
cheap from Home Depot) It wasn't until a year or two after we moved that
we got the central unit (the actual vacuum) and hooked it up.
(On the other hand, installing a central vac in a house that is complete
is a real headache...)
I would recommend a central vac for anyone. It is quieter (our noise
source is in the garage) It is easier to pull just the hose around than
the vacuum unit (canister, upright, whatever) And, for us there is a big
advantage. A normal vacuum just picks up the very fine dust, blows it
through the unit, through the filter, and into the air in the house. A
central vac blows that fine dust out where it is (for us, the garage) My
wife, and to some extent myself, have problems with dust. My wife would
have to be out of the house after we used a normal vacuum. Also, the
suction of the central vac is much stronger than a wimpy normal vacuum.
(We have a NuTone central vac) When we have some bug flying/crawling
around in the house, get out the old bug-sucker. No bug can resist the
suction, and it beats using a spray.
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