Whole House Vacuum - DIY experiences

Bryan Rollins

unread,

Mar 23, 1998, 3:00:00 AM3/23/98

to

I am in the process of building a house and would like to install a
whole house vacuum system.
Can anyone share any experiences and recommend a good dealer to buy
from...

Mike Coln

unread,

Mar 24, 1998, 3:00:00 AM3/24/98

to

I was (and am) very pleased with the Electrolux system in my home. It
uses a similar main canister unit as many others, but has the superior
Electrolux hand appliances. Cost seemed equivalent.

--

Joseph Chavez

unread,

Mar 24, 1998, 3:00:00 AM3/24/98

to Bryan Rollins

Bryan,
Talk to Steve at S E R Housing Products. They carry a full line of
Nutone vacuum products at low prices. Steve was very helpful with my
last project. Tell him Joe Chavez sent you. Check the SER housing web
site, or e-mail at Nhp...@aol.com

Sincerely,
Joe Chavez

Macey Skopitz

unread,

Mar 24, 1998, 3:00:00 AM3/24/98

to

Mike Coln wrote:
>
> Bryan Rollins wrote:
> >
> > I am in the process of building a house and would like to install a
> > whole house vacuum system.
> > Can anyone share any experiences and recommend a good dealer to buy
> > from...
>

> I was (and am) very pleased with the Electrolux system in my home. It
> uses a similar main canister unit as many others, but has the superior
> Electrolux hand appliances. Cost seemed equivalent.
>
> --

I am also quite pleased with Electrolux but do regret not having
preinstalled the inwall outlet ports with integrated 110 volt power. I
believe these are known as super plugs or something similar in the
industry. The Electrolux vacuum hose comes with the option of
eliminating the dangling power cable in favour of a two pronged plug to
take power from the vacuum port.

Macey Skopitz

Joseph Chavez

unread,

Mar 24, 1998, 3:00:00 AM3/24/98

to msko...@sympatico.ca

I will have to agree with Macey on this point. Though i have not installed
the electrolux system myself, I have spoken with owners of these systems and
they confirm the built in power outlets and the beater bar attachment are
superior to nutone. Keep in mind though these clients also felt the main
unit has a lesser capacity than nutone power units. You might try to get the
best of both, an Electrolux outlet and attachment package and the Nutone 450
power unit.

Good Luck,
Joe Chavez

A.Ron Carmichael

unread,

Mar 24, 1998, 3:00:00 AM3/24/98

to

I bought a Sears unit from a damaged-appliance-outfit in Austin, paid
about 275 for it, along with double the pipes and fittings, power-head,
etc...

If I was going to do it again, I would buy the biggest WetVac they make
and use that as the suck-source<G>.

It is extremely easy to install when you don't have the drywall in the
way. Tinkertoy construction. If you do a metacrawler search on the net
for house vacuum you MIGHT be able to find a cheap source for the pipes
and outlets.

I had a catalog this week at home, that had all the hardware listed
piece-meal, I'll try to find it but that won't be prior to this
weekend...

HTH

Edward Cheung

unread,

Mar 25, 1998, 3:00:00 AM3/25/98

to Bryan Rollins

Bryan Rollins wrote:
>
> I am in the process of building a house and would like to install a
> whole house vacuum system.
> Can anyone share any experiences and recommend a good dealer to buy
> from...

For a 'lessons learned' document on the instalation of piping see my
web page.

We are extremely satisfied with our unit (Vacu Maid), but cannot
comment on performance relative to other units.

Brent Boghosian

unread,

Mar 25, 1998, 3:00:00 AM3/25/98

to

Joseph Chavez wrote:
>
> I will have to agree with Macey on this point. Though i have not installed
> the electrolux system myself, I have spoken with owners of these systems and
> they confirm the built in power outlets and the beater bar attachment are
> superior to nutone. Keep in mind though these clients also felt the main
> unit has a lesser capacity than nutone power units. You might try to get the
> best of both, an Electrolux outlet and attachment package and the Nutone 450
> power unit.
>
> Good Luck,
> Joe Chavez
>
> Macey Skopitz wrote:
>
> > Mike Coln wrote:
> > >

> > > Bryan Rollins wrote:
> > > >
> > > > I am in the process of building a house and would like to install a
> > > > whole house vacuum system.
> > > > Can anyone share any experiences and recommend a good dealer to buy
> > > > from...
> > >

> > > I was (and am) very pleased with the Electrolux system in my home. It
> > > uses a similar main canister unit as many others, but has the superior
> > > Electrolux hand appliances. Cost seemed equivalent.
> > >
> > > --
> > I am also quite pleased with Electrolux but do regret not having
> > preinstalled the inwall outlet ports with integrated 110 volt power. I
> > believe these are known as super plugs or something similar in the
> > industry. The Electrolux vacuum hose comes with the option of
> > eliminating the dangling power cable in favour of a two pronged plug to
> > take power from the vacuum port.
> >
> > Macey Skopitz

In the process of installing the Hayden 6000+.

The Hayden SuperValves are the ones with the integrated 110V.
- see: http://www.hayden.ca

Note: because an Electrician is require to do the 110V wiring
many installers can't and therefore they don't push it:-(

Tested *many* systems before buying, including the Electrolux Centralux:
I preferred the Hayden (and others) cartridge filter over
the foam (indeed many service people tell me the foam filters let
dust into the motor reducing its life span)

The other main feature of the Hayden was it 'soft-start', which
others are slowing adopting, revs up motor slowly to further extend
its life!

BTW, the Electrolux hose is made by Hayden - many other
manufacturers use/recommend Hayden's valves, hoses and PVC!

IMO, the 2-stage Electrolux motor wasn't quite up to the competitors,
and those wacky wands? Thou, I wasn't too impressed with the
Hayden SuperPack(2) ... so I added:
- Ratcheting wands (though it doesn't fit Hayden power head)
- 12" wide natural horse hair floor brush attachment
- Air turbine power head TP2100 ? (the one that ships with the Vacuflow)
- JiffySweep VacPan (only one I could find with bottom pipe mount)

The Vacuflow has no power attachments, so SuperValue and even
power hose is not required, but, since it has no motor filter
it must be vented outside the house - I put mine in the garage
and didn't want to have to vent outside; also, I worried about
motor life with these units. Beam ( http://www.beamvac.com/ )
warranties the same motor units half in models without motor filters!

Good web dealears: http://www.ristenbatt.com/
see also: http://www.homesystemsinc.com/news.htm

P.S. The web is international, so perhaps limit the desired
dealer location.

Cheers & Good Luck!
---
Brent Boghosian MKS Inc.
Software Engineer (519)883-3271
bre...@mks.com http://www.mks.com

Ken Danti

unread,

Mar 26, 1998, 3:00:00 AM3/26/98

to

Bryan Rollins (brol...@ibm.net) wrote:
: I am in the process of building a house and would like to install a
: whole house vacuum system.
: Can anyone share any experiences and recommend a good dealer to buy
: from...

I put a top of the line Nutone system in our house. It is 4 years old and works fine. They give a lifetime warranty. I would recommend you locate an electrical outlet near each vacuum outlet so you can use the powered attachment. Other than being work the installation was not difficult for the DIYer. Also ask your builder to buy it so you can take advantage of his discount. I believe my 8 outlet system, plumbing, vacuum, and attachments ran close to $1K.

Don

unread,

Mar 27, 1998, 3:00:00 AM3/27/98

to

The recent (April '98) issue of Popular Home Automation has an article
about central vacuums. I'm probably going to go with a vacuflo because
there are dealers in the area and they have a good rating. I hope to start
construction on a custom home April of 1998.

Bryan Rollins <brol...@ibm.net> wrote in article
<35172DE4...@ibm.net>...

A.Ron Carmichael

unread,

Mar 27, 1998, 3:00:00 AM3/27/98

to

THe catalog that I mentioned earlier in the week is a company found at
http://www.directelectricsupply.com .
they have a variety of parts, including the kick pan outlet. I
installed one of these in the corner of our kitchen and it comes in
handy from time to time.

They also carry Hayden and Nutone, attachments, and generic parts.

HTH.

Dan Lanciani

unread,

Mar 28, 1998, 3:00:00 AM3/28/98

to

In article <351BB5AB...@inetport.com>, a...@inetport.com (A.Ron Carmichael) writes:
| THe catalog that I mentioned earlier in the week is a company found at
| http://www.directelectricsupply.com .
| they have a variety of parts, including the kick pan outlet. I
| installed one of these in the corner of our kitchen and it comes in
| handy from time to time.

I tried connecting to this site and I can't seem to find the actual
products. There is a section called "Browse Products", but it seems
to have only a list of manufacturers. The catalog request form, when
submitted, gives an error about not being able to do searches. What
am I doing wrong?

Dan Lanciani
ddl@danlan.*com

A.Ron Carmichael

unread,

Mar 28, 1998, 3:00:00 AM3/28/98

to

I had a small flier from them that included listings on various vacuum parts. I found their
phone number on the URL and called them and asked for their full line catalog. do you have
access to American toll-free numbers?