Central vacuum systems

They suck. Not in a good way.

Waste of money and a marketing scam. Just buy a decent vacuum cleaner and you won't have the problem that this thing is trying to solve. It's also so much easier to then clean the vacuum cleaner than to have the system in your walls cleaned out.

Way more trouble than their worth. At the one house I lived where one was included, I just used my standard vacuum instead.

I have one in both houses and hate them. If I ever built a house I wouldn’t put one in. One of those things you could put in a house to show wealth but don’t really add to ease of living. Intercoms in each room and phones in the bathrooms used to be similar features but you don’t see them any longer.

Dealing with the hose is the worst part and I don’t care if you have a soft cover on it, it will mark your furniture legs and baseboards.

They're a pain in the ass. Using a regular vacuum cleaner is easier.

I like mine except for carting the hose up and down the stairs.

No way they could maintain strong suction in the whole house.

[quote]Bathrooms used to be similar features but you don’t see them any longer.

It's tragic how today's babygays will never enjoy the sublime pleasure of dialing a (landline) phone with a pencil. 😢

Never knew this existed. Thanks OP

[quote] I have one in both houses and hate them

And you can’t afford a housekeeper?!

Just a minute. ¿Consuela, te gusta la aspiradora central o prefieres una aspiradora normal?

I bought a cordless stick vacuum off Amazon for $100.00. One of the best things I ever bought. It may not be a great vacuum, just a very good one, but I love it. My house is cleaner not because it's the greatest vac but it's so easy to use I vacuum a lot more.

She says "Estoy agradecida por mi trabajo y mis tres horas libres los domingos, señor."

[quote]Intercoms in each room and phones in the bathrooms used to be similar features but you don’t see them any longer.

And then cell phones were invented. Who needs a phone in the bathroom when you can bring your cell phone in there with you ?

And who needs an intercom when every family member has a cell phone in their hand while in the house ?

I bought at house in the mid-'80s and it had a central vac and an intercom system. Sold the house about ten years later.

Both were inoperable and I never bothered to repair either one.

Me too R12.

I bought a Shark cordless designed for pets, and it's surprisingly great. Works almost as well as my expensive Miele cannister vac which I really don't use anymore, except for tough jobs. The convenience can't be beat. .

This reminds me I need to get my system serviced.

R10, my partner and I are well-off and don’t have to work but, unlike my sister-in-law who is in the same situation, I don’t think I’m too good to clean my own house even though I’m in one of the higher tax brackets.

Plus, I could never trust a domestic to treat my many expensive objet d’art with the care they deserve!

Well smell you, rich bitch!

R12 Cordless stick vacs are the way to go. No pain in the ass cord to deal with.

I have a Dyson v11 cordless animal and it's the only vacuum that's ever picked up all of my dog's fur. She sheds year round.

Bravo r18... excellent job!

I'm having trouble reading the reviews, is the one that sucks the most the good one or the bad one?

What’s is dialing?

I have one, we never use it. The hoses are too heavy and unwieldy.

R23, there should be some rating of air flow. A vacuum which moves more air suck better. The quality of the motor and how long it will last is a matter of manufacture and I have no knowledge of that.

Years ago, I lived in an apartment that has a central vacuum system. I was all excited by having it, but only used it twice.

Too much trouble to use that system and then coil all that tube back up. Way too much trouble! Besides it didn't seem to be terribly good about sucking up dirt. Adequate but not great.

Much easier to just use my portable vacuum which was much better about getting up the dirt.

Hated the central vacuum system I had in a former house, for multiple reasons:

By necessity the hose has to be the length of your largest room, unless you have two ports in the room to plug it into. That's a lot of hose.

You need to be sure to carry the smaller brush and crevice attachments with you room-to-room, since they don't "ride along" like with a canister vacuum.

The suction is uneven - it's weaker the farther away the port is from the central motor.

Invariably the vacuum "port" will be located behind a big heavy piece of furniture.

The central motor is nosier than a portable vacuum due to its size.

The central vacuum system is much like the kitchen compactor -- sounds good on paper but in reality isn't that practical.

Compactors were the hot ticket in the early 70s and so were central vacuum systems. But neither proved practical, so by the 80s, you seldom heard of either in new homes or apartments.

Several years ago I bought my mom a Hoover React off Amazon, it's shocking the amount of dust it pulls from her wall to wall carpeting. It's great with pet hair too.

Do the AC vents open all at once and little mini vacuums come out to collect direct and clean the carpet. I never heard the word central in front of it.

I prefer to keep my suction services portable.

I just use a leaf blower.

R33, belive it or not. When an electric machine was first invented to clean carpets, it blew the dirt off the carpet rather than sucking it.

[quote] That's a lot of hose.

Not a regular complaint ever read here on the DL.

R34, when blowjobs were invented in 1544 BC they were indeed blown, not sucked. Hence the name.

I read the newer central vac systems has the hose retract into the system-sounds good.

My parents have both R29.

They haven't used the central vacuum in years. I wonder if it still even works. As others have said, it doesn't do a great job, and is actually a lot more inconvenient than a normal vacuum (especially in the age of robot vacuums).

The compactor ... I like. Otherwise they'd probably have to take out the trash multiple times a week, rather than just once.

[quote]The compactor ... I like. Otherwise they'd probably have to take out the trash multiple times a week, rather than just once.

All that compacted trash can get very heavy very quickly. And smelly unless you're extra careful not to put anything that can rot in there.

My family learned both those lessons quickly when we got one for our new house in the early 70s.

I had a trash compactor in a past home and I thought it was great.

Wish I had one in this house, but don't want to cut up my kitchen cabinet to install one.

We had a trash compactor when I was a kid-ME! I was told to stomp on the cans and milk cartons of my family of nine. No wonder I’m on the DL

"Plus, I could never trust a domestic to treat my many expensive objet d’art with the care they deserve!"

Ok Mrs Drysdale .....