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vacuum

chiasoo
chiasoo
Comment
zuzu426

Do you have anything to add to the topic, sprink1es? You've obviously had no experience with HAH or you'd use excessive exclamation marks when discussing it! My vac guy told me the opposite about the blue hose. Smaller diameter equals faster/stronger air movement. Regardless, bigger or smaller, it most definitely has more suction and it's so much easier to pull out of the wall than the socked version. I think perhaps I push the limit with the reach of my hose, hence the reason for the damage on my cased opening closest to the outlet. My kids do far worse damage with the hover boards! The pet smell is completely non-existent with the blue hose and it is very easy to give it a quick wipe down from time to time. If your hose is long enough to not drag aggressively around furniture, damage won't be an issue. The pros of the blue hose far outweigh the potential damage. If you are vacuuming in a sleeping baby's room, the blue hose may be too much noise if your baby is easily disturbed (but nowhere near the noise of a regular vacuum). It is pretty loud when retracting back into the wall. It's easy to switch out hoses, so if you don't know which to get, you don't have to be stuck with one or the other. One of the things I have noticed in the 10 yrs I've had it is my house does not collect dust at the same rate as my previous homes. Main reason is probably the lack of carpeting, but I think the fact the central vac exhausts outside helps as well.

Q

Reply to: Do you have anything to add to the topic, sprink1es? You've obviously had no experience with HAH or you'd use excessive exclamation marks when discussing it! My vac guy told me the opposite about the blue hose. Smaller diameter equals faster/stronger air movement. Regardless, bigger or smaller, it most definitely has more suction and it's so much easier to pull out of the wall than the socked version. I think perhaps I push the limit with the reach of my hose, hence the reason for the damage on my cased opening closest to the outlet. My kids do far worse damage with the hover boards! The pet smell is completely non-existent with the blue hose and it is very easy to give it a quick wipe down from time to time. If your hose is long enough to not drag aggressively around furniture, damage won't be an issue. The pros of the blue hose far outweigh the potential damage. If you are vacuuming in a sleeping baby's room, the blue hose may be too much noise if your baby is easily disturbed (but nowhere near the noise of a regular vacuum). It is pretty loud when retracting back into the wall. It's easy to switch out hoses, so if you don't know which to get, you don't have to be stuck with one or the other. One of the things I have noticed in the 10 yrs I've had it is my house does not collect dust at the same rate as my previous homes. Main reason is probably the lack of carpeting, but I think the fact the central vac exhausts outside helps as well.

Q

Comment
J Lozano

Hey Guys! A lot of you are wondering about the new blue hose (rapid flex). Here is what the representative form central vacuum store said: Good morning, The Rapid Flex has a larger inside diameter, and the outside of the hose stays cleaner. I, personally, as well as the owners, had the original hoses with the socks, as that was the only option...for over 10 years! When the rapid flex came out, I immediately switched, even went to longer hoses, and it was as though I put in a new unit with double the suction!

Q

Reply to: Hey Guys! A lot of you are wondering about the new blue hose (rapid flex). Here is what the representative form central vacuum store said: Good morning, The Rapid Flex has a larger inside diameter, and the outside of the hose stays cleaner. I, personally, as well as the owners, had the original hoses with the socks, as that was the only option...for over 10 years! When the rapid flex came out, I immediately switched, even went to longer hoses, and it was as though I put in a new unit with double the suction!

Q

Comment
jln333

Oh the kitchen. We are building again after 8 years. I had put it in a closet as my wife was concerned about the looks. This time - out front in the kitchen! Actually we haven't decided it yet but the kitchen is key. Thanks for the reminder to get with my wife and plan the placement. Another thing on the placement, you generally do low down with pipe in the basement on the first floor and up higher with pipe in the attic on the second floor. Higher is much easier to use. I am going to go between floors with the 1st floor unit so that it will be a pull down/fall out. We do need some more reports about this magical blue hose please! I would consider a blue hose for the kitchen only and perhaps socked for other parts of the house when you are going around turns. My invention/idea for them is 15 feet blue followed by 30-40 feet socked. You control the first part around baseboards and then let the sock do it. First 15 feet for easy pull out for kitchen clean up....

Q

Reply to: Oh the kitchen. We are building again after 8 years. I had put it in a closet as my wife was concerned about the looks. This time - out front in the kitchen! Actually we haven't decided it yet but the kitchen is key. Thanks for the reminder to get with my wife and plan the placement. Another thing on the placement, you generally do low down with pipe in the basement on the first floor and up higher with pipe in the attic on the second floor. Higher is much easier to use. I am going to go between floors with the 1st floor unit so that it will be a pull down/fall out. We do need some more reports about this magical blue hose please! I would consider a blue hose for the kitchen only and perhaps socked for other parts of the house when you are going around turns. My invention/idea for them is 15 feet blue followed by 30-40 feet socked. You control the first part around baseboards and then let the sock do it. First 15 feet for easy pull out for kitchen clean up....

Q

Comment
zuzu426

I've had HAH for 10 yrs now and just installed another one in my guest house. Still one of my favorite things about my house. I've since upgraded to the new blue sockless hose. There are both pros and cons to each. Old socked hose was much quieter, but slightly heavier and got smelly with pets. Tornado wipes didn't really help much. New hose basically ejects itself from the wall, so it's much easier to pull out. I do have to be much more careful on baseboard corners with the blue hose. The sock protected things much better, but as long as I pay attention, it's no big deal. I love that i can vacuum my car with some serious suction. I had a friend stop by regularly just to use my garage vac. She loved it so much, she bought a vacumaid garage unit for her house! In 10 years, I've only had one broken pipe. That was because I accidentally sucked up a metal socket two days after we moved in. I've paid attention since and have never done anything like that again. I underestimated the powerful suction! However, because of the gentle 45 degree sweeps, the socket made it safely through the walls and busted through the 90 degree turn in the attic space right above the unit. It was completely accessible and easy to fix. Because the hose is a smaller diameter than the pipe in the wall, if something is going to get stuck, it'll be in the hose. I did end up burning up a circuit board in the motor. Vac guy said it was an unusual repair, but was less surprised after he asked me how often I use the vacuum! I have apparently put some mileage on it! I don't think it was more than a $200 repair. If that's the only thing that has happened to it in 10yrs, I'd say that's pretty good!

Q

Reply to: I've had HAH for 10 yrs now and just installed another one in my guest house. Still one of my favorite things about my house. I've since upgraded to the new blue sockless hose. There are both pros and cons to each. Old socked hose was much quieter, but slightly heavier and got smelly with pets. Tornado wipes didn't really help much. New hose basically ejects itself from the wall, so it's much easier to pull out. I do have to be much more careful on baseboard corners with the blue hose. The sock protected things much better, but as long as I pay attention, it's no big deal. I love that i can vacuum my car with some serious suction. I had a friend stop by regularly just to use my garage vac. She loved it so much, she bought a vacumaid garage unit for her house! In 10 years, I've only had one broken pipe. That was because I accidentally sucked up a metal socket two days after we moved in. I've paid attention since and have never done anything like that again. I underestimated the powerful suction! However, because of the gentle 45 degree sweeps, the socket made it safely through the walls and busted through the 90 degree turn in the attic space right above the unit. It was completely accessible and easy to fix. Because the hose is a smaller diameter than the pipe in the wall, if something is going to get stuck, it'll be in the hose. I did end up burning up a circuit board in the motor. Vac guy said it was an unusual repair, but was less surprised after he asked me how often I use the vacuum! I have apparently put some mileage on it! I don't think it was more than a $200 repair. If that's the only thing that has happened to it in 10yrs, I'd say that's pretty good!

Q

Comment
sis33

Hi cluscher. If you have read this entire thread you will see that I was one of the very early adopters of Hide A Hose and posted about it ad nauseum in those early years, so much so that one of the posters above thought I had a vested interest! Anyway, 11 years on and I still love my Hide A Hose. We are about to build a new house and HAH was one of the very first on my list of "must haves". One caveat, we have all hard floors with a few rugs and our new house will be the same. Some HAH owners with a lot of carpet have been somewhat disappointed. In 11 plus years we recently replaced the handle and transmitter. No other problems at all. Our hoses are all original and have socks but I hear that there is a new, even better hose that I think may be sockless. Others who have the new hoses may be able to help here. I have had no problems with the socks. We did our own install and it was easy. You have to decide where the outlets will be and where the "garage pipe(s)" (the pipes inside your walls and/or ceilings where the hoses hide when not in use) will run. The "garage pipes" have to be long enough to house the entire length of each hose. All the joints in your "garage pipes" should be gentle sweeps, not sharp angles that could snag the hose. The "garage' pipe" and fittings were standard plumbing 2" schedule 40, so not expensive. Make sure you calculate sufficient hose length to go around any furniture, like beds, that will block your path when you are cleaning and to reach into the far corners of your ceilings. Without any doubt Hide A Hose was the best investment we made in our home! It simply makes sense. You already have many years of experience of using CVs, so just imagine not having to coil up the hose each time or lug it around the house, or having to find a place to keep it. For me there is just no downside. The best of luck with your new build.

Q

Reply to: Hi cluscher. If you have read this entire thread you will see that I was one of the very early adopters of Hide A Hose and posted about it ad nauseum in those early years, so much so that one of the posters above thought I had a vested interest! Anyway, 11 years on and I still love my Hide A Hose. We are about to build a new house and HAH was one of the very first on my list of "must haves". One caveat, we have all hard floors with a few rugs and our new house will be the same. Some HAH owners with a lot of carpet have been somewhat disappointed. In 11 plus years we recently replaced the handle and transmitter. No other problems at all. Our hoses are all original and have socks but I hear that there is a new, even better hose that I think may be sockless. Others who have the new hoses may be able to help here. I have had no problems with the socks. We did our own install and it was easy. You have to decide where the outlets will be and where the "garage pipe(s)" (the pipes inside your walls and/or ceilings where the hoses hide when not in use) will run. The "garage pipes" have to be long enough to house the entire length of each hose. All the joints in your "garage pipes" should be gentle sweeps, not sharp angles that could snag the hose. The "garage' pipe" and fittings were standard plumbing 2" schedule 40, so not expensive. Make sure you calculate sufficient hose length to go around any furniture, like beds, that will block your path when you are cleaning and to reach into the far corners of your ceilings. Without any doubt Hide A Hose was the best investment we made in our home! It simply makes sense. You already have many years of experience of using CVs, so just imagine not having to coil up the hose each time or lug it around the house, or having to find a place to keep it. For me there is just no downside. The best of luck with your new build.

Q

Comment
CVAC_Grant

Dear Chaylabird, I was excited to run across the exchange of ideas on this forum. First and foremost, I must state that I am a manufacturer of central vacuums for a company that has been in the business for 50 years. My 35 years in this specific field and 30 years as the main instructor of seminars for central vacuums at the Vacuum Dealers Trade Assn does put me beyond the average user of the systems. I am not the manufacturer of Hide-A-Hose but our company, as with many of the other manufacturers, does offer this product to our dealers. Your comments from your local dealer discouraging the sales of the Hide-A-Hose system is disheartening yet quite common. As identified by the users in this forum, the hose DOES NOT get dirty in the pipes and the dirty hose sock then does not get the baseboard dirty. That plain is not true according to the myriad of experiences I am aware of. The statement regarding the air driven brush not cleaning as well as the electric brush has some truth to it. I have discussed the electric brush option with the inventors and owners of HAH for over 10 years and it cannot be done in a manner that will obtain UL approval at this time. That being said, for hard surface floors, the HAH eliminates the #1 complaint that I have heard regarding central vacuums from the last 35 years. Hose management is the most frustrating aspect of this product category. It is our company's professional recommendation to install regular electrified inlets in locations where there will be carpeted areas and HAH in large areas where there are hard surface floors. This is a fantastic combination. Often the upstairs bedrooms are carpeted and the downstairs living area has hard floors making the demarcation easy. Now to the likely reasons that you received this information from the Central Vacuum Salesman: I believe kateskouros hit it right on the head! "most know little about the product." And danny_gal is right-on with "1) the contractor doesn't want to take the time or 2) he has no experience with HAH." We are still finding this to be widely true. Many of these guys have done it the same way for 20-30 years and they aren't about to change. I know because I was one of them! My whole life since I was 17 years old I have had a central vacuum and I wasn't about to change. But installing a HAH in my own home made a huge difference in my attitude. I now use it far more often and do not feel that the 50' hose is any longer than my 30 foot hose. I still use my Stealth Electric Powerbrush for my carpets but its clear that this product successfully deals with the hose management issue like no other product. Believe you me, we are attempting to educate the dealers first through training, trade journal articles, videos, and other printed documentation. To clear up a few other items I found in this post, Waterlifter's statement that "they are not serviceable, the interior of the pipe does not get cleaned, there are too many restrictions, it will fill up and stop retracting requiring drywall time" , I will have to reject his claims on all counts. Of the thousands of systems that I know of I have not heard or seen about a single case if the system was installed properly. Please note that there are many extra precautions that the installer must take. The pipe needs to be supported more often, it must be put in insulated areas if it is exposed to extreme cold, it cannot be bent as normal installations allow and cutting of the pipe must be done with a proper pipe cutter. Often a power unit with a stronger waterlift needs to be employed especially if the application is at a higher altitude (thank you lyfia) and you cannot pull out two hoses at a time otherwise it is a bit of extra work to get them back in. Sis3's post of May 17th was spot-on except for a slight correction that the system requires special 2" OD vacuum tubing which is not the same as Schedule 40 plumbing. For todds, yes, this can be added to your existing cvac system by any competent (and willing) central vacuum installer who knows what they are doing and you will usually not have to break open any walls. It may be necessary, though, to upgrade the power of your main unit. Of course that infers that you can also have the entire system installed in an existing home as well. I hope this post is helpful and welcome any other comments or questions.

Q

Reply to: Dear Chaylabird, I was excited to run across the exchange of ideas on this forum. First and foremost, I must state that I am a manufacturer of central vacuums for a company that has been in the business for 50 years. My 35 years in this specific field and 30 years as the main instructor of seminars for central vacuums at the Vacuum Dealers Trade Assn does put me beyond the average user of the systems. I am not the manufacturer of Hide-A-Hose but our company, as with many of the other manufacturers, does offer this product to our dealers. Your comments from your local dealer discouraging the sales of the Hide-A-Hose system is disheartening yet quite common. As identified by the users in this forum, the hose DOES NOT get dirty in the pipes and the dirty hose sock then does not get the baseboard dirty. That plain is not true according to the myriad of experiences I am aware of. The statement regarding the air driven brush not cleaning as well as the electric brush has some truth to it. I have discussed the electric brush option with the inventors and owners of HAH for over 10 years and it cannot be done in a manner that will obtain UL approval at this time. That being said, for hard surface floors, the HAH eliminates the #1 complaint that I have heard regarding central vacuums from the last 35 years. Hose management is the most frustrating aspect of this product category. It is our company's professional recommendation to install regular electrified inlets in locations where there will be carpeted areas and HAH in large areas where there are hard surface floors. This is a fantastic combination. Often the upstairs bedrooms are carpeted and the downstairs living area has hard floors making the demarcation easy. Now to the likely reasons that you received this information from the Central Vacuum Salesman: I believe kateskouros hit it right on the head! "most know little about the product." And danny_gal is right-on with "1) the contractor doesn't want to take the time or 2) he has no experience with HAH." We are still finding this to be widely true. Many of these guys have done it the same way for 20-30 years and they aren't about to change. I know because I was one of them! My whole life since I was 17 years old I have had a central vacuum and I wasn't about to change. But installing a HAH in my own home made a huge difference in my attitude. I now use it far more often and do not feel that the 50' hose is any longer than my 30 foot hose. I still use my Stealth Electric Powerbrush for my carpets but its clear that this product successfully deals with the hose management issue like no other product. Believe you me, we are attempting to educate the dealers first through training, trade journal articles, videos, and other printed documentation. To clear up a few other items I found in this post, Waterlifter's statement that "they are not serviceable, the interior of the pipe does not get cleaned, there are too many restrictions, it will fill up and stop retracting requiring drywall time" , I will have to reject his claims on all counts. Of the thousands of systems that I know of I have not heard or seen about a single case if the system was installed properly. Please note that there are many extra precautions that the installer must take. The pipe needs to be supported more often, it must be put in insulated areas if it is exposed to extreme cold, it cannot be bent as normal installations allow and cutting of the pipe must be done with a proper pipe cutter. Often a power unit with a stronger waterlift needs to be employed especially if the application is at a higher altitude (thank you lyfia) and you cannot pull out two hoses at a time otherwise it is a bit of extra work to get them back in. Sis3's post of May 17th was spot-on except for a slight correction that the system requires special 2" OD vacuum tubing which is not the same as Schedule 40 plumbing. For todds, yes, this can be added to your existing cvac system by any competent (and willing) central vacuum installer who knows what they are doing and you will usually not have to break open any walls. It may be necessary, though, to upgrade the power of your main unit. Of course that infers that you can also have the entire system installed in an existing home as well. I hope this post is helpful and welcome any other comments or questions.

Q