Hello,
We are currently undertaking a full renovation of our house. Since we are adding an additional floor, we also want to install a central vacuum system... but which one?
Here are the key details:
The ground floor is about 100m² (1076 sq ft), the new upper floor around 60m² (646 sq ft) (1st floor),
the longest distance on the ground floor is 11.20m (36.7 ft), and upstairs 7.10m (23.3 ft).
The central unit can be placed in the basement but it doesn’t have to be, as the garage is about 4m (13.1 ft) away from the house, so a pipe could also be routed into the basement.
My idea was to install 2 vacuum inlets on the ground floor plus a cleaning hatch at the base of the kitchen cabinets, on the 1st floor just one in the hallway, and possibly one in the garage as well for vacuuming the cars.
Of course, I’ve already read quite a bit here and found a lot on the internet, but every house and its occupants have their own specific needs. I will install the system myself as I do almost all other work on the house.
What I want to know is...
Which manufacturers are recommended?
How powerful (in air watts) should the vacuum be?
Do the pipes have to be from the system manufacturer, or would 50mm (2 inch) HT (drain) piping with double seals work as well?
etc.
The budget is around 5000€ (about 5000€), but there is some flexibility.
If you need more information like plans, I’m happy to share them.
Best regards, Markus
We are currently undertaking a full renovation of our house. Since we are adding an additional floor, we also want to install a central vacuum system... but which one?
Here are the key details:
The ground floor is about 100m² (1076 sq ft), the new upper floor around 60m² (646 sq ft) (1st floor),
the longest distance on the ground floor is 11.20m (36.7 ft), and upstairs 7.10m (23.3 ft).
The central unit can be placed in the basement but it doesn’t have to be, as the garage is about 4m (13.1 ft) away from the house, so a pipe could also be routed into the basement.
My idea was to install 2 vacuum inlets on the ground floor plus a cleaning hatch at the base of the kitchen cabinets, on the 1st floor just one in the hallway, and possibly one in the garage as well for vacuuming the cars.
Of course, I’ve already read quite a bit here and found a lot on the internet, but every house and its occupants have their own specific needs. I will install the system myself as I do almost all other work on the house.
What I want to know is...
Which manufacturers are recommended?
How powerful (in air watts) should the vacuum be?
Do the pipes have to be from the system manufacturer, or would 50mm (2 inch) HT (drain) piping with double seals work as well?
etc.
The budget is around 5000€ (about 5000€), but there is some flexibility.
If you need more information like plans, I’m happy to share them.
Best regards, Markus
B
bauherr4816 Jan 2015 17:33Hello BOB 1, you might want to request a quote from Offinger suction systems. You can find their website by that name. Just send them a plan, and they will provide a proposal with an offer. They also assist with self-installation.
BOB der 1.16 Jan 2015 19:03Thanks for the tip.
As long as it turns out the way we imagine, I’m happy to spend a few euros on a plan.
But free is always better...
As long as it turns out the way we imagine, I’m happy to spend a few euros on a plan.
But free is always better...
Question: Have you really thought this through about the central vacuum system? I was also absolutely determined to have one at the time, but now I just regret it.
It’s just as loud as a regular vacuum – only you don’t hear the motor but “just” the suction noise. The long hose is just annoying. It’s constantly getting in the way when vacuuming – especially on the stairs. The hose keeps kinking, which of course reduces suction power, and then you have to straighten the kink out again. And of course, the kink is never right behind the vacuum head; you have to trace the long hose back to find it.
In the new house, we don’t have a central vacuum system anymore – I’d rather buy a conventional vacuum again. Friends of ours say the same thing.
And then there’s the tidying up. The hose takes up quite a lot of space. You have to carefully roll it up after every use, but if you, like us, use the vacuum several times a day, eventually you just don’t do it anymore. Much too cumbersome. Our hose actually just lies in the living room almost all day and only gets put away when we have visitors coming. For us, it was money wasted that we could have better spent elsewhere (e.g., a laundry chute).
Costs were around 2,500 euros. We have one inlet on each floor, which is enough to reach everywhere. The manufacturer is Variovac.
It’s just as loud as a regular vacuum – only you don’t hear the motor but “just” the suction noise. The long hose is just annoying. It’s constantly getting in the way when vacuuming – especially on the stairs. The hose keeps kinking, which of course reduces suction power, and then you have to straighten the kink out again. And of course, the kink is never right behind the vacuum head; you have to trace the long hose back to find it.
In the new house, we don’t have a central vacuum system anymore – I’d rather buy a conventional vacuum again. Friends of ours say the same thing.
And then there’s the tidying up. The hose takes up quite a lot of space. You have to carefully roll it up after every use, but if you, like us, use the vacuum several times a day, eventually you just don’t do it anymore. Much too cumbersome. Our hose actually just lies in the living room almost all day and only gets put away when we have visitors coming. For us, it was money wasted that we could have better spent elsewhere (e.g., a laundry chute).
Costs were around 2,500 euros. We have one inlet on each floor, which is enough to reach everywhere. The manufacturer is Variovac.
B
bauherr4817 Jan 2015 12:43Hello, this opinion from Manu1976 is new to me. Many of my acquaintances have such a system and are very satisfied. Certainly, you can hear a suction noise and the air being drawn in. But it’s not comparable to a regular vacuum cleaner; with those, I hear the air as well, but also the motor and turbine. The main reason for many of my acquaintances to choose a central vacuum system was that fine dust is no longer blown back into the living space. I am not familiar with the problem of a kink in the hose. Of course, it’s better to have one more inlet valve so the hose doesn’t need to be as long. We, as well as our acquaintances, would definitely buy such a system again.
Yes, that's right—the sound of air being sucked in. This noise is louder for us than our previous vacuum cleaner. Because of the long distance the air has to travel to the container, it requires a bit more airflow than a normal vacuum.
We recently discussed this topic in a private forum, and mostly negative feedback about these systems came up. Our system is now almost 7 years old. At the beginning, when the hose was still new, there weren’t many kinks, but as the hose ages, more and more kinks appear during vacuuming, which need to be straightened out. And such a hose isn’t exactly cheap.
As I said, ours is used several times daily. Maybe it’s different in a household where vacuuming is less frequent.
And it’s true—the fine dust and the typical vacuum smell are gone. Those are the two advantages I can definitely agree with.
And yes, get an extra canister and the textile hose. I believe this textile covering does a good job preventing kinks. Also, keep in mind that the longer the hose, the more unwieldy it becomes—also think about your wife, since she’s usually the one vacuuming.
We recently discussed this topic in a private forum, and mostly negative feedback about these systems came up. Our system is now almost 7 years old. At the beginning, when the hose was still new, there weren’t many kinks, but as the hose ages, more and more kinks appear during vacuuming, which need to be straightened out. And such a hose isn’t exactly cheap.
As I said, ours is used several times daily. Maybe it’s different in a household where vacuuming is less frequent.
And it’s true—the fine dust and the typical vacuum smell are gone. Those are the two advantages I can definitely agree with.
And yes, get an extra canister and the textile hose. I believe this textile covering does a good job preventing kinks. Also, keep in mind that the longer the hose, the more unwieldy it becomes—also think about your wife, since she’s usually the one vacuuming.
Manu1976 schrieb:
The fine dust and the typical vacuum cleaner smell are gone.But isn't that also the case with a vacuum cleaner equipped with a HEPA filter?
I also find it strange: you build your house to be as airtight as possible, and then you blow the warm air out through something like that...
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