- Why Choose a Central Vacuum System?
- How to Choose The Right Central Vacuum Unit for your Needs?
- Technical Charts and Specs Explained
- Types Of Filtration Systems
- Types of 2 Motors Central Vacuum Systems
- Types of Central Vacuum Inlet Valves
- Different Types of Hoses For Central Vacuums
- Carpet Beaters
Why Choose a Central Vacuum System?
The really great advantage of a central vacuum system is that it can be installed in older homes, existing homes as well as new constructions, making it the ultimate home improvement project.
A central vacuum unit can be installed everywhere with or without pipes in the walls, no matter how large and how many floors you have. The fact is that you have to choose the right unit for your home size to experience the best results available with your central vacuum system. With a built-in central vacuum system, there's no more lugging a heavy cleaner up and down stairs or from room to room. Instead, you carry a cleaning attachment on the end of a long, lightweight flexible hose that will allow you to clean every corners of your home easily and with minimum efforts.
Using a central vacuum system has never been easier, and helps keep your home healthier, since the dust, allergens and debris are not re-circulated in the air like portable vacuums, but is carried away through the walls into the central vacuum receptacle. It will remove not only dust, dirt, and debris, but pollen, dust mites, dander, and other allergens that can be harmful to you and your family.
It is also easier to use a central vacuum system then a portable vacuum cleaner or upright vacuum cleaner because of the unique hose and easy set up accessories. Nevertheless, a central vacuum system can have almost 30 years of lifetime and more.
Here are the enemies to Attack
A central vacuum unit has more power than a portable unit, resulting in more efficient cleaning power. There are no power cords to trip over or to limit one's range of operation. Since the motor is in an insulated, out of the way location, like the utility room or garage, and of course a central vacuum operates with far less noise being installed in a remote location in the home.
Installing a central vacuum system in your home is a home improvement project that can pay huge dividends in time, energy and saving money! It also gives a better resale value to your home.
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How to Choose The Right Central Vacuum Unit for your Needs?
First, answer these 4 important questions
- 1-How many inlet valves will you need to cover every floor automatic sweepers (VacPan or others) included ?
- 2-Do you have carpets? If yes, what is the percentage compared to hardfloors? Shaggy or rough carpets?
- 3-Do you have animals?
- 4-Do you have children or allergies background in the family?
These questions are very important because they will help you choose the right central vacuum system for your home and your situation.
Question 1 How many inlet valves will you need to cover every floor automatic sweepers (VacPan or others) inlcuded?
Each inlet valve needs a different length of PVC pipes to connect it to the central unit. So the more central vacuum inlet valves you have, the longest the pipe network will be. The central vacuum at the end needs to be strong enough to suck up the air in the pipes before being able to lift the dust on the floor when vacuuming. Automatic sweepers must also be count as an inlet valve as it needs a pipe run to connect to the central vacuum network. For best results every inlet valves should be installed in the middle of a floor if possible. Also think that you can choose a longer central vacuum flexible hose instead of installing 2 inlet valves per floor as it is available in 30', 35', and 40'+.
Then you can refer to our technical chart for every central vacuum on this site to make sure you have chosen the right central vacuum for your type of installation! Just take a look at the number of inlet valves the central vacuum supports in our technical charts for every model on the site.
Question 2 Do you have carpets? If yes, what is the percentage compared to hardfloors? Shaggy or rough?
For turbo carpet beater, or air driven carpet beaters, if you have more than 50% carpet, we strongly recommend the TurboCat or TurboZoom carpet beaters, but for best results with these big air turbo carpet beater you need at least 130" waterlift of power. The TurboCat and TurboZoom are more heavy so they also perform better on shaggy carpets. For 50% or less carpet, we suggest the turbo TK-280 carpet beater as it requires minimum 100" waterlift to work perfectly on any kind of carpets.
For electric carpet beaters, you must have a hose with integrated high voltage, either a pigtail or a SuperValve adapter at the end of the hose and a 110 volts receptacle on the hose handle to connect the electric beater. The advantage with electric carpet beaters is that they have an independant motor that always gives constant performances.
Question 3 Do you have animals?
The fact is in this case that, animals are well-known for dirt, debris and allergens. If you have a combination of carpets and animals, make sure you choose a powerful central vacuum to remove pet hair from upholstery, home furniture and carpets. It will allow you to reduce the frequency of those cleaning tasks and keep your home clean. We can also recommend to choose a full size central vacuum because pet hair sometimes accumulates rapidly depending on how many dogs or cats you have at home.
Question 4 Do you have children or allergies background in the family?
Children are also well know for mess and dirt, you also want to keep the safest environment for them inside the home. It is recommended to choose the best filter system available and vent your central vacuum unit outside to keep the dust and debris outside the living environment.
Technical Charts and Specs Explained
Suction or Waterlift (H20 inches)
This measures the suction strength of a central vacuum motor. Essentially, it tells how much "pull" or "lift" power the motor has. This measurement is always taken at its maximum value at the 1"1/4 inch orifice (sealed vacuum) where suction is at its greatest.
Often referred to as H20 inches of Waterlift, Suction is vital to overall system performance since it is the "pull power" that creates the velocity of airflow necessary to move debris through the complex network of vacuum PVC pipes, hose and accessories. While airflow is necessary for a vacuum cleaner to work, Of any performance rating in central vacuum systems, suction is perhaps the best measurement to evaluate a system s performance and plays a crucial role in providing and maintaining performance where it counts, at the end of your central vacuum hose.
The H20 inch or the waterlift value is expressed between 80 to 240
CFM (cubic feet minute)
CFM refers to the volume of air the motor is able to move. The CFM is the unit that indicates the movement of air that is generated. The more Water lift /CFM you have, the more sweeping power you have. But CFM alone is not a power measurement.
Airwatts
This is the most used and misleading term in the central vacuum industry. It is true that the airwatt combined with the waterlift is a performance indicator, the fault is that the airwatt value is a obtained from a mathematic formula based on CFM taken directly at the motor and not at the end of the hose where vacuuming takes place. The water lift will be almost the same at the motor then at the end of the hose while the airwatt will be completely different. Every inch of PVC pipes change the airwatt value! So the airwatt is always different from a central vacuum installation to an other.
2 motors can have the same air watt value but one or the other will be less powerful in terms of suction power.
REMEMBER: It is important to consider that the true performance overall value for a central vacuum system is the waterlift but that the airwatts combined to the waterlift can also give a good idea of the performances.
Number of Stages
The number of stages refers to the number of fans the motor has inside. The fans create the suction and also cool down the motor. You can have powerful two stages motors but also powerful 3 stages motors. It depends only of the fans size. Some fans can have larger or smaller diameters. It is not a performance indicator.
Decibels
These values are taken by the manufacturer and depend of the environment in which those units are tested. The problem in the vacuum industry is that there is no guide line to evaluate the noise a unit does. Each manufacturer has their own way to evaluate noise. So be vigilant when looking at these decibel values.
Amps
It's a measurement of current that a motor draws and does not measure cleaning performance. Amps are more of a marketing ploy for portable upright and canister vacuums to indicate perceived power. It does not actually measure cleaning power. Perhaps it is an important value when replacing motors.
Types of Filtration Systems
On the market, there are few different types of filtration that exist for central vacuums such as: washable and dryable filters, self-cleaning filters, true cyclonic systems, unique bag systems and cartridge filters to name only those ones. We will help you out with this issue here.
Washable filters
These filters are the most efficient filters on the market because they can be washed. In some cases you can even wash them in the washing machine and dry them in the drying machine. When cleaned, a filter is like brand new and helps prevent performance problems. It also filters better when the filter is clean; in this case it prevents dust from returning in the air. If combined with a bag if possible with your unit, it doubles up your filtration efficiency and less maintenance will be required. Those types of filters are also often permanent which means that you will never have to replace them. In some cases, filters need to be change as specified by manufacturer.
Self-Cleaning filters
These filters are also good filters perhaps you need to change them every 3 to 5 years. These filters are equipped with a small sand bag in the middle of the filter that comes up when the power of the central unit is turned on. All the dirt sticks to the filter in the upper position and when the power is turned off, the sand bag comes down and all the dirt that was sticking to the filter gets in the central vacuum's recipient. This is the way those filters clean themselves. Some manufacturers offer you these filter systems with disposable bags. When use with such bags, the efficiency of these filters is greatly increased and also increase the filter's lifetime.
Cartridge Filters
These filters need to be change almost every year for maximum cleaning power. They cannot be washed and are sometimes very costly to replace.
True Cyclonic (no bag, no filter)
These central vacuum systems must be vent outside because otherwise, they will reject the dusty air into the home. The advantage to use such central vacuums is that you do not need to buy bags or neither filters. The problem with such a filtration system is that the motor is almost not protected from the dust or debris. So if no attention is paid to the power unit, it can greatly damage the motor itself.
Unique Bag System
The dust and debris are filtered by a disposable or tissue bag. This is a filter and a bag at the same time. The disadvantage is that you absolutely need a bag to use the vacuum. The filtration depends on the quality of the bag that you use. Tissue bags tend to be more efficient then paper bags.
N.B. It’s recommended to install outdoor exhaust to vent the vacuum’s air outside because no filter on the market is able to filter 100% of the dust. No matter what kind of filter your vacuum is using it is recommended to vent outside the dusty air of your central vacuum.
Carpet Beaters
Air Turbo Carpet Beaters
First of all, consider that every central vacuum can use turbo carpet beater and it is far less expensive than an electric carpet beater. There are a few different sizes of turbo carpet beater for central vacuum and the bigger it is the biggest the central vacuum needs to be. Why? Because air turbo carpet beaters use a turbine, and the biggest the turbine is, the more suction (waterlift) the vacuum needs to develop to make it spin.
Electric Carpet Beaters
Electric carpet beaters are a very good choice for easy cleaning with 100% constant power on every kind of carpets. With an electric carpet beater, you don’t have to wonder if your vacuum is enough powerful. You have to make sure perhaps that you have 110volts integrated to your central vacuum hose. They are perfect for every tasks.
Here are some of the most common carpet beaters
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