A follow up to get this off the top of the threads!

My last house, built in 2001, had a VacuFlo system with a dust pan in the kitchen. I said that if I ever built another house, that would be my #1 non-negotiable item. I would never have another house without it!! Of course, I thought I'd never build again, but here we are . . . and I'm doing another VacuFlo. I intended to have the HAH feature but didn't get it -- neither of the two installers here have ever done one, so they're very sceptical and negative. Their attitude, along with the fact that it almost doubled the cost (putting it quite bit over what we had budgeted) meant we gave it up. But I am getting a hose and an accessory kit for each floor, and two Vrooms -- one in the kitchen and one in the laundry room, which will be my dog's headquarters. I wish I could have had the HAH, but I'll be happy with what I'm getting!! I can't imagine going back to a non-central vac! Arlene

I have never had Hide A Hose but your installer does make a few valid points. It will only work with air driven power heads, like the Turbo Cat. I had a system installed in my former home and they sales person this would perform as well as an electric power head. I used it a week and purchased and electric set for each floor. I had 35 foot hoses in this house and they were heavy. I had 25 foot hoses in my 2 previous homes and they were much easier to handle. I 1/4 ID does restrict the air flow and the air driven Turbo Cat slows to a crawl. My system came with a 1 3/8 hose and it spun like crazy. It just didn't pick up anything. I had new plush carpet and after 20 passes the carpet fuzz was spit out, onto the carpet. The Turbo Cat has a very small air opening and the suction is reduced as the turbine takes up most of it. With the reduced airflow at the brush roll it isn't doing much. I had to keep taking it apart and dig the fuzz out of the opening and that is the reason I purchased the electric power heads a week later. It would work fine on Berber or any low pile carpet. I would look into the future as when you change the carpet it would be a shame to limit your use of CV as the air driven would not work on your new carpet. Also pay attention to the placement of the inlets and your furniture placement. If you are not going to get direct connect valves to run an electirc head you will need an electrical outlet near by to plug the pigtale into. Be certain that it is not behind a heavy piece of furniture and are unable to access it. I had new outlets placed right next to the inlet. I had 3 Vroom in my former home and the were great in the baths and kitchen. Hose Magic is still in business and is now called Hose Genie. You are able to use and electric power head with this system, the hose ID is 1 4/4 so the air flow is not reduced, it uses a electric motor to retract the hose instead of suction, and the hoses are 45 feet long. I think that would be heavy as I didn't like my 35' hoses. I found this on www.thinkvacuums.com They have an istallation video and a lot of information and the pros and cons of Hide A Hose and this system. They are still in business. Hoover can't save itself since it closed their factory in N Canton OH. They have made junk for years. They should just go out of business. This Co was bought out by Cana-Vac if I remember right. Can-Vac has been in business for years. Good luck. Let us know what you decide.

It is really easy to pull out the hose and I love not having to store a 30 ft hose either. Also you don't need to pull the full length out if you don't need it. You only pull out what you need. Since it is attached there is no lugging around a heavy hose to move it to another outlet and it is very light weight. Lighter than in my old house where I had the 30ft hose I had to lug around. As for retracting. That is the easiest. You just cover the hose hole with the vaccum on and it retracts itself. Depending how much you cover controls the speed in which it retracts. We don't have carpet so the air powered is not an issue for me here, however it never was in my old house either where only the spare bedrooms were carpeted. Cleaned those really good. A Kirby guy tried to sell me his vaccum and he tried to show me how dirty my carpet was, but couldn't. Of course being that they were spare rooms they didn't see as much use as a living area would.