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....

I've had both the socked hose and the new blue hose and I MUCH prefer the newer blue hose. The sock seemed to collect a lot of dog hair while I vacuumed and I believe the inside of the blue hose is a little bigger and smoother (don't quote me). Regardless, I feel as if there's more suction from the blue hose than the socked one I had when the HAH was first installed. I've had the blue hose about 3 years and there's been no damage to my extensive woodwork throughout the house and I'm not careful at all when pulling it around corners, banisters, etc.

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!

That was my experience as well!

I just wanted to say that it really bothers me when people use excessive exclamation marks.

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.

Zuzu426,

I went ahead and got the blue hose and i 2 dust pans. I think its more than enough, hopefully that is the case!

Can you return the dust pans (ie vac pans)? The jet engine sound makes them not useful with a powerful motor like the HAH requires.

I didn't realize that was an issue...

The vacpans are extremely loud when using them. It's bizarre because when you're using the hose the noise level is pretty low. Something about all of that suction trying to come through such a narrow opening makes quite a racket. If I had to do it over again I'd consider either a Vroom in my kitchen island or just nothing at all. My HAH outlet isn't terribly far from the kitchen so I don't use the vacpan too often.

Have to disagree with this. Love my vac pan and wish I had another one. I currently have one in my bathroom and it's great for getting he hair off the floor. I switch it on and use the blow dryer to direct the floor hair toward it. Hubs trims his facial hair in front of it and kicks it on. I trim my kids hair and send it into the vac pan. Wish I had one for kitty litter messes, but we weren't cat owners when I installed it. Mine isn't any louder than the blue hose. Completely worth it.

Wonder why the difference in volume, perhaps there is a bigger vacpan that is quieter. I added one to another house without HAH and it wasn't bad because the motor was not that powerful. But with the new unit it is too loud to be useful. The hose is silent in comparison. I installed both exactly the same.

Zuzu - what motor do you have, perhaps it is weaker than ours with a loud pan

I don't have the model number, but it is a cyclonic vacumaid with the split setup (motor up high on the wall separate from the suction portion and attached canister). It can't be too small because it had to be sized large enough to retract 50' hoses. My socked hoses were practically silent, but these blue ones certainly aren't.

The guest house I just built does not have a split motor, but I don't have a vac pan in there to compare.

I'm puzzled as to how yours is so loud. I would say mine might be about the same level or a touch louder than a hair dryer.

Great thread!

We are adding a suite for my mother above the garage. We have an older (12 yrs) hah system with the sock. Can I use the new system with the same power unit? Can I change out our old sock hoses for the new sock-less hoses?

My comments from above:

1. The sock does not get dirty in our system.
2. Cost a bit more to install, but is much easier to use.
3. We replaced the RF system with a $10 RF from EBAY after the second handle went bad. That was several years ago, still going strong.
4. We have pets, so we have to empty our canister every three to four months.

So you just want to add another inlet to the existing system? I have no installation experience, but I understand the factors that go into installation. I would think as long as you provide enough pipe housing for the new inlet so it doesn't interfere the main trunk and you are selective about where it ties into the existing system, you could absolutely add to the existing system.

The blue hoses are interchangeable with the socked versions. It's a matter of pulling out the old hose and inserting the new one. Simple!

This is an excellent thread.

Would it be possible to retrofit a HAH in a regular CV setup with a powerful motor?

The new build cost of HAH is $750 per outlet, where as conventional outlet and vac pans are $150 per outlet. The equipment cost was the same.

Retrofit difficulty is based on accessibility. What you have to do is have 55 feet (I think hose length + 5) of no Y connections and sweeping turns. So you wind up running the length of the house, turn and run another length. Not really hard but a lot of pipe work. The outlets costs $150 each and the hose another $150 - by my recollection. So a $600 upcharge is not bad. You need far fewer - they probably displace 3 regular outlets on average - so then your charge is really not bad at all. Now that being said, this monkey did it in 2-3 hours per outlet.

The other issue with retrofit is that the rough in piece (about $20) does not come in an old work version AFAIK. So you would have to cut a bigger hole in drywall, nail it in place, and then patch the drywall. Yuck!

I wish someone would have pointed out that they an be installed two ways. One of ours pulls down from the wall super easy. The other one pulls up and is a pain in the butt to pull out. Had I known this before hand, I would have made sure we picked locations where both could be pulled down.

Yep - down is much better.

Sorry to bring up an old thread, I've been reading through HAH threads and figured I should post my questions here instead of making a new post.

We're starting our new build this month and I've wanted a HAH for 3 years now, so plan on having it installed.

At what stage of the build should I be contacting HAH installers to come and put it in? I assume it's less costly when the house is in it's framing stage? Should it already have electric and plumbing done?

And do I just need two hoses - one for upstairs and one for downstairs? Or should I have one in my finished basement too? The house is 50' wide and 2800sqft - should I be getting the 50' hoses?

Thanks!

Should be installed prior to insulation and drywall. The best positions for the outlets, and the lengths of hoses, must be calculated to enable you to reach the furthest corners of your home (including ceilings) and allowing for major obstructions like beds and large furniture. We have 1 outlet upstairs and two downstairs. Consider any attached garage and covered porches too.

Love the hide a hose and couldn't imagine carrying a large bulky hose around from outlet to outlet. Important to remember to choose the strongest vacuum unit you can afford since the strength of your suction will be dependent on that.

I would do right before insulation. You have more flexibility than plumbers and HVAC do so IMO, they should get to go first.

Electricians can certainly work around pipes. You don't need electricity to rough it in. I suppose they might put an outlet right where you wanted to put your hose connection and that could be an issue. So I guess ideally before electrician.

Kelsey - buy the longest hose to reach the farthest corner of your house, plus some extra for manouvering.

FYI, we found HAH was more than double the price of a regular system, as they required the canister vaccuum unit and a hose on each floor! And because we needed the longest hose possible, which meant we needed more powerful suction (due to losses). Since we're in an area where finished basements are common, that meant 3 systems!

The new hoses are way lighter than the ones my parents had 20 years ago.

Vacuum unit on each floor is not correct. My last house was a basement house so 3 floors. 5500 sqft total. Served perfectly with a single unit. I had 3 hoses - 1 per floor. The motor unit was about $600 and you can buy one for $300 so I agree - double cost there.

There are lots of installers that don't really want to do HAH and they price them accordingly. There is nothing logical or appropriate about it.

For a frame of reference, we were served well with 50 ft hoses with about 2000 sqft per floor. The basement had a 40 and had less square footage. I just checked and prices are still about $500 per inlet for valve, rough in, pipe and 50ft hose/handle.

Weekend project for me done before drywall. So typical (ha!) 5500 sqft basement house is about $2100 in parts, 10 hours of labor (generous $50 although this is marginally skilled labor). So $2600. Typical upcharge 100% still puts this at $5k which most people would be happy with.

We are building a 1 story home, and starting way back in the planning stages, I decided I'd install the HAH, but when we began thinking about the costs, we opted for 6 outlets, and 2 hoses. I was also concerned about clogs in the piping, or a problem with the hose kinking, etc. I've had central vac systems in the last 2 houses (over 30 years total), and couldn't imagine living without CV. I have a parrot and a husband with lots of allergies, so I often vacuum twice a day, and CV is imperative. All those allergens are going straight into the canister, and not being blown around the house! Even with 2 50' hoses, the cost was much less. I even planned for 2 shallow depth closets to house the hoses.

Agree with David Cary, not necessary for a unit on each floor. Our house is over 4000 sq ft and long. We have one unit with 3 outlets. Our system is now 12 years old with NO problems.

The hose is easily removed from the wall so IF a blockage occurred it could be removed without affecting the pipes inside the walls. The idea of blockages is often a scare tactic used by installers who are unfamiliar with Hide A Hose. Our hoses have never blocked and kinking has not been a problem either.

I can't imagine having a home without a Hide A Hose, it is so convenient and trouble free. Carrying hoses around, however light, and having to coil them up after every use, is not my idea of fun. If you can install it yourself as we did, or find an installer who will not rip you off, there is simply no downside IMO to a CV with Hide A Hose.

Great thread, thanks for taking time to share information.

I self installed a central Vac about 10 years ago. I found the supplied hard install pipe not only expensive but fairly flimsy. I presume this is because it is not standard 'Home Depot plumbing' size which is mass produced and cheap. I had the impression the manufacturers chose a 'custom' size in order for you to have to purchase this 'special' pipe from them at inflated costs. I ended up using Home Depot pipe throughout which was fractionally wider diameter and made my own adaptors in order for it to mate with all end fittings. The end result was great with no leaks and I would say a more robust install of pipework. I cannot off-hand remember the size of pipe I used but was wondering if this system would still work with Hide-a-hose as I did not have one before. Anyone relate to this or care to comment?

There is a large store that comes up on google that sells all HAH supplies. They sell an adapter like you made. But each turn is a specific wide sweep that is CV size so you have to use a lot of adapters. The adapters are $1.

But you definitely can't use your pipe. When you install conventional CV, you choose the shortest run from outlet to unit. When you install HAH, you must take a long route so that you have room for the hose to slide into the pipe. Additionally, the turns have to be large sweeping turns to allow the pipe in. The turns are $14 so you want to minimize because of cost in addition to allow the hose in easily. You also want to be a little careful about excess solvent used at the junctions. My first attempt worked perfectly for 8 years until we moved but I was a bit nervous since you can't really test until the walls are up. (there are definitely ways to test but you have to bring a motor in early and temporarily install - not something I did but might the next time)

Does anyone use a Hide a Hose with Berber carpet? We installed a HAH and just moved in. I had purchased the battery charged head CX1000 instead of a turbo car because our house is half carpeted, but it’s berber so I’m wondering if the beater bar on the CX1000 would be bad for the carpet?

While I don't have any berber carpeting, I do have the CX1000 and use it on wool area rugs as well as wall to wall carpeting of various lengths. In my opinion, it's much gentler on these surfaces than any of my previous Sharks or Dysons. My HAH came with the Turbocat but I added the CX1000 rechargeable powerhead because I do have wall to wall carpeting in my bedrooms and family room. It does a much better job than the Turbocat. Check with your carpet manufacturer because some recommend suction only. I have one rug I cannot clean with anything but a basic rug/floor tool.

nice platform and nice discussion about vacuum ! thanks to all :)

We have a new construction and my husband and I did our own HAH install — 3 inlets (2 50’ and 1 60’) and we could not be more pleased. We bought everything from Central Vaccum Store’s website. Easy to use and one of my favorite features of the new house.

I have been looking to install central vacuum for about a month now and have pretty much decided that if I do, it would have to have a hide a hose system. The only thing stopping me is that I have mostly carpet in my home with the exception of the kitchen and baths. This being the case iI'm finding it hard to pull the trigger on a system without an electric powerhead. I have read about the cx1000 but at $400 say every 5 years to replace it, can I justify the cost of a central vac? That being said and everyone here seemingly loving their HAH, does anyone have mostly carpet and love it without an electric powerhead?

If you have carpeting you are going to need some type of brushroll. The CX1000 does better than the air-powered Turbocat but both are better than just a straight suction rug tool. I guess one question to consider in your situation is how often do you use tools when you vacuum? If you have that much carpeting and you rarely use the hose on a vacuum to dust, clean upholstery, etc. then a central vac might not be your best option. My parents have had a central vac since we were kids and used it a lot when we were all living at home. Now that all the kids have grown and they're in their 70's they rarely use it. They prefer their Riccar Supralight upright since they don't need to constantly vacuum under sofa cushions or other tough spots. They do their wood floors with a Dyson Cordless. Rarely do they drag out the hose of the central vac.

Should I start a new thread or can I add my HAH CV proposal here? New build in framing stage, questions about what is spec'd.

Thanks

We moved into our new home about 18 months ago. Central vacuum - Hide a Hose is by far the best decision.

The critique mentions about dirt being pulled out by the hose. In a sealed system(such as the Chameleon retractable hose system), I don't know how that is possible. The hose carries the dirt(not the pipe), and the hose runs through the pipe. Where does the dirt come from(unless the floor that is being vacuumed is very dirty and it sticks to the outside of the hose).....then I could understand the dirt.

I know this thread is from several years ago but just thought I’d give a recommendation for anyone who’s looking for a retractable hose system. I’m a big fan of HP Product’s Chameleon system. The components are just as quality as HAH if not better and are supposed to cost a little less. Also, you can buy an adapter that allows you pull the hose out and use it with a regular central vacuum inlet. Check out Owen Perkin’s videos on YouTube for more information.

One other thing: when looking at floor inlets (toe kicks), buy the Cansweep. It is more reliable and so much quieter than the Vacpan. I install central vacuum systems and used to offer the Vacpan but never will again. The Cansweep can’t be beat!

I just replaced my sock hose with the new blue rapid flex hose. Unfortunately when I lock it into place it doesn’t fully lock tight and while I’m vacuuming it slowly sucks back up into the wall. Any suggestions on how to lock it tighter?

We only have one vac canister in the garage so our system is quiet in the house. I LOVE the vac pans. I have one in each bathroom and kitchen. A friend of mine has only vac pans in every room. My only issue is the sick on the hose makes marks in my walls and baseboard corners. I never see an dust or dirt come out of the tube when I pull it out and I’m pretty meticulous about vacuuming. We have all hardwood flooring so this is the best vac for us but what about the hose marks?? Driving me crazy

Oh, my house is 3880 sf ranch and we have 3 HAH outlets

Pam,
What makes marks on your walls? And why so many outlets? How long are your hoses?

Hose gets sucked back in while I am vacuuming…any tips??

Make sure that your lock on the Hide a hose outlet is engaged. I can’t think of any other reason why the hose would get sucked in while vacuuming.

The hide a hose new blue rapid flex hose is the absolute worst. It twist and tangles while using it to the point where every 10 mins I have to turn off the vacuum and disconnect the handle and untwist the hose. It’s a nightmare. More importantly the hose leaves marks on everything. Scuff marks and drag marks on my hardwood floors. I have lived in my house for 10 years and my floors were in excellent shape. I bought these hoses 6 months ago and my floor is destroyed. The hose chews up corners as well. Do not buy. We had the old sock hoses and I wish I never upgraded.

That's awful Jenlintner. I have had the blue rapid flex hose for at least five years and haven't had those issues with my extensive woodwork and hardwood floors. I will say I think my Dyson cordless has done some damage now that the new model doesn't come with a fluffy head attachment.

I love my HAH! I will especially appreciate it as I age and may find it hard to carry a vacuum upstairs.

My question is- What is the best attachment for my new light wire hardwood floors that I will vacuum daily. The floors are on the darker side and I have a lot of Cavalier glitter 😂
Does it come with a very gentle brush or do I need to buy another attachment?

Thank you!