I haven't read all the comments but I had a central vac in my old house and HATED it (not hide a hose). The hose is cumbersome and much more trouble than it is worth. The attachments and hose take up a lot of space, etc. I own 4 vacuums and am a major vacuumer:). I have two cordless vacs that stay charging in closets - one right outside our kitchen in our back hall (this is the Dyson cordless) for quick pick ups after people eat in the kitchen and for the back hall (use at least daily), and one upstairs (Hoover Platinum cordless vac). Both are EXCELLENT! They work great on tile and hardwood and almost as well on flat weave carpet (all we have in this house and last). We had plugs put in both closets so they could remain charging and this is an excellent alternative to the hide a hose. Frankly, 7k square feet is too big to clean yourself. I have been doing it for the last couple of months and even though our basement is basically empty and only needs mopping, it takes a full day to do it right. I have decided I need a cleaning team - had one before and they moved out of town - to hit the hot spots. If you do that, you won't need to vacuum the whole house up and down on a weekly basis and the central vac makes less sense. I think if I were to have a central vac I would do the hide a hose for sure - the vac pans sound awesome for bathrooms and kitchen - but the central vac is not worth the money. Cheaper and easier to buy a vacuum for every floor (which I did).

There are 2 different (gas pump style) handle types (at least) with 2 different mechanisms for adjusting air flow/leakage at the handle. Why I have 2 different ones I don't know. If you want maximum suction, there should be no leakage at the handle. There is a plastic piece to turn to change the leakage. I don't have the remote shut off. It was a little pricey and I figure I could add it later if I wanted. Wife hasn't requested it and I don't mind not having it. The only time I think about it is with the turbo cat since that is loud when it isn't on carpet so going from room to room (hardwood in between), it is a bit annoying. Otherwise, our motor is pretty isolated that just leaving it on is no problem.

Here's my HideAHose bid: Two story house, c. 2500 + garage. Vacuflo 760. This unit covers up to a 12,000 sf house on regular valves; this is almost five times the size of my house, but is apparently necessary for HAH. Two HideAHose outlets ($500 per outlet as opposed to $100 for a REGULAR outlet!! This is, to me, a shocking difference.) One on each floor, each fairly centrally located. Each outlet comes with a 50' hose, each of which comes with a hose sock. Given the price of the HAH outlets, it makes a world of sense to go with fewer outlets and longer hoses, unless you're a better negotiater than I am (clearly, quite likely.) One vac pan. One regular outlet in the garage, with a 'garage' hose & kit. A 'Deluxe Tool Kit'; have no idea what that includes. Website is pretty useless; will continue to ask for further information. Total price: $2560.00. I do think we'll do it. And thanks to reiehaxm, above, for the specs. You're why I didn't question the size of the unit. I'm sure I'll like it, but I certainly don't like paying for it! Kate.

Wish this conversation was more current. I have a vulcan range with six eyes fitted for propane. I never thought about the issue until I had it for a while. I had old timey ranges that only had pilots and it never seemed like an issue. These six eyes have large pilots that waste a lot of gas. The oven is a completely separate issue. I'm also a jack of all trades electrical engineer that has been a controls engineer and a controller board designer among other things. The post about the igniter control module is probably the most reasonable way out, but then you need a solenoid valve that must be activated to supply the gas and time out if the flame detect feedback signal is not received. Right there I'm already over anybody's head that does not have at least some of my training. That is also a point of contention for me because consumer type controllers have no source code or schematics so you can maintain the thing indefinitely. They expect you to throw it away after 5 to 10 yrs and when a controller goes out that you can no longer get (and they are ridiculously expensive if you can) typically renders an otherwise perfectly operating appliance worthless. So let say one other thing in response to the post above that defended the high price of consumer type similar stoves: You will always notice that the commercial grade are built from much heavier gauge metal and and have less custom plastic or otherwise easily damageable parts on them. Those reasons are why I wanted a commercial range. I am still on the fence of what to do. One option I have considered is use igniter modules with a solenoid valve at the oven input regulator and then I will need a user interface, the simplest being a small NEMA enclosure with some industrial push buttons and and lights. Next I need a way to control these. This falls in 3 categories: 1) a bunch of relays ('70's stle industrial control - big, cumbersome, wiring in a cabinet, but he most Neanderthal electrician that work on it, but you need to know how to design it, but it's not rocket science). 2) a PLC - (programmable logic controller) - some electricians can work on these, these days, the are reasonable price ones out there but you need the experience of design and programming - another step up from relays - however, if the PLC has an Ethernet connection and a Modbus interface, you can integrate you oven control into an overall home control system and control or monitor it from the other side of the world. 3) The next is custom design a board with a microprocessor, the advantage being that you can make the wiring minimalist, but beyond that the requirements of what you need to be able to do are so great I won't waste any time discussing it further. No one else would be able to ever work on it and your insurance company would not like it. I lamented the same issues when I designed my septic system that uses crude float switch control and ended up using a PLC for that project. The inspector passed my system and said it was the most sophisticated in the county. So I can monitor the flow of T---s from the other side of the planet....Eureka !!!! Seriously there are a lot of advantages to it, but that is way beyond the scope of this post.