PG - our hide-a-hose was very minimal extra cost as it was mostly the extra material. Ie extra tubing in the attic and then the cost of the hide-a-hose itself. It is worth that extra money. No need to store a hose somewhere and then have to go and get it before using it. We've had ours for 10 years now and if you break the price out over a longer term it really isn't that much extra.

I just wanna say I had no idea these things even still existed! We have an electric broom, one per floor, which handle both wood and carpet just fine.

I had a small cleaning service and I have had the pleasure of using central vacuums in some of the homes and I loved it. There is no other vacuum on the market that has the suction power these have and I have used a lot of brands of vacuums. No bags to change, no containers that leave dust and dirt back onto the carpets or tiles. Have them install it in the garage though and empty it every 3 months or more if needed.

I'm getting the HAH, too! It's one of the things I'm most excited about. Rough in was done with the framing & the final trim-out will be tomorrow! I will have 2 vac pans as well (one in the kitchen & one in the master bath). Now... if I can just get the final word that we're still closing today, I'll be happy.

I have one, and I hate it. Do not like dragging the heavy hose around. I bought two Dysons: one is a stick vac for the hard floors and the other is a regular upright for the carpet in the bedrooms.

Congratulations Janine! I will be amazed if your don't love your new Hide A Hose. It can also easily vacuum your walls, ceilings, drapes, furniture, garage, vehicles, decks etc. Electric brooms and robotic vacuum cleaners are limited in that respect.

I don't care for it. I'd rather just use my regular vacuum than deal with the parts and dragging the hose. Even the hide a hose is annoying, you have to pull it and yank it around. And using a central vac from a previous owner grosses me out.

We have a very old central vacuum (?? 1976?) and it works very well, and as my kids have allergies, am thankful it exhausts into the garage.

Likes for the hide-a-hose at our house. Another plus is that the kids think putting it back into the wall is fun, I let them do that part if they will vacuum ;-)

Just talked to the owner of my co installing my central vac and he mentioned that the hide-a-hose doesn't have electric power and so doesn't work as well as regular. He did say I could get the retractable hose for my regular central vac. For those of you that hate the heavy hose this looks like a great alternative. The Beam/Electrolux is electric.

Is he feeding me a line about the hah?

The HAH does not carry electricity so there is no motorized beater bar. There are other options. I will say that I do fine with the beater bar powered by suction (turbocat?) but the real advantage of central vacs is for solid surfaces. My wife still drags out a conventional vacuum at times... but she would not be without the HAH.

I love my central vac! It was an absolute must in my new build. (hardwoods and tile throughout) The hose doesn't bother me one bit, I actually find it super light. I have a two story home and bringing the hose upstairs beats lugging a heavy vacuum cleaner. I had 2 dustpans installed (kitchen & master bath) and every time I use them (daily), I think, this is the next best thing since sliced bread! My only regret is not putting a dustpan in the guest bath. No biggie for me since it is seldom used....but it would've been nice. The power unit is in the garage which makes vacuuming fairly quiet.

One thing that I wanted to mention, you might want to consider this for the kitchen since there is where most of the crumbs happen

I have had it in two homes, but with the hose you had to drag around. Worked but a real pain in my opinion. I would rather just have a vacuum on each floor. I have a Roomba now and let it do the vacuuming. I just do touch up where needed.

I loved my last 2 central vacs and am installing one in my new home. The suction is better than a Dyson and I like that the dirt and dog hair collects in the garage bin, with easy emptying.

Every house we have owned has had a central vac and we wouldn't be without one. My parents installed a HAH when they built 2 years ago and they have become central vac converts!

My only regret is not installing one when we built a good sized guest house on our property about 6 years ago. No idea why I didn't include one.

I have a 2 story house so I bought a second house to keep upstairs.

Like Red,, no one around here does HAH, just got blank stares when I asked. Nonetheless, love my central vac, the beater in the new one is much better than the older one in the old house and I like that it adjusts levels. Also did the toe kick in the kitchen and so far liking it for easy cleanups.

However, with big dogs and a still muddy back yard, I also just bought a roomba, to keep the mud to dust issue under control. I just recit tonight, so the verdict is still out on whether it helps.

Definitely worth it. We loved our central vac.

ILoveRed - will your house have a lot of carpet? If so then the electric might be more useful, however the suction is so good on a central vaccum that even with just the regular air propelled carpet attachement it works better than any Dyson or other supposedly powerful vaccum in my experience, but I guess this would also depend on distance to the unit. I have hardwood or tiles throughout and lots of area rugs. I use the carpet attachment on my area rugs and it works very well there. I've had carpet in other houses though with the same setup.

Love my 35 year old system! Incredible suction and power. Visiting contractors are amazed when they see how easily they can clean up their messes.....it's as strong as the best shop vacs, but much quieter to use as the powered unit is in the garage.

I built a new ranch townhome in last 2 years and gave away my "regular" vaccum.

During my new build I had emergency back surgery.

Wrapping the long hose around holder etc., is very hard for me and moving it around is hard for me. I have mostly hardwood floors. For me it was not worth the cost. I'm almost 60 but my young 27 yr old daughter loved it when she visited.

i recently bought a robotic vacuum but have not used yet.

i really believe you need to test out a central vac before purchasing & depends on your physical capacities.

i would have loved it when I was younger and no back issues.

Frostesleet, I am 72 and I just put in a vac but it has retractable hose, Im not in my new home yet but I think the hose come in smaller lengths and comes out of each plus in (at least I hope). I have the regular central vac now and I agree I do not like dragging the hose around. I heard that you could possibly get your vac retrofitted for the retractable hose.

We purchased this house three and a half years ago. I have used the central vacuum probably six times. I hate it. Lugging the hose from point to point is a nuisance and I don’t feel the suction is any better than my other two vacuums.. In reference to the person teasing Dyson fans. I am one. My Dyson animal works better than the other all day every day. If I built another home I would not go to the expense. And I have the kitchen crumb sucker too.

Anyway you look at it, sweeping is one of the hardest jobs in the home! The best part of a central vac system for me is the light weight of every piece you use. I do have a retractable hose and the hose is so easy to move around behind the sweeper head. I had worried about it damaging walls and woodwork, but no problem with that. The suction is super for all my floors, carpet or hardwood. It helps to have an installer who knows how to spec your home to make it easy to use in every area. All of this said, I feel my floors could be kept clean without this system. But, I see this as a great choice for my age and the future! Expensive option, yet I am so glad we went with it.

We put in central vac, LOVE being able to vacuum up dust bunnies instead of sweeping/dusting!

We didn't do a hide-a-hose, the cost was nearly double for our two story house, due to the need to upsize the suction motor AND put one on each floor of our (two story plus basement) home.

We have the hide a hose and love it. They do make a vacuum power beater head for it but most of ours is used for bare floors so we just use the suction-only head most of the time.

lookintomyeyes83 - that is crazy. You don't need 3 motors. I had a 3 floor house (basement +2) at 5500 sqft. My $600 motor handled 3 HAH systems.

Now maybe you are saying that you need an outlet on each floor - ok- that is right. But your wording sounds like you need more than 1 motor and that is wrong.

Installers have terrible pricing for HAH. This is an unskilled as it comes and should be $200 extra labor per outlet tops. The motor should be $600 instead of $400.

Each outlet has about $400 in parts at the retail level. But it should be noted that these are much better hoses than standard.

Miele. I have cleaned houses for 30+ years. I'm not crazy about the central vacs, but this thread shows that lots and lots of people love them. I've used a lot of vacuums so if you decide not to go with the central vac, I highly recommend Miele. I just have to say though - about the Kirby comments- it's really not that complicated and the attachments are great for wood floors. It's just a very heavy vacuum if you have to lug it up or down steps. This thread is from November....I assume you have already made a choice??

I have a Miele up north and a central vac here in Florida. I love both and Miele is a great vac

This is so interesting. In Canada, central vacs are extremely common and most homes have them. However, garburators are practically unheard of. In the USA it is totally reversed. I found it very frustrating that homes did not have central vacs. Further they were way more expensive to purchase. On the other hand, I was totally Intimidated by the garburator, which are practically installed in every home down south.

Most of the Kirby vacuums that have been around for 10+ years were rated for 110 cfm airflow with a whopping (sarcasm) 14 inches of lift.

So, with the filter bag in place and the vacuum lowered to the carpet , I would expect no better than 65 cfm of airflow. With the hose attachment connected the airflow was reminiscent of a cheap shop vac. Still, the Kirby did get every little piece of lint up from the carpet ( dark red carpet). These were obviously not designed with stairs in mind.

The dyson uprights, I believe are rated for 120 cfm. Tested airflow at the rotor brush inlet, 59 - 62 cfm with the hepa filters in place. The hepa type filters seem to be a bit more restrictive than the bag type.

Both vacuums would be capable of doing a decent job, due mostly to very aggressive rotor brush designs.

dyson in particular uses nearly rock hard bristles that literally power rake the life out of most carpets.

When we were in our first house, I still occasionally used my Kirby on a few large carpets in the basement.

When I finally got around to installing a basement outlet for the CV, I connected the hose contraption onto the Kirby

The Idea was to see what would happen if I turned both on and did a hose to hose competition.

The cenral vac was an early 80s Broan, weak by todays standards maybe 100cfm at 105" lift, it began to deflate the Kirby's dust bag...... I stopped for fear of sucking all of the contents of the Kirby's bag the wrong way through the Kirby's fan/motor. Would have loved to see the look on a Kirby salespersons face after seeing that : ( ha!

I must admit though, the 80s & 90s central vacuum motors and turbine driven beater rotor brushes did not perform as well as the ones available now.

For myself, the most important thing about a central vac is indoor air quality.

If the vacuum unit is vented outside, or installed in the garage, the air inside the home will be much cleaner and contain far fewer fine dust particles.

"HEPA" is just a word. A word put on filters and bags, to make people think they are getting something really special. If these "HEPA" products really worked as advertised, they would plug up with fine dust particles and stop airflow completely after a short period of time.

I work mostly in new homes, hvac & plumbing systems. All of the builders I work for hire professional cleaners before the homes are occupied. They often show up when I am there, they usually have professional janitor vacuums dedicated to new home pre occupancy use only . As usual, when they start vacuuming, the house fills with the odor of a barfy smelling old vaccum bag. HEPA bags/filters still allow tiny particles of dust through.

Curious if one could put the vacuum unit in the basement (our garage will be a bit too far I fear)? And could it be used to vac up wood dust/saw dust? My husband wants to put a woodworking shop in the basement and I think this would help make clean up easier (and have the bonus of selling this expense to him).

Yes , definitely you could install the vacuum unit in the basement, just try to locate it on or as close as possible to an exterior wall to pipe the exhaust discharge outdoors.

In fact, here in western Canada, I always recommend installing the vac unit in the basement instead of the garage if the garage is unheated.

I feel the cold winter temperatures may cause premature wear on the motor.

we have our vacuum unit installed in the basement and it works great on every level

In Canada, they typically are installed in basements.

In Canada, they typically are installed in basements.

Fair enough, but I still see a good number of them installed in the garage in new homes here in Alberta...

I don't like seeing them installed an unheated garage, myself.

As a licensed plumber, I too dislike garburators.

They are unsanitary, they stink from organics that get pulverized inside.

Garburators often clog kitchen sink drain lines. Too many unnecessary service calls for odors and clogs.

So I realize I’m late to the party, but thought I’d add that I absolutely love our central vac with hide-a-hose, and wouldn’t build a house without one in the future. There are a few major pros to this system

1. Far more powerful than any other vacuum you can buy. The motor is stationary, so can be significantly larger than anything you would be able to carry around with you. The power of anything else, including Kirby, Miele, or Dyson, just is not comparable.

2. Much quieter than a regular vacuum. The motor is located on the far side of my 3-car garage, so you can’t hear it inside at all. All you hear when it’s turned on is the sound of the suction from the hose. Can definitely vacuum while someone is sleeping, and it doesn’t bother the dogs.

3. Best option for air quality. My system vents outside, so absolutely nothing comes back into the house. HEPA filters may be fine for some people, but they’re certainly not 100%.

4. Super convenient! I wouldn’t want a system with a hose you need to lug around the house; but hide a hose is awesome. We have a nearly 4000 sq ft house, and 3 hoses (50’ long) cover it all (we have a 4th hose in the garage). Although the hoses are very long, they’re not difficult to deal with because you only pull out the amount you need, and you can just suck it back up into the wall as you go. Sucking 50’ of hose back into the wall takes probably less than 10 seconds. You can install those floor board dust catcher things if you want, but they’re unnecessary with a hide a hose. In the time it takes to get out a broom, you can pull the hose out of the wall and suck any little mess up. And a vacuum is always going to clean better than a broom! We have one of the hoses between the kitchen and laundry room, so it’s great for cleaning up both quick messes in the kitchen, as well as the lint trap in the laundry room.

5. We clean more now because it’s just so easy to use! Used to have to get the vacuum out, lug it around to wherever the mess was, plug it in, then wrap the plug back up (maybe the most annoying part) and then put it away again. Now we just pull it out of the wall at the closest hose location, suck the dirt up, and suck the hose back into the wall.

6. The dust bin only needs to be emptied every few months.

Cons - only one I can think of is the price. It’s going to cost more than even the best vacuums, but totally worth it. If you’re building a new house, it’s worked into the mortgage so really doesn’t cost much of anything.

Central Vacuums are a great investment, They will save you money long term, clean better, reach further, and do more (especially if you get the wet/dry).

I see a bunch of people in here talking about the inconvenience of carrying the hose....they are not wrong. Some hoses can weight 15+ lbs and with a wand and powerhead can weigh a bunch more, We know that this is an issue for nursing mothers, pregnant moms, the elderly, and other people who are just not muscle inclined.

There is a solution, and it is called the Hide a hose, it hides in the wall in an outlet about the size of a standard plug outlet. To put it back in the wall you simply cover the end and the hose sucks itself up in the wall. Simple as that.

I am glad that I have found this thread! I have a 2 year old home with a central vacuum system. I didn't like it initially but now I am getting to like it! Initially, I didn't like to have to haul the hose around, but now I am getting used to it and I like the quietness and power. The only thing that I don't like about it now is that, I have no idea how much dust I have vacuumed as I don't have the "visual feedback"!!! Isn't that a crazy thing to comment on!? LOL!

I actually would not mind getting a stick vacuum just for quick touch ups here and there, esp if it can be converted into a handheld so I can use it for my vehicle interior.

For those of you with a central vacuum, do you also own a Miele canister vacuum too, just for the maneuvrability for certain parts of the house? Or is that going to be a waste of money for me to get one?

Ostrich, I have a central vacuum and two Miele canisters (one at the beach and one at main house). I honestly reach for my hide a hose or Dyson cordless much more often than my Miele Marin canister. Both are quicker than dragging the canister around. Don't get me wrong, the Miele is a great machine but it's bulky. I highly recommend the Dyson cordless to supplement your central vac.

Ostrich, I had a central vac in my former home and a Miele white pearl canister vacuum. The only reason is because I've had my Miele for 23 years and did not get rid of it when I put in a central vac in my new home 5 years ago. I never used the canister vacuum while in that home. (4 years) To me, that was more of a pain to lug around than the central vac hose which was actually pretty lightweight. I did have dustpans installed in the kitchen and bath, so was able to do quick sweep ups. If I didn't have those, I probably would have gotten a cordless lightweight stick vac for quick jobs.

I haven't found a *good* cordless stick vac yet! Any recommendations? I love my central vacuum (now 20 years in the house), but I'd like to be able to clean up under the kitchen table without bringing out my "Anna-conda".

MH and txponygirl, thank you so much for your feedback! I have a central vac system with dustpans in the kitchen and mudroom, and nice Wessel Werk attachments, including the power brush with lights.... so it works well but I just don't like hauling the hose around the house! Somehow I was so tempted to get a Miele canister vac, thinking that it would be easier to manage around the house! Now that I have your great feedback, I probably should abandon that idea and get a cordless stick vacuum instead! Thank you again!

chisue, I am wondering if the Shark Vertex (the cordless ones) are good? I like that it bends in the middle so that it can get underneath the bed and sofas easily! However, I wonder if it is any good?

Thanks, ostrich. I keep reading reviews on cordless vacs and sweepers. None are good, or the thing is ridiculously expensive considering my 60-second daily need for one. I think I'll stick to using a Swifter. *Now* I understand the value of a kickplate outlet for the central vac, but I'm not going there now.

From what I've read, little cordless vacs fall apart, scratch hardwood floors, can't be recharged after a few months, don't have enough suction, *ROAR*, and they clog after two minutes use. Many sound great until you get past the 'incentive provided' ones.

I have to admit that I have a Roomba to supplement my Hide a hose CV. I can't imagine having another manual vac would add much to that. Our dyson cordless is less than one use every few months - the HAH hose is in the kitchen and pulls out almost as quick as getting the dyson and so much quieter so that is what I go for.

I can honestly say that I might not go for the HAH given how good the robot vacs have gotten. I still use it and love it but doubt I would pay someone else to install one (still might DIY again though).

No dogs though.

None of those statements about cordless vacs that you quote Chisue apply to ours. Well - except the noise perhaps.

Thanks, David! I was curious about these robot vacuums too but I was skeptical on their cleaning power, so your experience is very helpful - thanks for sharing!

David, I didn't know about HAH when I had my house built a couple of years ago, and I so wished that I did!!! Anyway, I am leaning towards having a stick vacuum that could be converted to a handheld one so that I can use for my vehicle and stairs etc. Otherwise, a robot vacuum does sound very intriguing and potentially helpful for me too! Thanks again.