The first one I had was Ricar when the house was being built. They came out about 4 times. It would work when they left, but still never enough power. Then I would have trouble with the hoses not going in or coming out. Then I got electrolux to come out and they put in all new ports or outlets, and new hoses. Still not enough power and the same with the hose problems. They did do a few things in the attic with the pipes. Now I have Drainvac which is the high powered unit I got the electrician to install. Great suction power but hoses still get stuff in the pipes. If I only had clear pipes I could see where the blockage is. We have a call into the head people at the original company that installed the pipes. It was a Hide A Hose system. We are hoping they will recommend someone who really knows how the install and service them. I have almost 9k in this system now and still not happy. My sister built a new house the same time and did not want it. She has a rainbow somebody gave her. She is laughing all the time about what I am going thru. I never had any trouble before until I got Hide a Hose.

Our home was completed in March 2014. We have a HAH outlet for the main floor (1600 sq. ft. - mostly hardwood floors) and a regular, electric outlet for the upper floor (1000 sq. ft. - mostly carpet). In that sense, I have both types of central vac. My main floor HAH is 50 ft. long and install was no problem. Your last question is spot on, in my opinion - you are dealing with someone who is inexperienced in the install. My builder had never worked with the HAH system before, but his sub had done a few installs and felt comfortable enough with it. The sub did tell me after install that he loves the HAH product and the only people he knows who dislike it are those who had it improperly and/or poorly installed. So be careful - you don't want to be a guinea pig for an installer! On a related note, I had never lived with central vac before - I love it! The HAH is just sooo convenient. It's one of my favorite features in our whole semi-custom build, but I have never been in another home that has one, so it felt like a bit of a gamble. I'm so glad I stuck to my guns. It's worth getting - especially because from what I found it's not that different in cost from a regular central vac - but try to find an installer who knows what they're doing. Good luck!

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!

gbsim, I don't have a lot of detail on the old Beam system because it was selected by the previous owners of our old lake cabin. It was probably a mid-grade model (not top of line) when it was installed back in 1994, but it performed perfectly adequately for what it was asked to do. We were happy enough with it to have it removed from the cabin before we tore the cabin down, and moved the Beam system over to the new garage apartment. It quit working once and our electrician diagnosed that the board in it had gone bad. I was thrilled when I learned that Beam warrants the boards for life, and I only had to pay a small service charge to get a repairman to come to our remote location to replace the board. The new Vacu-Maid system in the new house seems MUCH more powerful than the old Beam system - hands down. But it's not really comparing apples to apples, as the Vacu-Maid is sized to clean a much larger house. And it's my understanding that the Hide-A-Hose (HAH) system requires a more powerful system. When I was researching HAH I spoke to one GW poster who had a bad initial installation -- her installer was not familiar with HAH and had used an underpowered system that is not recommended by HAH. The HAH people subsequently helped her find a good installer and she switched to a more powerful system, and was very happy.