Great question! The sweep tees are acceptable but I prefer the 45 wyes because they are a more versatile fitting and also provide a more gentle entry angle for the branch line. On commercial jobs and retractable installs, I would recommend using 45 wyes exclusively. For residential traditional system installs we often use the sweep tees with no problems.
@Centvac Good info! Thank you very much! I installed a traditional system back in October in my house but I'm thinking a few years down the line of switching to Hide-A-Hose and an MD Silentmaster, so this is very good knowledge to have handy.
Here's my problem with central Vacs. Most don't exhaust outside so fine particles stay in the structure. They are weak compared to a good upright vacuum. Why aren't they 220V 30A and could suck the c*ck off a rhino?
A long hose can be a bear to wrestle around the house. More and more luxury builders around here are not putting these systems in because they feel that the homeowners will just have the cleaners use a portable vacuum.
That's why we are out here trying to win hearts and minds! Without planning and forethought, owners and their hired help are doomed to using portables (all of which weigh more than a central vacuum hose). Thanks for watching!
@@Centvac Agreed. Live in Las Vegas, Needed to replace my unit after nearly 20 years. Only two places that sell central vac and that seems to be a sideline. As for as neatly homes, the homeowners aren't concerned about how heavy a portable vacuum cleaner is just as long as the house is clean. Trust me on that. I wrestle my own hoses around the house. new MD system. Old, Beam/Electrolux.
@@honkerdoodles2764 I've had enough vacuum hoses get clogged that I 100% don't want hoses in the walls. I'll get an expensive vacuum for every floor before I set up hoses in the walls and have reach issues and not have effective brushes
@@asherael there is definitely a right and wrong way to design and install a built-in vacuum, to maximize performance and minimize issues. Someday you should try one of our systems...in my personal home I would never be without one. Thanks for watching!
Can I ask a really stupid question and this may be a stupid question but why are there so many access points for that central vacuum system and that one location
Thanks Owen! I sure wish your company was here in North Georgia! I’m a life long Electrolux fan and in addition to my 2 canister vacuum cleaners (which still run by the way) I have a 23 yr old central vac. Would you please post a video on how to repair the re-set button on a central vac power nozzle? N137. I’ve bought 2 now and keep the brush clean and replaced them but I feel the issue the red reset button. Can’t find any you tube videos on theirs and have watched (and 👍🏼) on every single one of your videos. Excellent job on all. Thx Shelley.
Thank you...90 degree trick did it for me. So I know is a switch part is gone,but hose works. Only inconvenience I have to take hose off the wall to stop suction
pretty much sold on an MD unit to replace a 20 year old Vacuflo FC520 for a 2000 sq ft house with lots of (multiple) dog pet hair, rather than replacing all the leaking hoses, accessories, and broken outlet on the cannister itself. Reluctant to put time and money into that old unit. But am confused about the range of MD units. I don''t care about the noise level, but the bottom access seems nice/convenient for the air masters. Considering your comments about keeping the motor cool and triple filtering, which of the four series do you recommend? Is the top access Flo-master still better than the bottom access? Stay with the basic "Modern Day", the "Silent Master", "Air Master", or the "Flo Master" in your superb video? Thank you!
If you can mount the unit lower on the wall to make top access convenient, I would go with Flo-Master. If it needs to stay higher up, the Air Master would be the ticket. The F650T is our go-to replacement unit for a home like yours. Please let us know if you have trouble finding one locally, we would be glad to assist.
hahah love the little comments. Thank you for showing me how to do this. I had a pretty good idea but just wanted to be sure. I'm gonna use my warehouse floor protected with cardboard. :)
I'm currently considering installing a central vac in my 2 story cottage-esc house, and while i would love to have something like an MD, that OVO compact unit seems like it will be the best fit for my house. For one thing, I don't have a garage or basement, so the best possible location for it would be my relatively small laundry room. I also will likely only need 2 inlets to cover both floors of my house, and this unit is rated to handle up to 4 inlets. It also is pretty cheap, but also feature rich from what I've seen. For example, it has a slow start and shutoff, as well as an automatic shutoff for when the suction is blocked for an extended period of time. While I'm not saying that you're wrong about it not being the best unit, it definitely seems like good value for your money, and would make a central vacuum system available to people and houses that would otherwise be out of reach. I do still have some questions about it, though. Firstly, OVO claims that their units can be run off of a 15 amp breaker, and my house has a 100 amp breaker. Will it still be able to function properly off of it? Also, you mentioned how the MD unit has a bracket that can be adjusted to whatever the optimal wall position is, and the OVO does not. If I mount the OVO in a corner wall in my laundry room, does that mean that it would need to be directly centered between 2 studs? I want to be able to run pipe between the unit and the wall, while also having enough cooling room for the unit.
If a unit with a single point bracket needs to be mounted between studs, you can fasten plywood to the wall, or simply use toggle bolts into the cavity behind the drywall (the OVO isn't heavy anyway). I would recommend a dedicated 20 amp circuit for any central vac, but most will work fine on a 15 amp. You will have no issues with your 100 amp house service. Before you buy a unit, you might reach out to me for some other cost effective options. Thanks for watching!
@@amtrakpepsiproduct1605 My first systems were set up with units I bought used on eBay. Nowadays there is Facebook Marketplace and OfferUp. You may even have a local shop that can sell you a good cheap traded-in unit (we have a whole storeroom full of them). A new unit that meets your budget is not likely to be of high quality, so I would encourage looking at a used higher-end machine for your starter system.
@Centvac Yeah. Like I said, I'd love to have a higher quality unit for my house, but A., I don't have the space for a normal sized central vac (other than maybe for something like an MD system), and B., it isn't my house, so I'm not sure my mom would want a used unit that may or may not have problems with it. I'm not opposed to the idea of getting a used unit, but for the time being, I'm pretty dead-set on the OVO.
I have a Filtex Tsp 300L. I remodeled the home and went away with th e central vac. I kept the unit and wondering if I could use this in my separated garage workshop and add a cyclone and use it for my wood working. Thanks
You definitely could! It'll work best on it's own 20 amp circuit and ideally you would locate it remotely to minimize noise. That unit was made for peak performance with 1.5" hose, so it will be great for dust collecting from smaller tools as well as general cleanup of benches, floors, vehicle interiors etc. Not as suitable for connection to tools (like a table saw) that need a 4" hose hookup, though you could experiment. Shame to no longer have use of the system in your remodeled home, though... 😢
A vacuum store put an off-brand bag in my Panasonic QuietForce when I took it in for service. The motor was ruined after 2 times I used it. NOT going back to that store again!
A janitor at a business quality I work at put in a Sebo Automatic X7 cloth HEPA bag in the company's Windsor Sensor XP12. Not only was the compartment clean (it was usually dirty with the Windsor paper bags the company usually bought), but the air was healthier too.
Not just for Miele vacuums. This one time a housekeeper we hired bought a pack of unbranded bags for our Kenmore Progressive. The pre-motor filter and bag compartment were full of dust after just one bag, but thankfully the motor was okay. We gave the housekeeper a serious warning and showed her pictures of the vacuum before we washed it out and replaced the pre-motor filter. She heeded the warning and used our genuine Kenmore bags we bought.
I've honestly never been a fan of retractable hose systems. Don't get me wrong, being able to quickly take out and put away a CV is much easier than carrying it around the hose. However, the big Achillies' heel for me is not being able to use a standard power nozzle with them. To me, that severely hinders the usefulness of them for houses with lots of carpeting. And while there are alternatives to standard power nozzles for them, like cordless power nozzles and turbine power heads, those have their drawbacks. Turbine power heads can bog down on carpets, which can reduce their effectiveness, and you have to be careful about not picking up anything that could damage the turbines inside them. The other alternative is cordless power nozzles, and their drawbacks are that they're extremely expensive, and you have to be vigilant about their battery life. Until retractable hose systems are add electric power nozzle capability into them, I wouldn't want to install one.
You make a fair point. They have a battery powered wesselwerk EBK360 that works great but who knows how long the battery will last before requiring replacement. Speaking from a dealer point of view: People want to buy these systems. It's generally an easy sell until you start discussing pricing! (LOL). With the rise of dyson and high volume builders no longer providing a standard central vac RI (at least in my Canadian market) this is what is putting butter on my bread. From an installer point of view: I enjoy the challenge of a retractable installation. Standard installation can become routine but a retractable system provides a good test and fussy installers are rewarded with a hopefully trouble free installation. With retractable systems, I only supply them if I get the sale ---- so, it's attractive from that perspective. Ultimately --- If I choose to not install/supply them then my competitors will. Retractable systems are not going anywhere --- if anything they get more popular every year. Overall --- It's positive for independent dealers. You have to be skilled to install these correctly, so it limits the amount of sales that go to big box stores and keeps that cash in the dealers pocket.
@allclevernamesgone Like I said, it's not the concept nor execution that I don't like, it's the lack of powerhead compatibility. I think what could be a cheaper and easier alternative to them is stretch hoses. They're a lot cheaper than having a retractable hose system installed, are lightweight, convenient to use, and can be plugged into a standard central vacuum inlet. The only possible problem I can see people having with them is them retracting on you when you block the suction, which is a common problem with portable vacuums that use them. Until a hose system comes out that is reliable, and has high voltage connections built into the hose, I'd stick to just using norm inlet valves and hoses.
I had a service call with one of these not working. They had tried replacing the battery so I unplugged the base and then plugged it back in. That’s all it needed. I reprogrammed it just in case
What's your opinion on the Vacpan II? If I were to install a central vac in my house, I'd probably would want to have a auto-dustpan, but I don't think I'd be able to install a conventional one in a simple manner. However, I think with where I decided an inlet would go on my first floor, a Vacpan II would do the job just fine. However, I've seen little to no reviews on it, so I have not much of a clue on their quality, so I'd love to hear your expert opinion!
Thank you so much for your knowledge with central vacuums. It worked!! The safety switch doesn’t turn on because the filter is old and braking apart! Thanks again! Keep up the good work! 🇨🇦🇨🇦👍👍👏👏👏👏👏👏
Very disappointed. Socit hose sock did not come with nylon zip ties as in ad and no instructions. Very difficult to install. If you have a hose with power accessories, make sure you start at power handle end not wall end. Otherwise, you will end up dismantling the power handle to remove the installation tube.
I have old electrolox inlet and ordered a new one, but i cant figure out how to remove the high voltage clip to trransfer to the new inlet. Can anyone help?
I bought a house with the Retraflex, no instructions, etc. so its been a learning curve. Recenetly the locking mechanism ceaased to lock the non sock hose. There is a 3 inch long loose rubber piece with an inside diameter much bigger than the os diameter of the hose so it just slides around on teh hose and does nothing. I suspect this rubber piece needs to be reinstalled into the locking mechanism hole, but how?
You can purchase the rubber piece but I suspect that it just got pulled out of place. If someone pulls on the hose hard while it is locked in place it can cause the rubber piece to come out of place and on occasion I have witnessed it being installed incorrectly from factory. Easy fix. Carefully unscrew the locking mechanism and insert the rubber piece into it's groove and carefully tighten down. They use cheap ass screws so take care to not strip them.
