Great to hear from a pro that knows about central vacs from end-to-end. I have the VX1000C (dual motor) from 8 years ago now and, so far, it has been a trouble free machine in spite of its poor reputation. I'm not looking forward to the day it dies and the decisions to be made at that time. Thanks again for the very informative video and history lesson!
My parents built a big house in the late 1980's and had the Nutone system installed. I think it looked like that red one with the utility valve on the front. It didn't come with a powerhead or electric hose, so my mom used her canister powerteam quite a bit. At some point my mom did get that electric hose and that roto-matic style powerhead with the light. Quite an improvement in performance on carpeting but to me, the nozzle wasn't as nice as my mom's Kenmore Power-Mates or Hoover Quadraflex Powermatics. She had a canister on each floor. Sometime in the early 00's when I was away at college, they swapped out the Nutone with a MD SIlentmaster. Such a nicer machine in my opinion. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
You can't buy the VX1000 anymore, it's been discontinued for a while now. Stock up on the bags while you can because they're getting harder to find nowadays. I'd disagree that they're the best. Powerful yes but as what Owen said in the video, they're problematic. Even the bags are a poor design as what Owen pointed out here. There are definitely better options than the VX1000.
Hey Owen, great video. I have just about every brand of central vacuum in my collection, I think the only ones I don't have are Nutone and Beam, I had a beam unit and I ended up selling it since it was bagless and quite loud, I use all of my units without pipes and that beam unit was by far the loudest, although I think I have an even louder unit now, the Galaxie GA240, it's all metal so of course that makes it louder and it has two motors in parallel, 199 water lift and 216 CFM, I actually wear ear plugs when I use it, the floor actually vibrates when I use that unit.
I had the issue of the contacts welding together on my Beam once but I unplugged, disconnected, took the top off, pulled the cover off of the relay, separated the contacts and lightly sanded them like points in an older small engine and the machine is back to running condition. If it does it again, I'll desolder the relay and replace it. Those chrome wands look like the kind used on Rainbow systems up to the E series. On my Eureka flat belt sweep 'n' groom nozzle I occasionally take it apart, clean the belt, motor shaft and brushroll pulley with some isopropyl alcohol on a rag and I have been using the same belt for over three years now. When the belt gets stretched I turn it inside out and reuse it.
Hmm, yeah. A least they aren't those "premium" Beams Owen talked about on his other channel, I believe...oh wait...the last metal one is exactly like that.
Great video! Regarding the Plastiflex hose you mention, am I correct in understanding that the Plastiflex logo is a 'P with a circle around it' and that logo would be found on all the hoses they manufacture? Thanks!
If you have an old nutone central vacuum from the 90’s and 80’s, just get new Ametek Lamb motors instead of getting another nutone. And consider upgrading to a bigger motor. A 250 dollar motor that will serve you for 20 or more years is a better value than a new 650 dollar nutone that has motor that will serve you for only 5 years.
Hello I wonder if I can ask you a question. I just moved into a home that has the white Nutone 360bg canister in the garage, but it didn’t come with a hose. Well, I ordered one from Amazon that said it should fit all inlets, Ovo brand, but lo and behold it’s too big for my inlets. Would you happen to know which hose diameter would’ve been common in the early 2000s? The Nutone website doesn’t have information on the 360bg
Reviews on the replacement hoses highlight (again) poor quality parts that should NEVER break. A 3-way switch should last forever; not fail in a few months. For consumers, it's annoying and frustrating.