Strangest request from Wife....

[FestitaMakool]

Cool story BigDan, had a big smile when reading [big grin]
Cause, I’ve been considering a CTL Mini/Midi as a household vac myself.
That is I miss my sold vac that had powerful suction (it was a combined wet/dry machine) to cope with a long hose as a central vac. I’m thinking a 7m 36mm hose (pretty much the same as my old vac. Still convincing my gf that this is the solution haha.

To EU limitations; I had a new Philips 650W vac recently (gave it to my son). But this was clearly designed with the limitations in mind. On the whole it was great; incredibly quiet, great suction and overall one of the best vacs I’ve had. It had a 36mm hose, but a terribly short one - that’s why I gave it away. Ok for an apartment, but moving around in a two story house, no..

 

[Coen]

Yeah, they should make it into a backpack.

Some family of mine always replace the hose with one 2x as long.

 

[mino]

...
The "problem" is the bags.
...

Hmm, how do Central Vacuum Systems address organic matter?  They usually have large catch bins.

The central vacs do not exhaust filtered air inside the house => their filtration level or any residue does not really matter as long as it is not bad enough to annoy the neighbors.

The issue is not that the decomposition would produce toxic stuff. Just that the odor is anything but pleasant.

This is also why bag-less vacs became less popular after people understood them. For them to work well, one needs to replace the microfilter frequently-enough. To a point there is no savings compared to a classic filter bag vacuum.

This reminds me of the "low flow"  toilets and shower heads when they came out.  Those items did suck when they came out, ...

The problem is the Euro Greenies believe they can "legislate" over physics.

At 700/800 watts it is physically impossible to get adequate suction AND adequate filtration AND adequate size at the same time. Pick any of the three and it is doable.

Even the huge-filter DCs like a CT-SYS or CT Mini are struggling at 1000W+ and these use high-surface microfilters combined with LOWER overall filtration vis-a-vis a HEPA+ home vacuum.

For an adequately strong vacuum so it can handle thick carpets you need 300 Watt+ at the hose end. You loose another about 300W by the filters + air ducts which means you need about 600W+ at the turbine. But really you want about 800W+ at the turbine ...

Actually, even my CT36 is a weak vacuum compared to the top 1600-2000 Watt models of Miele that were commonplace just a decade ago. Those could not produce as much volume as CT can, but were better at the high-vacuum-low-volume scenario needed for carpets.

 

[Svar]

The central vacs do not exhaust filtered air inside the house => their filtration level or any residue does not really matter as long as it is not bad enough to annoy the neighbors.

There are both kinds, with indoor and outdoor exhaust. Indoor is more common. There are places where vac outdoor exhaust is prohibited.

 

[mino]

The central vacs do not exhaust filtered air inside the house => their filtration level or any residue does not really matter as long as it is not bad enough to annoy the neighbors.

There are both kinds, with indoor and outdoor exhaust. Indoor is more common. There are places where vac outdoor exhaust is prohibited.

Thanks, was not aware ... they are not that common over here to begin with. All that with brick houses where piping for a vac is no fun ..

Either way, I would assume one would put the exhaust in a garage or some other ventilated room and not in the main living spaces.

 

[DeformedTree]

generally they are in the garage, which is often directly off the kitchen, or they are in the basement. Generally folks will have them in the utility room in the basement, so it's not making noise in the living space down there.  I don't think there is anything stopping folks from having it right in main living space. Doing that would just defeat the purpose of putting a noisy thing out of the way, and gaining an annoying big hose you drag around room to room.

I wouldn't say they are very common here either. I think for most folks, dealing with a big long hose is more of an annoyance than a cord, or carrying a normal vac up and down stairs.  I think the popularity varies over time. There were popular in the 80s for sure.

 

[Bob D.]

generally they are in the garage, which is often directly off the kitchen, or they are in the basement. Generally folks will have them in the utility room in the basement, so it's not making noise in the living space down there.  I don't think there is anything stopping folks from having it right in main living space. Doing that would just defeat the purpose of putting a noisy thing out of the way, and gaining an annoying big hose you drag around room to room.

I wouldn't say they are very common here either. I think for most folks, dealing with a big long hose is more of an annoyance than a cord, or carrying a normal vac up and down stairs.  I think the popularity varies over time. There were popular in the 80s for sure.

That is the biggest gripe (and maybe the only one) we have with our central vac. Our 10m hose is like wrestling an Anaconda when you take it out or when finished and want to put it away. There are systems that store the hose inside the pipe. If I had a spot where the whole house could be serviced from one location I might consider it.
=22

 

[Coen]

Actually, even my CT36 is a weak vacuum compared to the top 1600-2000 Watt models of Miele that were commonplace just a decade ago.

Use a 36mm hose on the CT, cut it down to the 1.5m of the Miele and compare again...  [wink]

 

[mino]

Use a 36mm hose on the CT, cut it down to the 1.5m of the Miele and compare again...  [wink]

Oh, I was anything but dissing the CT. I LOVE that machine. It is the most expensive tool I ever bought and no regrets!

But the top household vacs available a decade ago had turbines of better high-resistance performance than my CTM has. These were geared for max suction at low volume and really really could suck it up.

Talking of vacs which were $300+ retail. Not the common 2000 Watt space heaters sold en masse.

Unfortunately these are now pretty much extinct. Were mostly a European thing, not sure there is a market for these screamers elsewhere. Not at the prices these need to command to be manufacturable at profit.

 

[Coen]

Yes I have one too, a Miele S8. Once no longer produced a bunch of people bought all remaining stock. There have been some really dumb designs immediately following the power reduction, like a hose that was wider than the connection into the vac...

 

[DeformedTree]

Well, here they put a flow limit on shower heads, but not on the number of shower heads.  Start paralleling vac's for maximum suck.  Stack 3 sys vacs and put on a sys cart  [tongue]

 

[RobS888]

"Do you have any tips on buying a Domino for one's non-woodworking spouse? "

Easy, just buy it from RECON for her. When she says she can't use that say well
I guess I will have to find a use for it in my shop because it can't be returned.

Darn the good luck  [cool]

No kidding! We needed a HEPA based vacuum for some work in our dinning room. The walls were not close to flat. I showed my wife the CT 26. She said can we get a better price if you get a Domino with it. I guess I had mentioned the combos...

 

[FestitaMakool]

generally they are in the garage, which is often directly off the kitchen, or they are in the basement. Generally folks will have them in the utility room in the basement, so it's not making noise in the living space down there.  I don't think there is anything stopping folks from having it right in main living space. Doing that would just defeat the purpose of putting a noisy thing out of the way, and gaining an annoying big hose you drag around room to room.

I wouldn't say they are very common here either. I think for most folks, dealing with a big long hose is more of an annoyance than a cord, or carrying a normal vac up and down stairs.  I think the popularity varies over time. There were popular in the 80s for sure.

That is the biggest gripe (and maybe the only one) we have with our central vac. Our 10m hose is like wrestling an Anaconda when you take it out or when finished and want to put it away. There are systems that store the hose inside the pipe. If I had a spot where the whole house could be serviced from one location I might consider it.
=22

Bob.. that’s a good idea, but I wouldn’t have that collapsible in the video. I just occurred to me that feeding the hose back in a hole with either a made bin or a barrel on the inside would work.
I’ve wrestled with a 9m hose, including bringing the vac out from its hideout. It’s a hassle, but cut the Anaconda down to 1 1/2m and make it swallow a huge meal which won’t come out.. it certainly made me miss the hose wrestling once I put the nozzle on the floor and started..
but a CT Bluetooth and a hose in a hole.. that could be something. I could even bear over with manually start feeding it trough two different holes, one for first floor and one for second floor.

 

[JeremyH.]

How is a 600w vacuum better if it has to be on making a dozen passes to sorta clean?

Also who gives a rats ass if you have to replace the filter and bags sometimes, if you don’t have to listen to these expensive annoying machines?

 

[Sparktrician]

The only issue with using a CT for a household vac is that while we can buy an air-driven turbo brush (Turbo Suction Brush D 36 TKB II, Item number 203809), the stainless steel wand that supports using the turbo brush has apparently been discontinued in the US (maybe NA).  [sad]

 

[BigDan]

Must have gotten NOS as mine just arrived form Hartsville Hardware 2 weeks ago... ouch!

 

[squall_line]

The only issue with using a CT for a household vac is that while we can buy an air-driven turbo brush (Turbo Suction Brush D 36 TKB II, Item number 203809), the stainless steel wand that supports using the turbo brush has apparently been discontinued in the US (maybe NA).  [sad]

It looks like the metal wand pieces are still sold as a set or as part of the Tradesman / Installer Cleaning Set with the D36 hose, but the elbow piece has been swapped to plastic, with a suction regulator gate.

There is also a new plastic D36 set of tubes to go with the new plastic elbow.

 

[AlexThePalex]

It looks like the metal wand pieces are still sold as a set or as part of the Tradesman / Installer Cleaning Set with the D36 hose, but the elbow piece has been swapped to plastic, with a suction regulator gate.

I didn't know this until I read it now. I have both the plastic and the metal wands, and lately I use the plastic elbow with both. I don't like how the metal elbow connects to both the 36 and 27 mm hoses, it is not very secure.

I see the new sets have bayonet fittings for the hoses. It was probably more difficult to make that part from metal than from plastic.

 

[Sparktrician]

It looks like the metal wand pieces are still sold as a set or as part of the Tradesman / Installer Cleaning Set with the D36 hose, but the elbow piece has been swapped to plastic, with a suction regulator gate.

I didn't know this until I read it now. I have both the plastic and the metal wands, and lately I use the plastic elbow with both. I don't like how the metal elbow connects to both the 36 and 27 mm hoses, it is not very secure.

I see the new sets have bayonet fittings for the hoses. It was probably more difficult to make that part from metal than from plastic.

I bought the Nilfisk version of the turbo brush (identical in every way except for the green plastic door, and 40% of the Festool price) and found that I needed to use a 1-1/4" flexible coupling (found in the plumbing department at any decent hardware store) to join the turbo brush to the stainless tubes I already had in the Tradesman Kit I bought years ago. 

 

[squall_line]

I didn't know this until I read it now. I have both the plastic and the metal wands, and lately I use the plastic elbow with both. I don't like how the metal elbow connects to both the 36 and 27 mm hoses, it is not very secure.

I just learned about it today, myself.

Like you, I can't stand how the 36mm hose connects to the metal elbow, either; I find I spend almost as much time holding that joint from falling apart as I do anything else when I use it.  I didn't notice the bayonet end on the plastic elbow, which looks much nicer in that regard.  I might add a plastic elbow to my next order to make my life easier.