"aemeijers" wrote in message
stuff snipped
Personally, I put central vacs in the same category as trash compactors-
a solution in search of a problem. Unless you a clean freak that vacuums
multiple times per week, dragging the vac around is simply not that big
a deal (especially since they aren't made out of heavy steel any more,
and modern super-magnets let them make the motors tiny).

I respectfully disagree. No matter how high the filtration of a portable
vac, they output a considerable volume of air into the room that blows dust
around and around. They're terribly noisy as well, and that noise follows
the user around through the house, making it hard to hear music, the door
bell, etc. Most people I know that use central vacs would never think of
going back to a drag-around device. In the case of my unit, the horse power
is about 5 times that of a conventional vacuum and the suction much greater.
I can't imagine pulling the Hayden around on a cart. It's rather huge. CV's
improve the air quality of the home by removing 100% of the vacuumed air and
filtering it to the exterior of the living space and are great for allergy
sufferers. And there's no chance some temporary cleaning help like we had
when my wife got sick will decide to plug a vacuum into a UPS outlet and
start a small fire. (-:

We both love our CV, although each for different reasons. We ran through a
series of three Orrick cleaners before switching to a CV. The Orricks cost
nearly as much as the whole (uninstalled) Hayden system and so far, we
haven't even had to have the motor replaced once let alone three times as we
did with the Orrick. Vacuuming carpeted stairs is much, much easier with a
CV than with almost any kind of stand-alone vacuum. You can see the
difference when strong sunlight enters the room. Vacuuming with the Orrick
filled the air with so many dust particles it looked like a 3-D planetarium.
The CV on the other hand barely produced any noticeable increase in visible
airborne dust particles.

You already
have to shove the furniture around. But YMMV, of course. Only place
where I could see a central vac being useful, is in a wood shop, with
dedicated hoses at each tool station. AKA, dust collection system. But
those aren't really the same thing.

My CV is hooked up to my radial arm saw for just that purpose. Adding
another branch and outlet was a cinch and unlike the leaky shop vac I used
to use, the CV truly ejects dust without stirring up a lot of airborne
particles. Running a powerful standalone in a small room not only kicks up
loads of as yet unvacuumed dust into the air, it adds ozone from the motor
brushes and lot of extra heat into the room. The big downside is that I
will probably have to leave the CV as an "attached fixture" when we move
whereas we could much more easily take a stand-alone with us.

--
Bobby G.