I'm in the planning stage of a central vacuum installation. Noticed a
fairly new product called Hide-A-Hose (http://www.hideahose.biz/) and
wondered if anyone had any experience actually using this product.

They claim that up to 50' of hose can be used, which would allow me to
use one inlet for our 2000 sf house.

Some of my questions/concerns:

1) While the 50' hose would not be carried from inlet to inlet nor
stored in a closet, would it be too cumbersome to actually use?

2) Only option offered for remote on/off is an rf transmitter in
handle of wand. Not a trivial issue if you are 50' from the switch at
the inlet with a rug, cat or small child attached to the end of the
hose! ;-) Guess one could rig up an X-10 mini transmitter and
appliance module if oem offering was too pricey.

3) How well does it really retract? Don't want to stand there
pushing 50' of hose back into the piping every time.

Kent

The retractable hose sounds nice. One thing I would get? Check this out:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg...ge=gr&GRid=655

I plan on installing one in my kitchen once/while I redo the cabinets.

"Kent M." wrote in message
news
I'm in the planning stage of a central vacuum installation. Noticed a
fairly new product called Hide-A-Hose (http://www.hideahose.biz/) and
wondered if anyone had any experience actually using this product.

They claim that up to 50' of hose can be used, which would allow me to
use one inlet for our 2000 sf house.

Some of my questions/concerns:

1) While the 50' hose would not be carried from inlet to inlet nor
stored in a closet, would it be too cumbersome to actually use?

2) Only option offered for remote on/off is an rf transmitter in
handle of wand. Not a trivial issue if you are 50' from the switch at
the inlet with a rug, cat or small child attached to the end of the
hose! ;-) Guess one could rig up an X-10 mini transmitter and
appliance module if oem offering was too pricey.

3) How well does it really retract? Don't want to stand there
pushing 50' of hose back into the piping every time.

Kent

Kent M. wrote:
I'm in the planning stage of a central vacuum installation. Noticed a
fairly new product called Hide-A-Hose (http://www.hideahose.biz/) and
wondered if anyone had any experience actually using this product.

They claim that up to 50' of hose can be used, which would allow me to
use one inlet for our 2000 sf house.

Some of my questions/concerns:

1) While the 50' hose would not be carried from inlet to inlet nor
stored in a closet, would it be too cumbersome to actually use?

I suspect so. The one I have, standard length) is close to max length I
would want.


2) Only option offered for remote on/off is an rf transmitter in
handle of wand. Not a trivial issue if you are 50' from the switch at
the inlet with a rug, cat or small child attached to the end of the
hose! ;-) Guess one could rig up an X-10 mini transmitter and
appliance module if oem offering was too pricey.

That sounds like something to go bad, and in five years will you be able
to find parts?


3) How well does it really retract? Don't want to stand there
pushing 50' of hose back into the piping every time.

That was another issue that came to mind. I suspect that would be a
serious drawback .

I will be watching to see if anyone who has used it offers any
information.

I did not notice it saying anything about AC power for powered carpet
tools.



Kent



--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

"Dr. Hardcrab" wrote in message
news:zf45f.7191$Yk6.6346@trnddc01...
The retractable hose sounds nice. One thing I would get? Check this out:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg...ge=gr&GRid=655


A tombstone?


I plan on installing one in my kitchen once/while I redo the cabinets.


In the Kitchen?

"HeatMan" wrote in message
...

"Dr. Hardcrab" wrote in message
news:zf45f.7191$Yk6.6346@trnddc01...
The retractable hose sounds nice. One thing I would get? Check this out:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg...ge=gr&GRid=655


A tombstone?


I plan on installing one in my kitchen once/while I redo the cabinets.


In the Kitchen?

LOL!!!!

How in the hell did THAT get in there??!!! That was my girlfriend...;-]

Try this one:

http://builtinvacuum.com/vacpan.html

I believe I'll pass on "tombstones" and "old, dead comedians" in the
kitchen.... ;-)

I was already planning for Vac-Pans in the kitchen and master bath,
but thanks for the suggestion.

There is no capability for powering ac tools. They recommend using
air powered tools, which is no problem for me since we only have one
room with carpet (and it will go durning the next "spruce up").

Parts availability in general is a concern, since this is a new
company with only this one product (apparently).

On Tue, 18 Oct 2005 11:09:34 -0400, NickySantoro
wrote:

We have a 25' hose and even that gets cumbersome pulling from room to
room over carpet. You might want to rethink the single outlet concept.


Thanks for the input, Nicky. We only have one room with carpet and
that will be going away sometime soon.

I guess by "cumbersome", I meant more in the way of getting tangled up
and knocking stuff over, rather than the effort to pull it around the
house. Pulling a sock covered 50' hose on carpet might make things
quite difficult, though.

Dr. Hardcrab wrote:


snipped

LOL!!!!

How in the hell did THAT get in there??!!! That was my girlfriend...;-]

"Moms" Mabley was your girlfriend?

Please accept my deepest condolences.

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"Truth exists; only falsehood has to be invented."

On Tue, 18 Oct 2005 04:39:22 GMT, Kent M. wrote:

I'm in the planning stage of a central vacuum installation. Noticed a
fairly new product called Hide-A-Hose (http://www.hideahose.biz/) and
wondered if anyone had any experience actually using this product.



I have a central vacuum which I think is more of a nuisance than a
help. The long hose is a lot clumsier to move around than a long
portable vacuum cord, especially if there is furniture between the
wall inlet and the place you are vacuuming. Plus its not uncommon for
debris to be caught inside the elbows that require cutting the vacuum
pipe open to clear. No snake will reach the blockage through more
than one 90 degree elbow.

Air powered tools for carpet are useless. The fact that they recommend that
already makes me suspicious. I would also think that pulling 40 feet of
hose out of each outlet is a bigger pain then carrying a hose from outlet to
outlet.


"Kent M." wrote in message
...
I believe I'll pass on "tombstones" and "old, dead comedians" in the
kitchen.... ;-)

I was already planning for Vac-Pans in the kitchen and master bath,
but thanks for the suggestion.

There is no capability for powering ac tools. They recommend using
air powered tools, which is no problem for me since we only have one
room with carpet (and it will go durning the next "spruce up").

Parts availability in general is a concern, since this is a new
company with only this one product (apparently).

We gave up on the sock because they do get dirty and add weight. Check out
the Hoover Windtunnel head for central vacuum. It has a light hose. We
have had 3 different power nozzles and it is the best at cleaning. Better
than a very expensive European one we tried.


"Kent M." wrote in message
...
On Tue, 18 Oct 2005 11:09:34 -0400, NickySantoro
wrote:

We have a 25' hose and even that gets cumbersome pulling from room to
room over carpet. You might want to rethink the single outlet concept.


Thanks for the input, Nicky. We only have one room with carpet and
that will be going away sometime soon.

I guess by "cumbersome", I meant more in the way of getting tangled up
and knocking stuff over, rather than the effort to pull it around the
house. Pulling a sock covered 50' hose on carpet might make things
quite difficult, though.

I have a regular central vac system and it're reliable and works very
well. I'd be very skeptical of this new gizmo. Moving the hose around
from room to room isn;t that big of a deal that it's worth being a
guinea pig. Among the obvious drawbacks, as someone else pointed out,
you appear to be limited to having an air powered pickup unit, as
opposed to an electric one. I think the air powered ones are
worthless.

Then, there is the issue of where does all the hose go? I would think
there would be some limits on installation, like how many turns there
could be within the length of pipe where the hose has to go. That may
be one reason they are advocating less outlets, because you are limited
to relatively straight sections of pipe. And I think at best the
tradeoff between moving a medium size hose from outlet to outlet, vs
dragging a very long hose farther, is a wash. Plus, the unit that goes
in the wall is a lot bigger and uglier than a std one. It sounds to
me like there are plenty of possible problems, like hose not retracting
and/or getting stuck.

"Jeff Wisnia" wrote in message
...
Dr. Hardcrab wrote:


snipped

LOL!!!!

How in the hell did THAT get in there??!!! That was my girlfriend...;-]

"Moms" Mabley was your girlfriend?

Please accept my deepest condolences.

That was from another newsgroup I frequent. There was a thread on "hot
female actresses" (or something like that). People were saying "Boy! I'd
love to hook up with so and so!" and stuff like that. I posted a link to a
picture of Bea Arthur and then the one to Moms Mabley and said I wanted to
be the meat on THAT sammich!!!!

(O.K., guess you had to be there...)

;-]

"PaPaPeng" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 18 Oct 2005 04:39:22 GMT, Kent M. wrote:

I'm in the planning stage of a central vacuum installation. Noticed a
fairly new product called Hide-A-Hose (http://www.hideahose.biz/) and
wondered if anyone had any experience actually using this product.



I have a central vacuum which I think is more of a nuisance than a
help. The long hose is a lot clumsier to move around than a long
portable vacuum cord, especially if there is furniture between the
wall inlet and the place you are vacuuming. Plus its not uncommon for
debris to be caught inside the elbows that require cutting the vacuum
pipe open to clear. No snake will reach the blockage through more
than one 90 degree elbow.

Good point, if you are doing a new install, use two 45s rather than one 90
if you have to go round a corner. Also a threaded connection here and there
for clearing out clogs would be useful in a new design, not much different
than a cleanout in a plumbing drain system I guess.