Central Vacuum Buying Guide

How to Buy the Best Central Vacuum System

Let’s face it – trying to decide which is the best central vacuum unit can be a daunting task. You have a lot to choose from out there, and things can get confusing quickly, if you don’t know what you’re looking for.

Not to worry though. We’re here to help narrow your choices down and give you some suggestions. With this buying guide, you’ll have the expertise you need to make an informed choice, and avoid making a costly mistake. It won’t answer all of your questions, but it’ll point you in the right direction, and, if you have more questions, just contact us.

Follow These Rules When Buying a Central Unit

There are dozens of companies that make central vacuum units. It would take far too long for you to research all of them, and some are too small to even bother with, so use these four guidelines as a shortcut. If you just want the rules without all the details, here’s a quick list for you. The next section will give you far more details.

• Go With a Company with Some History
• Don’t Get Too Caught Up in the Numbers
• Bags Over Bagless
• Look for Best Value vs Lowest Initial Price

1. Go With a High-Quality Manufacturer That Has Been Around

This is important, huge even. A central vacuum unit is an investment in your home, so make sure to buy a quality product. Some of the smaller companies aren’t much more than a couple of guys in their garage. You just don’t know what kind of service to expect with them. Brands like NuTone and Beam are large multi-national companies that used to produce quality products, but have slipped into decline.

The US company we use is called VacuMaid®. It is a privately-owned company that’s been around since 1956. Manufactured in the US, with superior-quality, long-lasting motors in many of its product line. The SR66 and SR800 both have long-life (1,500 hour) motors, which is about 3 times what the average central vacuum motor lasts.

2. Don’t Get Caught Too Up in The Numbers

Unless you’re an engineer or a glutton for punishment, don’t pay a whole lot of attention to all the numbers. These central units have a ton of specs, but they won’t mean much to the average buyer.

The only number you really have to check out is square footage recommendation. Central units have a maximum recommended square footage they can cover, and you don’t want to buy one that’s undersized for your house. You won't have sufficient suction power if you do. Here's a pro tip: We recommend that you cut manufacturer's "up to" square footage recommendations in half. In other words, if a manufacturer says that a unit is good for "up to" 10,000 sq ft of living space, you should expect it to work very well in your 5,000 sq ft home. This is a general rule used by many central vacuum installers.

Like we said before, just double the square footage of your home and look for units that can cover it. You double it just to make sure you have enough suction for deep cleaning, even for the most remote parts of the house. Or in case you want to make additions to your home, or finish part of your basement later on.

What about Air Flow and Water Lift?

You don’t need to worry about things like air flow (CFM) and water lift, not by themselves at least. These numbers only matter because they’re used to compute something called “air watts”, which is a number that is useful when comparing central vacuum units.

Air watts measure how much cleaning power the central unit has. But for the average buyer, it’s just a good way to compare different brands.

3. Bags Over Bagless

Good maintenance is crucial to your central vacuum unit. Without it, you’ll encounter problems pretty quickly. And with some brands, improper maintenance can void your warranty.

So know what you’re getting into up front. Ask yourself these questions about the units you’re interested in.

    • How often do I need to empty the dirt receptacle?

    • What’s involved in cleaning or replacing the filter?

    • How much dirty work’s involved in maintaining the unit?

    • Do I need proprietary filters and/or bags?

Bagless systems can be extremely messy, and some have expensive filters which need frequent replacement, which is why we recommend Vacumaid central systems with easy-to-change, disposable, multi-layered bags.

Be honest with yourself. Don’t set yourself up for failure by committing to maintenance you won’t always be able to do. 

4. Always, Always, Always Go For Higher Quality over Lowest Price. Always.

We hope the message is clear. A vacuum system is an investment in your home and health, so be willing to spend a couple of dollars more to get a high quality power unit. We've seen "cheap" units fail in as little as 2 years, while quality units can last 10, 15, even 20 years, depending on usage.

Here are two popular central vacuum units we install every day:

VacuMaid SR66

VacuMaid SR800

These are high quality models, in terms of performance and serviceability both. They’re reasonably priced, and have long-life motors which are built to run for approximately 1,500 hours — about 3 times the average central vacuum motor!

Lastly, you’re just going to get better longevity performance and service when you buy a higher quality vacuum unit. We can’t emphasize enough how important quality is.

Get the Right Filtration System

After the motor, the filtration system is the most important part of your central unit. Broadly speaking, there are three different filtration types: bagged, filtered, and cyclonic units. Each type has its own set of pros and cons, which we’ll discuss below.

1. Bagged Central Vacuums

Bagged units are about like they sound. They use a bag to gather debris, just like many portable vacuum cleaners do.

Although outside venting is alway an option, one advantage of bag units is that they don’t require it — IF they have a good quality bag, that is. We use and recommend genuine Vacumaid 5 layer HEPA bags for all of the Vacumaid systems we install. 

2. Filtered Central Vacuums

Filtered units use a filter to protect the motor from getting clogged with dust and debris. They may or may not also use a bag, depending on the manufacturer and model. And just like a bagged unit, outside venting is not required. The downside is that the filter inevitably reduces air flow and suction power, and that can happen pretty quickly. Also, replacing and/or cleaning filers is very messy and replacement filters can cost from $20 - $30 each.

You have to clean the filter, to ensure efficiency and better protect the motor. This is a very dirty job (take my word on that. I've done it many, many times).

In our opinion, vacuum units with removable filters that need cleaning or replacing, are not the way to go. They are extremely messy, time-consuming, inefficient and very expensive over the life of the unit.

3. Cyclonic Central Vacuums

Cyclonic central vacuum units work by spinning the dust and debris around at incredibly high speeds, like a cyclone. The heavier dirt stays in the canister, while the rest is either exhausted outside the home or sticks to a "filter" screen which needs to be cleaned often. This means that outside venting is always required.

It’s our experience that the lack of a filter is a real drawback. It's a bad design idea because without a proper filter, dust and debris get into the motor, greatly reducing suction power and causing premature motor failure. This almost guarantees many service calls down the road. We think that cyclonic central vacuum units are by far the worst of the 3 options.

Conclusion

So there you have it – a great buying guide to help you buy a new central vacuum unit. We’ve given you the most essential information, but you can always research individual brands if you want more. With this buying guide, you’ll know exactly what to compare and how to evaluate your options.